First Build: See any problems with design?

[CptanPanic]

Hello,
I am a long time lurker, and finally am ready to build my first guitar. Below are some pictures of my design from sketchup. I just wanted to post here before I start cutting in case I have some glaring mistake. It is a 34" scale 5 string. I got some nice cuban mahagony for body, and some other nice unknown neck wood. I am not sure about the fretboard, but it might be some nice curly maple I have.
Thanks,
CP

 

[138BASS]

pics?? I think you forgot to attach them.

 

[CptanPanic]

Can you see them now?

 

[Rodent]

two things immediately come to mind when reading your post:

* some other nice unknown neck wood

* not sure about the fretboard, but it might be some nice curly maple

personally, I'd never construct a neck out of nice looking mystery wood or use figured Maple (except for Birdseye) for a fretboard unless it was first acrylized.

outside of this (very significant IMO) caution, the only other thing that looks suspect if your bridge placement, as it appears you have positioned the 34" mark behind your bridge saddles. if you search this forum, you'll see an interesting thread about intonation on a 34" scale and where there are no significant examples of where you would ever need to intonate shorter (supposing you have your nut and frets placed correctly)

since I prefer not to re-model your bass, I cannot comment on the string spacing at the neck heel, how the strings will line-up across the pickup pole pieces (but it does look off to me based on your images), or whether the strings will pull straight across the headstock with the minimal dimensions you've provided.

have fun with your first build, and take your time to get things done correctly. you'll learn a ton about building that can be applied to your future builds

all the best,

R

 

[ctmullins]

Looks pretty straightforward to me. Your tuners are mounted backwards, though. And your pickups look a little close to the bridge for my tastes.

Oh - and you'll want to measure 34" from the edge of the nut to the center of the bridge saddle for the highest-pitched string, not the back edge of the saddle. (Edit: Rodent beat me to it.)

Love the headstock shape. Bolt-on, set-neck, or neck-thru?

 

[atheos]

Don't use unknown wood for neck. There might be unpleasant surprises.

 

[CptanPanic]

Thanks for the suggestions. I fixed the mistake about the bridge placement. I moved the neck back, and made it a little longer to keep a 100mm neck pocket and will have 23 frets. I also fixed the upside down tuners, although the picture doesn't show it.

I found out what kind of wood the neck blank is. It is African Mahagony and is quatersawn and has a nice tight grain (density of 732kg/m3.

I have attached some more pictures showing the fixed bridge location, outer string spacing with 5mm to fretboard edges, and headstock with string locations. Keep the suggestions coming.
Thanks,
CP

 

[jordan_frerichs]

I would not worry to much about flamed maple wood for the fb. i did it on my 1st build. Just make sure it is hard maple. also use a hard finish. i layered poly gloss on it pretty heavy. You can treat the fb with Krazy (or super, or expoxy. people use different things, so look into it a bit) glue, and a razor blade to spread it in and make sure that globs of it don't dry on the surface and become a pain. I have not yet done this on a fb (have on a body though) but i plan to on the bloodood fb for my current build, along with the fb for a fretless i will do in the summer. idk if you are doing a radius or not, but i am almost certain it would be an easier job with a flat fb, which i am doing on my fbs i will treat.