Single cut bass body challenge

Andyjr1515

Over the next few posts, just a quick photo-type summary of one of the more interesting projects I was asked to do recently:

"Would you be able to make a single cut body to fit a Fender-type neck to?"

Now - the sensible answer should always be, "No"  Or - at the very least - "Why would you want to do THAT?"

And why the problem? Well, just think where a, say, Strat neck is carved to and where the top 'horn' join line would have to go on one of those.  Well a P bass or J bass is just the same.


So I said "Yes" 

Of course I did  

Andyjr1515

So this was the concept.  It included a fair bit of purpleheart, some walnut and Sapele:


But on a normal J bass, the cutout would come up to the 15th or 16th fret, so the challenging bit was going to be what to do to the neck pocket between the 16th and 12th fret, where the single cut would end up. 


Here's a typical Fender-type neck:

 

I had a bit of a think and made a few rough sketches:


I would basically have to carve the reverse of the neck shape into the pocket.


Time for a few trials:







OK - wasn't sure HOW to get all of it accurate enough, but it MIGHT work?

Andyjr1515

The back and middle were going to be Sapele and Purpleheart respectively.  I had some neck centre splices left over from another project so just levelled them up and made up the centre sheet - for those who haven't used purpleheart, the freshly sanded wood starts off brownish.  It then quite quickly goes purple and then very slowly (often years) deepens towards a purply brown:



I worked out the top thickness I would need to be able to place the neck heel flat on the Sapele.  This would make at least some of it a bit more predictable.





I could also start the carve of the neck shape in the purpleheart before gluing it to the Sapele - at least I could still see what I was doing this way!


This is after the initial carve looking from the back:




Then, with the purpleheart glued to the back, I used the engineer's blue trick (but using school chalk) to test fit the neck and scrape away any chalky high spots until - after a lot of repeats - the heel finally made full contact with its seating:

 



And a quick check to make sure it was in angular position too - with this kind of carve, there were going to be no second chances!

Andyjr1515

So after routing the cable slots, I put the bookmatched walnut top on and set about the next part of the carve.  Again - this one was going to need to be accurate to avoid any gaps - especially along the edge of the tapering neck:


And again - I took my time and used the school chalk trick again.  Eventually, it was pretty much there:





There was half a chance this was going to work!

Andyjr1515

For fixing the neck I opted for 4mm machine screws into threaded inserts:



Pete, the guy who had asked me to do the build, wanted a custom Armstrong pickup - but he wanted it in a purpleheart cover.

I've never tried this before but basically, I made a 1mm thick open-ended box out of purpleheart and sent it to Armstrongs:



Who filled it full of pickup and sent it back to me!  



Pete also wanted a top loaded control plate also in purpleheart, to which I added a chamfer round the body sides:

Andyjr1515

The final request was to have matching knobs...and the neck to be dyed purpleheart-ish colour.
  

Oh - and decals.


The dying of the neck was straightforward.  I sanded it down and then used a combination of Chestnut spirit stains and red ink, sealed in with a tru-oil slurry and buff approach:




For the decals, Pete did the design and then Rob at www.guitardecals.co.uk  did a great job in producing them, including proper white!  These decals are gossamer thin...more a film than a decal.

 


For the knobs, I used the walnut and purpleheart, using concentric drilling and plug cutting to form the back and top and then added shaft inserts from a company called Thon:







It was getting close!

Andyjr1515

And so, finished with satin Osmo Polyx, it was finished:








So Pete was pleased with it - and I was pleased with it and it answered the question, "Can you build a single cut body for a Fender-type neck?". 

But in all the excitement, I clean forgot to ask, "WHY???"  

Winny_Pooh

Really purple purpleheart! Love it!

DrBob

Answering the questions that no one has even thought to ask yet ! 

Andyjr1515

DrBob said:

Answering the questions that no one has even thought to ask yet ! 

Rocker

Very impressive as always @Andyjr1515. ; I bet your customer is really chuffed with his 'one of a kind' bass.

Andyjr1515

Rocker said:

Very impressive as always @Andyjr1515. ; I bet your customer is really chuffed with his 'one of a kind' bass.

Thanks    Yes - he's very pleased with it.  His concept entirely, of course.

Sesh

Thanks for sharing. One amazing build.

paulnb57

Wow! Impressive stuff Andy!

Andyjr1515

Thanks, folks

I still struggle a bit with the aesthetics of many / most single cut basses but this was a very satisfying project nonetheless. 

TTony

Andyjr1515 said:

But in all the excitement, I clean forgot to ask, "WHY???"   

Because he felt lucky, punk.

Andyjr1515 said:

 this one was going to need to be accurate to avoid any gaps

Top luthier trick tip ....

....  expanding foam is your friend there - hides all sorts.  Just remember to slice off the excess before it fully hardens.



Your builds never cease to amaze me.  Beautiful work once again Andy.

Andyjr1515

TTony said:

Andyjr1515 said:

But in all the excitement, I clean forgot to ask, "WHY???"   

Because he felt lucky, punk.

Andyjr1515 said:

 this one was going to need to be accurate to avoid any gaps

Top luthier trick tip ....

....  expanding foam is your friend there - hides all sorts.  Just remember to slice off the excess before it fully hardens.



Your builds never cease to amaze me.  Beautiful work once again Andy.

Great tip, @TTony   And thanks for the very kind words.

Adam_MD

Seriously Andy this one was spectacular.  I love the different uses for the purple heart it turned out great. 

Andyjr1515

Adam_MD said:

Seriously Andy this one was spectacular.  I love the different uses for the purple heart it turned out great. 

Thanks, @Adam_MD   I was really pleased how this one turned out - and the concept of getting a custom pickup built into a 'box' was a new one on me that I will certainly try again in the future...

ICBM

Andyjr1515 said:

But in all the excitement, I clean forgot to ask, "WHY???"  

Very nice work, but that was my thought too. Surely the whole point of this type of single-cut bass is to make the neck more rigid, and that won't happen unless the neck is glued to the body...

It does remind me very faintly of the original Fender Bass V though, which is always a good thing .

Andyjr1515

ICBM said:

Andyjr1515 said:

But in all the excitement, I clean forgot to ask, "WHY???"  

Very nice work, but that was my thought too. Surely the whole point of this type of single-cut bass is to make the neck more rigid, and that won't happen unless the neck is glued to the body...

It does remind me very faintly of the original Fender Bass V though, which is always a good thing .

I know what you mean, @ICBM   

But, having said that, do you find also that bass players in particular can often be quite...er... adventurous?  

While there is a decent % for whom 'if it's not a Fender Precision, it's not a real bass...' nevertheless, some of the most challenging and innovative builds I've been asked to do so far have been from bass players.


(sits back and waits for the torrent)