New Build - Five String single cutaway fretless

[Jisch]

I am still working on this design across the board, but I shortened the lower horn, made the body more circular on the bottom and incorporated the wave a bit in the upper horn area (the shaded area would be removed). I'm taking my time with this one so I imagine it will get many more updates and I appreciate any feedback from you guys. Unlike past designs I'm going to try and get to a "final" design before starting to cut. I want to chamber the body, but I can only do that if I know exactly where cuts are going to be.

 

[Jisch]

Looking at this picture I think the bottom needs to be thinned out a bit, too "gourdish" right now.

 

[truebenjaman]

I think the shorter lower horn works well. As for the upper horn and body curvature, I greatly prefer your first concept, which strikes me as unique and well proportioned!

 

[Will_White]

Thinking of it in the concept of a many piece body I don't think that a scroll will work well, it won't be defined enough amd I think it will end up looking to busy, I like the lower horn I think it would fit well with an upper horn like the first design.

 

[Jisch]

ok, I drew one with a "standard" upper horn. I want to be unique here, but not unique for the sake of being unique if that makes sense.

 

[BoogieZK]

I prefer the first design, by far.

 

[Jisch]

I hate to disappoint the masses, but as I've worked my way through all three of these designs (and half started a non-symmetrical one) I keep coming back to the "standard" double cut one. I keep trying to like the scrolly ones, it just doesn't look right to me. I'll keep trying!

 

[Photobassist]

Love the fingerboard! In my eyes, it reminds me of an Arizona or New Mexico landscape. I like the scroll too, definitely interested to see which way you go with this.

 

[Hopkins]

That fingerboard is beautiful, but it brings back bad memories of bad reactions to cocobolo

 

[Lonnybass]

I would leave a little extra body space around the edge where the bridge is located. Depending on the size of the round over bit, you're going to get very close to the lower left and right corners of the bridge. Just something to keep in mind as you refine the blueprints.

Lonnybass

 

[Jisch]

Thanks, I plan on using a half inch round over, I measured in enough to leave room for the bridge, but I will be careful with that.

 

[Jisch]

Working on the neck layout, I marked it out yesterday, then when I looked today I found a huge mistake. Always measure from a single point! I measured some things from the tail and some from the top, whew, glad I caught that!

 

[JustForSport]

Always measure from a single point!

Yeah, first thing I do is establish the centerline, then the nut and octaves on the centerline.

Everything goes from there.

 

[Jisch]

I was making the lines on the neck blank in between conference calls, it was a bad idea. Somewhere along the line I measured something wrong and used that as a reference point. I just erased everything and started over again, I'm not sure where I made the mistake, but it doesn't really matter.

Next I need to plan out my cuts, have to be careful not to eliminate a straight edge I might need later.

 

[Ninevolt]

Wow, can't wait to see how this turns out. I love watching these kinds of threads!

 

[Jisch]

Wow, can't wait to see how this turns out.

Me too!

 

[Jisch]

I'm making myself crazy trying to figure out what cuts to make first and how to do them on the neck blank. A router sled would surely make some of this easier, hmmm

 

[Jisch]

I got a few hours to work on the neck rough in today.

I had this all planned out with my work flow and it all came crashing down when I realized the cut I was planning was too thick for the table saw, I had to make some stuff up on the fly (always dangerous).

I made some cuts with the dreaded and feared table saw to enable easier bandsawing:

I made a one sided router sled to do the body recess, I just basically moved it back 1/2" for each pass, not the most efficient way to do it, but building a real sled would take longer than this took:

Not perfect, but close enough for now:

I cut a bunch of slats, I'll work with my wife to get the right layout done - I just dropped them on the table here:

Side view of the roughed in neck:

I forgot to bring the truss rod over, I need to do the truss rod slot then square up the bottom where the slats will attach.

I didn't have any major problems, so it all worked out.

 

[Jisch]

I really want to go back over to the shop and do the truss rod cavity, but I'm just too tired, too much thinking about what to do at 4:30 this morning.

Here's the current preferred layout (opinions welcomed):

 

[BoogieZK]

A good way to make the bottom sexier is to make it asymmetric.
Or break the round line by a notch or counter line.