Ergonomic bass build "Twisted Sister"

Hello Luthier's Corner,

some of you might have already seen my attempts at routing a twisted neck blank here: Planning a twisted neck

Now it's time to build a bass out of this. As the title suggests, it's a twisted neck bass, similar to the ones made by Torzal. I should point out that there is a patent on twisted bass necks1, and I am building this for myself only, without selling or exporting it. The thread linked above also has some info on twisted necks in general and on the jig that I'll be using.

I first thought about throwing this one into the winter build off 2022, but I decided not to. The twisted neck design is new to me and there might be many unexpected challenges. I don't want to rush it.

Now let's talk about the main parameters:
-5-string, probably tuned C-F-Bb-Eb-G or C-F-Bb-Eb-G#
-twisted neck, -20 degrees at the nut and +15 at the bridge
-fanned fret, 36"-34" scale
-24 frets
-17mm string spacing (bridge)
-headless
-one Nordstrand BigRig humbucker somewhere around the P-position
-one volume knob, that's all!

For my "woodpile" I have:
-maple neck blank
-wenge fretboard
-Swamp ash body wings
-wenge top

For the design I have made a mockup using a Strandberg neck and an Alembic Balance K body to give you an impression. This graphic does not show the twist, so it might look a bit different in 3D.

What do you think? Design ideas are always welcome. I'm not sure about the headpiece shape yet, I will be using ABM single headpieces, so I can get a little creative here. Any suggestions?

I have already routed the twist into the neck blank, but apart from that it's still a square piece of wood. I routed the twist in an MDF router jig with two opposite inclined rails. The plan is to do as much routing in this jig as possible, including:
-routing the twist
-routing the sides of the neck with a pattern bit (square to the fretboard)
-routing the back of the neck to the desired thickness (if possible)
-routing the fretboard radius

Here's the jig with the neck blank in it:

I know it's a bit crazy, but let's get started! Ideas and suggestions always welcome.

1Edit: As @Max Bogosity pointed out, the patent on twisted necks expired in 2017.

 

To be honest, a CNC is probably the best way to do this. I don't have one and I'm not gonna buy one just for this project, therefore I'm going to use router jigs. If you want to figure this out for CNC, more power to you!

 

I have 4.5cm of "real estate" on the bass side and 7cm on the treble side. Rounded shapes at the end of the neck are a bit of an issue. I don't want to make it a cutoff like Strandberg either, but maybe I can find a compromise.

The single pickup design is less based on the body shape, but rather on myself fiddling with the control knobs and pickup selector all the time. I built myself a LP Junior DC with a single P90 pickup, and I am very much enjoying the simplicity of that. According to Nordstrand the BigRig is "a dual 51P hum-cancelling pickup", that's why I thought it might work well as a single pickup in the P-position. For more tonal variety I could make it splittable.

 

I'll take that as a compliment!

 

I don't know what things your CNC code is already compensating for, and maybe you already have this covered, but this is not a linear twist. I came to this realization when my first router jig failed The string paths have to be straight, and because they are not parallel, they require a non-linear twist. If I put a straight edge along the edge of the neck blank, I have a bow of approx. 1/4", and that's on purpose.

 

I am not. This is not just to make the build harder, but has a purpuse. It doesn't involve the circus at all.

The benefit of the twisted neck is in its ergonomics. It helps to keep both your wrists straight both at the fretting hand towards the nut and also your plucking hand close to the bridge. This helps during long sessions and also prevents tendonitis and carpal tunnel problems. Check out the Torzal website, it explains the ergonomic benefits very well. Torzal Guitars

The tuning is not that weird, it basically corresponds to C-standard, more specifically C1-F1-Bb1-Eb2-Ab2. I play in a stoner metal band and the guitar is tuned in C standard as well. If needed, I can tune down all strings a half step down and end up with 5-string standard tuning B0-E1-A1-D2-G2.

 

Sorry if I was a bit defensive. I get it , it does sound a bit crazy in my first post.
The G instead of Ab is just an option. It basically copies guitar C-standard tuning, just an octave below. I'm not sure if I'll tune it G or Ab, whatever works