First Build - "Lucifer"

[TerribleTim68]

Okay, so after a lot of forum questions, stalking, drooling and wishing, I'm gonna post this as my official build thread for this. So pray for me! The way I see it, it might take me 2 years to complete this, but what the heck, right?

So the plan: 5-string Neck-Thru Multiscale
This fills the void in my collection of all three of these, neck-thru, fan-fret and 5-string, all in one shot!

The design: A cross between things I like.
Dingwall bottom end mixed with ESP LTD F-Series horns and a simple yet cool looking headstock. Here's the first pass at a drawing, been a while since I was inside AutoCAD but it's like riding a bike, right?

I'll be working on this drawing some more adding more detail for things like the bridge, control knob locations, tuners, etc as I move forward. But this is my starting point, ground zero.

I'll call this one "Lucifer" because it has some pointy bits, the devil is in the details and it's probably gonna be in my nightmares for years to come.

Pray for me!

 

[TerribleTim68]

Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be a TON of other questions. But first my focus right now is finishing up this drawing, printing it out and then refining it based off full scale dimensions and how it seems to "feel" once I get to that point.

 

[Rôckhewer]

Pray for me!

Sure....You got it pal.
Although,...ah... to be clear...
. ..given the moniker....
Precisely whom shall I direct this invocation to?

 

[TerribleTim68]

Sure....You got it pal.
Although,...ah... to be clear...
. ..given the moniker....
Precisely whom shall I direct this invocation to?

You catch on quick Rock!

 

[Rôckhewer]

.... I mean, I am an ordained priest....
Lemme see if I got a sorta "PC" invocation for public....
.....achhhem....
...
Oohhh great and powerful ...OZ....
I beseech thee!
Grant unto this fine and eager apprentice
...the attendance of St. Cecilia
...the skills of St. Stradivarius
... and the patience of Monica the Hippo.
Please tell Saints Dymphna and Rita to get stuffed...
...for they are surely naughty... in thy sight.
....
Amen.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

.... I mean, I am an ordained priest....
Lemme see if I got a sorta "PC" invocation for public....
.....achhhem....
...
Oohhh great and powerful ...OZ....
I beseech thee!
Grant unto this fine and eager apprentice
...the attendance of St. Cecilia
...the skills of St. Stradivarius
... and the patients of Monica the Hippo.
Please tell Saints Dymphna and Rita to get stuffed...
...for they are surely naughty... in thy sight.
....
Amen.

Man, I hope that’s not Paul Simon’s “Cecilia!” We don’t need to be shaking his confidence daily!

 

[Rôckhewer]

Man, I hope that’s not Paul Simon’s “Cecilia!” We don’t need to be shaking his confidence daily!

Patron Saints.... (and I'm not even Catholic)

Cecilia....music
Stradivarius... Luthiers? (I canonized him myself)
Monica..... patience
Dymphna?....
Dymphna is the patron saint of the nervous, emotionally disturbed, mentally ill, and those who suffer neurological disorders – and, consequently, of psychologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists. She is also the patron saint of victims of incest.
Rita?... patron saint of marriage difficulties.

I purposely left out St. Jude... the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes.
Because.... I have faith... that Tim the Terrible....
... will prevail!!

( sorry.... I will stop cluttering your thread now)

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Oh, so Subbed. Really dig the body shape. Took me 4 years to build my first, so 2 Years sounds like high speed! Hippy Sandwich? Laminate neck with fancy stringers? Do tell. I have only one piece of useful advice, spend a lot of time getting your templates PERFECT, and the rest will go easy. I like 1/2" MDF, but plywood is good too. You got Rockhewer's attention, its all Gravy now.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Are you cutting the fret slots yourself? I dont even know if anybody does multiscale CNC pre cut boards yet. Anybody know?

 

[TerribleTim68]

Are you cutting the fret slots yourself? I dont even know if anybody does multiscale CNC pre cut boards yet. Anybody know?

I figure I'm gonna have to cut them myself.

 

[TerribleTim68]

... Hippy Sandwich? Laminate neck with fancy stringers? Do tell...

