in progress shots.....singlecut guitar and bass

JSPguitars · #1 08-15-2005, 12:00 AM

I'm finally making a little progress on some projects. I got my neck for my second bass profiled today, and I've decided to make a 'singlecut' (for lack of a better term) guitar along with this bass just for fun cuz I'm stuck on this weird upper horn design right now. The necks will actually be glued to a tiny portion of that bigggg upper horn thing.

Maybe I just like any excuse to do some hand carving and contouring.

anyway, let's see if I can get the pics to upload and then I'll tell ya about them.
Can't wait to get some stain on them.

The guitar:
chambered spanish cedar body
mineral poplar top
mahogany neck
ebony fingerboard/headstock veneer
hipshot 'piano' bridge (or whatever it's called)
I'm thinking it'll have just one pickup, probly a S.D. jb

The bass:
all kinds of laminations:
koa/bloodwood middle
redwood side cores
maple back
jujube top sides
purpleheart/yellowheart accent laminations
maple/jujube neck
flame koa headstock veneer
pau ferro fingerboard
hipshot bridge
undecided pickup

Worshiper · #2 08-15-2005, 10:26 AM

wow great. Very ritteresque. hehe. Can we see some better pics of the bodies?

Zetora · #3 08-15-2005, 11:36 AM

Yeah a nice shot of the bass body would be good, I like them both, nice idea with the single cut type of method, a bit strange but I can see it turning out good as it looks like it already has. Also thanks for posting pictures, because thats a similar shape body to what I was thinking of and you've jsut gave me an idea for the headstock (not the same as your's, just something simple I had missed out of my thread of thought in what I could so thanks.

Keep us posted on it all.

Zet.

Phil Mastro · #4 08-15-2005, 04:04 PM

I agree with the other guys, you should get better pics of your bodies, cuz they look sweet! Nice carving there, I don't have the patience nor the skill to pull that off nicely.

JSPguitars · #5 08-15-2005, 11:19 PM

my camera sux. It's one of those old ones that takes floppy disks. (it was free)
Hopefully I'll get a little further this week and I'll take more pics.

JSPguitars · #6 12-06-2005, 12:49 AM

Well, since I'm going picture-taking crazy tonite, here's some pics of my first (near) completed bass and guitar together. I tried to make a guitar out of the same body style as my bass. My buddy hates the shape

He calls it the 'little kids' guitar cuz it's hella small and has no meat on the body behind the bridge.....(I can't get that bass design out of my head!)
Guess you can't make everyone happy.
I learned quite a bit from these 2. I Might need to figure out how to sink the bridge on the guitar further into the body cuz the strings are pretty high off the frets. Due to this defect, I might just make it into a slide guitar as well.

This was my first attempt at installing/leveling/dressing frets. They still need some tweaking. Also, I got to practice my inlaying skills with the dots on the fretboard and a bigger dot on the headstock. They both definitely have a lot of 'flaws', but seem solid. The fretless bass finally has good action and plays fine, the guitar needs further fret/setup tweaking.
Oh yeah, I really need to work on my back plates too!

I'm also finally OVER that stoopid, crazy upper horn look. After completing a singlecut bass project, I'm moving on to a double-cutaway design of some sort.

Scott French · #7 12-06-2005, 01:46 AM

Woah, cool carvings on those things. The guitar bass horn is crazy!

Worshiper · #8 12-06-2005, 08:22 AM

great job. I think I like the guitar horn better than the bass one.

Phil Mastro · #9 12-06-2005, 11:10 AM

Very nice, i dig. Although I agree that the guitar's upper bout is nicer than the bass'. At least, I prefer the guitar's.

Zetora · #10 12-07-2005, 03:32 PM

Wow, now they have turned out beautifully.

Love the upper horn, so to speak, I have been tempted to change the design on my bass to a single cut and do something similar as you have for the upper horn.

Really love the look of those though.

Good work, enjoy the outcome when you have em finished and also what method did you use to remove the material from around the upper horn and the region's like that?

Zet.

JSPguitars · #11 12-07-2005, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zetora

Wow, now they have turned out beautifully.

Love the upper horn, so to speak, I have been tempted to change the design on my bass to a single cut and do something similar as you have for the upper horn.

Really love the look of those though.

Good work, enjoy the outcome when you have em finished and also what method did you use to remove the material from around the upper horn and the region's like that?

Zet.

My method starts with some good smoke, then I put on some good tunes to rock out to (lately, some live recordings of the Steve Kimock Band). Once the juices start flowin'.......
I draw my 'contour', so to speak, on the wood with a pencil, making sure to include a 'center line' to work off of. I then drill holes (using various sized forstner bits) where I think are appropriate, so that i can get some angle and leverage when chisiling and filing. I use a surform a lot, a tapered round file, and a cheap palm gouge (sp?) that came in a set I got from the local hardware store. Hand and finger carving are the most fun part of the process for me, so far.

Zetora · #12 12-09-2005, 08:58 AM

Ahh thats good, its about the same way I was considering doing it so thats good ... thats if I was going to do it like that but I am still doing scroll's.

Anyway thank you

Zet.