Owen

If I am going super curved I will need an extra thick body blank, no? I was going with sonic blue but realised that might well need a whte-ish scratchplate to offset it. I am thinking maybe copper leaf cos ....... umm.......... shiny.

I resemble that remark.

I think I am over the lathe thing (even though it was exciting), but I could make a bowl will a flat bottom which only curved at the extreme edges.

They have some pretty accurate readings of what is happening in the UK at the moment, but that would be de-railing my own thread!

The lathe option would give a certain line which there is no way I could get with hand tools, but the by PM and various posts I am beginning to think the hand tool thing might be a go-er. Thanks everyone for their willingness to guide. I am going to buy some really big paper.

Andy, you are on the money right there!

Thanks. Would doing the turning and then putting it through a large thicknesser do the bridge end to neck end? Whether such a thicknesser exists, I don't know.

Rats, you have pointed out the obvious flaw in my plan. And now you have pointed it out (thanks. No, really!) it changes what is happening in my mind. Back to the drawing board.

Thanks everyone for your encoursgement. It will be your fault. I am thinking about getting a piece of scrap wood, having it turned and then seeing if I can wrestle it into shape. It will be 310mm at it's longest by 280mm at it's widest. How deep do I need to leave it for neck pocket, pickups and control cavity?

Ver, ver shmooooth.

I truly love the idea of doing it all by hand, but I know I will get impatient/sloppy/over ambitous and cut too deeply or whatever. I only have to look at the extra grooves I have in my bathroom floor where I sanded it to understand the limits of my skillset.

I will need all the help I can get!

If I get the convex top on it, I could live with a flatter concave back (not as deep dish) to make it work.

I think that I will take the lines it comes out as, as a product of the process. It will kind of design itself. My thought process is being guided by this discussion. I will have to do a prototype in pine or something cheap and cheerful. The thought of doing rather than wondering is quite exciting.

Wait! You have a luthier's course close and you have not gone on it? Eh?

Because it will be super short scale the body will be a max of 75% normal body size. Perhaps smaller. I dunno. Perhaps you can tell.

I think I have misled you slightly. I will not actually be doing the hardcore woodwork myself. I have a local woodworker online for the tricky routing etc. Christine has said she is happy to offer advice and perhaps do things which are way way way beyond me.

I have a hankering for a Jabba mini bass. I played one at a Bassbash. It was proper lush. I have a hankering for a Ritter Princess Isabella - sadly, finances say no. I have had a hankering to build an instrument for the past 30 years. I have very poor woodworking skills. I mean VERY poor. I could tell you all about woodwork classes in school, but I am not proud of it. At least I learnt to measure twice and cut once. Eventually. All these things are coming to a head and I am going in. I am documenting it so that I actually have to do it. Because I have a bad habit of dreaming and not doing. I will need a LOT of guidance. I want a convex front and a concave back. I have watched lots of videos on carving the front of a LP with a router and orbital sander and decided that I could not. On Sunday we went to a food fair and there was a guy selling large wood turned plates. It crossed my mind that a body blank could be "turned". Convex on front, concave on the back. Once that is done I could cut the body shape out of the big bowl. The circumference could be the bottom of the instrument. I would need to be very careful with center body depth so as to give the hardware somewhere to live. But the sides could be quite slim. I like that. I am aware that the geometry could be challenging. What are the reasons this way of carving would not work?

Find any social media they have and get all over it like a bad rash.

So I could use a Source Audio Hub and my Ernie Ball vol pedal with a Y lead to turn it into an expression pedal? It would be the biggest sustain pedal in the world, but could also (on other patches) open and close filters? I have so much to learn and such a propensity to expensively get it wrong.

Thanks. Something to look forward to then Could you offer any guidance as to what extra hardware I will need?

Thanks QM. Is this a magic new feature in V3 or available now. All I am interested in doing is holding down single notes. What do I need to make this happen?

The SY-1 does sustain. Is there any way of persuading the FI to? Obv it will need an external doobrie.

<sigh> I might have to have one.

So you break my heart by telling me it will not SL20 but then pique my interest again by telling me it will sustain?