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Glitchenbacker, Experimental Entirely Lasercut Bass

gmjhowe

gmjhowe

Mar 19, 2013
398
234
East Midlands, United Kingdom
www.gmjhowe.com
#1
So, I am getting near the end of my Ash and Acrylic bass guitar build.
You know what that means? Imbetween waiting for parts to arrive, I start designing the next one.

Thats what being a luthier is all about right?

I have been totally inspired my Mapleglo's Leafenbacker, and considering I don't have a 'Ric' style bass, this makes sense for the next project. Will I succeed? Maybe, will I give up before even cutting anything, perhaps. Worth a go though?

We recently got an A0 laser cutter. Which calls for an epic first project.
Originally I was planning to just laser cut the body, but I saw a cheapish bass with a neck that was laminated wood layers. So going for the whole thing.

Why laser cut? Imagine your outer shape, your interior sound chambers, your mounts, your holes all of them ready cut to perfection. Thats what is technically offered. I will be cutting it in layers of flat material which will be laminated and stacked up. Similar to a cheap plywood body.

Artistically it opens up so much more, you can do things that are nigh impossible by hand.

As such, I decided to make it fanned, fretted and headless. Oh, and I am going to make it look like it has completely glitched. Like in a computer game, not broken, just kinda messed up.

Oh, and if I decide I don't like my final colour, well I can just laser cut another one.

Here is my initial idea.
- White binding, on outside edges only. I can just laser cut this into the top layer, I can ever laser cut the white binding from acrylic.
- The crazy outline finally lets me try out an idea for converting and using standard compact tuners in a headless manner. I can sink this flush with the rear too. Maybe even hide them in the body.
- I can laser cut all the fret grooves. Just need to push the fret wire in.

Screen Shot 2014-05-18 at 21.41.33.png
 
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#4
Cool :) The design sure is something new. Looks a tad uncomfortable to play, though.

Why not laminate acrylic glass, or maybe even polycarbonate?

How do you cut fret slots with a laser cutter? Can you really cut a groove with an exact with? I didn't know that laser cutters had accurate depth control.
 
#6
Wow, cool idea! Questions or comments:
- Is that fan backwards, or are you a lefty but doing righty body?
- as mentioned, how do you control the laser depth? I've got a laser etched bamboo phone case, and the depth of cut varies by as much as 3:1 between where the laser hit the wood's capillary tubes, and where it hit plain in-between wood.
- it is going to be murder to sand and to finish the walls in those jagged cracks
 
#7
Jools4001 said:
If it's a right handed bass you need to do something about the direction of the fan frets, if it's a left handed bass you need to flip the body shape to prevent neck dive....otherwise, it's intriguing and I love it.
Click to expand...

Well spotted, I must have reflected the fingerboard several times trying to figure out which way it needed to go. (I know, I could have googled it).

Smilodon said:
Cool :) The design sure is something new. Looks a tad uncomfortable to play, though.

Why not laminate acrylic glass, or maybe even polycarbonate?

How do you cut fret slots with a laser cutter? Can you really cut a groove with an exact with? I didn't know that laser cutters had accurate depth control.
Click to expand...

pilotjones said:
Wow, cool idea! Questions or comments:
- Is that fan backwards, or are you a lefty but doing righty body?
- as mentioned, how do you control the laser depth? I've got a laser etched bamboo phone case, and the depth of cut varies by as much as 3:1 between where the laser hit the wood's capillary tubes, and where it hit plain in-between wood.
- it is going to be murder to sand and to finish the walls in those jagged cracks
Click to expand...

The advantage to using wood, is I can glue the layers together easier. The top blue layer however will be acrylic.

As for the frets, I have two options, firstly, the top fingerboard layer, I can just laser cut grooves clean through the sheet. Imagine say a 3mm bit of wood, with the slots cut, joined at either end of the slot, so I will trim the tang of the fret wire a little short. Secondly, you can etch a shallow line in wood/acrylic, no doubt you have seen laser etching? Well its exactly the same as a cut, its just putting less power through the laser. So you just need to pick a power setting that is more than an etch, but less than a cut. There is a slightly higher chance of charring/fire with that option though.

A 3rd option which I would need to try, is to actually laser cut each 'section' between frets as a separate piece, then I just glue the first one is, place the fret wire against the side and glue the next one in. This might work nicely, as the result will be frets that are held in really firmly.

As for the sanding, the finish of the laser cut edge isn't terrible. I only plan to finish the 'outer edges' as in the edges that would have been the edge in the normal body size. Which are a lot easier to get to.

And here is an update design with the correct fan on it.

Screen Shot 2014-05-19 at 08.53.10.png
 
#12
mbelue said:
I really dig the "glitched" outline, very original. Great outside-the-box thinking.
I just can't help but worry all the little protrusions would be knocked off with any handling at all.
Click to expand...

that's true.. most of the body looks like it would be okay, except maybe the small bit on the lower horn.

the headstock has some fragile bits though.


but really, if a piece breaks off...will it really deter from the look of the bass that much?
 
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#13
I like the "glitch" concept. It would be interesting to see if you could pull this off in real life. What I mean by "pull off" is when someone looks at the guitar they go "oh, that looks like a glitch." In the computer render, it looks glitch-ish.

I really like the idea, so give it a go and keep us posted! I'm sure it'll be super-sweet and I can't wait to see how it turns out.
 
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#14
Great idea, though fragile outside corners with wood-
however, if it's all laminates glued (vacuum-bagged) with epoxy (weight is something to watch, tho), then sealed with penetrating/laminating epoxy before the finish coats, it should be much more durable.
Keeping an eye on this one...
 

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