Ideally, all of that. I need to get this drawing finished first but I'd like to do a laminate neck, probably 5 pieces of contrasting wood and then some sort of sandwich for the body wings. I like the look of multi-lams and a sandwich body when you start carving some of the edges over and the layers start revealing themselves. Luckily my boss who owns the fancy wood shop has done that stuff so he can guide me there.

 

[BassWaffle]

Pray for me!

hail satan!

 

[TerribleTim68]

Well, I'm learning that the drawing is clearly the most important thing. Trying to keep adding detail to it and the first thing I noticed is that my headstock design won't work with the tuner layout I want, so I need to do some redesign there. I'm also struggling with string spacing, it just doesn't look right yet. I know that will come down to "print it full scale and hold it", but to me it just seems too wide at the bridge right now. Took some measurements off my ESP 6er, omitting the high C string, but I'm struggling to understand what FretFind is spitting out. It seems like the spacing at the bridge actually comes out as the spacing at the last fret. Or at least that's what it appears to have done to me. I don't know, I need to investigate some more. FretFind is confusing, lol!

Edit: Just to expand on this. Dimensions off my ESP 6er, omitting the high C, gives me a string spacing (center of lowest string to center of highest string) of 1-3/4" at the nut and 2-1/2" at the bridge. When I input that into FretFind it seems to spit out 1-3/4" at the nut and 2-1/2" at the 24th fret, not the bridge. The bridge spacing seems to come out closer to 2-5/8". Might not be a huge deal, but maybe that 1/8" matters, I dunno.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I figure I'm gonna have to cut them myself.

Brave man! Using my superior Google-Fu by laboriously and bravely typing "CNC Multiscale Fingerboards" and hitting ENTER, I managed to answer my own question. I assume I'll start getting ads for this company on my TB ad feed any minute now:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[TerribleTim68]

Brave man! Using my superior Google-Fu by laboriously and bravely typing "CNC Multiscale Fingerboards" and hitting ENTER, I managed to answer my own question. I assume I'll start getting ads for this company on my TB ad feed any minute now:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Huh, well I'll be dipped in poo and covered with a thin candy shell. Interesting, thanks for the link. Might actually be easier than trying to tackle it myself by the time you factor in the cost of the wood. Gonna have to keep that one in mind!

 

[wmhill]

I love the looks of the F series, and they are super comfortable to play. Now get busy, we want pictures....

 

[TerribleTim68]

... Now get busy, we want pictures....

Well, here's a picture of the drawing as it evolves. I've gone back to a 34"-37" scale and I'm continuing to add more detail for pickup layout, my tuner layout forced a headstock revision and trying to think through things like controls, etc. -

I'm still not happy with the string spacing, I'm just kind of baffled as to what is right. It's also hard to tell in AutoCAD because all the lines are the same thickness and we know the strings are not so it's highly probable that it is just playing tricks on my eyes. My headstock looks too fat to me as well. I want something that compliments the pointy-ness of the body without completely ripping off ESP/LTD, but this seems almost as wide as it is long which is also tricking my eyes. But I also want the tuners laid out so the strings don't make funky bends after the nut, I like that "straight through" look, so that is driving some of this.

Still moving forward, but so far to go!

 

[edencab]

looks cool!...only thought ...that one "point" on the body, above the pickup location, might be uncomfortable for your forearm...if you took it out it would still look good

 

[IconBasser]

Oooo dis' goin' be good!

I love the body shape. Sub'd!

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Man, that looks great, but I think the headstock could be longer, the proportion of the bass allows it visually. Keep the straight line pull, but maybe draw it out a little? At some point I eventually drew the strings to actual width to check where they really end up relative to nut width, two schools of thought, equal space between strings vs. equal centerlines. Equal spaces makes more sense to me, but it’s pretty subtle. Might make a tiny difference in tuner post spacing too, biased to reflect actual string thickness, particularly on the B and E strings. I think the little point on the upper bout is far enough in to not dig into you, but the template will let you try it on. My first build, I made a full size/thickness plywood mockup. Not a perfect analog, but it gave me a rough idea how it would balance.