One-piece bass - pros/cons

[animal52]

well... I hate to say it, but now that I've begun to do some more serious research into a first build, my idea for a one-piece bass seems like a dumb one. A talented luthier (not me, not by a long shot) could pull it off no doubt, but building in that way would waste lots of good wood, which is not worth the (debatable) benefits of a one-piece design.

Thanks everyone for chiming in with well-deserved criticism of this idea (seriously, not being sarcastic).

 

[pi_r_squared]

ok....I need a clarification here.

When you say "one piece bass", does this mean no separate fretboard? and if it does, what sort of magic is done to run a truss rod? or is it done without a truss rod as well?

A while back I saw something that might be fun if one was tempted to try to build a "1 piece bass" (although it wouldn't really be 1 piece). I guy was selling 6 ft long pieces of bowling alley lanes, hard maple, about 3" thick, pieces about 1" wide, and 3 inches thick. I guess it starts out at either 4 or 4 1/2" thick and after years of finish sanding it was down to about 3".

Anyway, it probably very well dried, might look cool when it's done, or if not cool, certainly the only one on the block.

And as far as trying it, just look at it like making pancakes from scratch.....just plan on throwing the first one away, and you won't be disappointed.

Just think of all the things you'll know not to do after the first one

 

[mikeyswood]

The bowling alley idea wouldn't work. Trust me.

 

[NickMarinelli]

I give you the Ritter Roya Concept:

Invalid Link Removed

 

[M0ses]

The bowling alley idea wouldn't work. Trust me.

I trust you, but I'm curious as to the reason why.

 

[Ray Holt]

The pros, as I see it, are identical to a well-constructed neck-thru design. For a building novice (to put it mildly ) such as myself, approaching the bass as a single piece of wood seems somehow simpler. I can't explain explain it much better than to say that there is a certain appeal in stripping a potential build down to basics.

Building a bass out of one, big, solid piece of wood is NOT basics. Basics is building a bass with cheap wood as the body, a good hard wood as the neck, making it a normal bolt on or set neck, and seeing how it comes out.

Get your feet wet. I don't know if you've built anything yet. Even if you have, like others have said and you have realized, what are the pros?

Really, the only "pro" (if you can call it that) is novelty.

Which is not really a pro.

 

[mikeyswood]

I trust you, but I'm curious as to the reason why.

I have 300' laying in my garage. They are assembled with gaps and large metal spikes randomly inserted.

 

[Mcfunkinstein]

one piece bass? slap some frets,a bridge, a pickup and a holding nut on a 2x4 make it headless and go nuts

 

[Ol'Bass'ead]

Building a bass out of one, big, solid piece of wood is NOT basics. Basics is building a bass with cheap wood as the body, a good hard wood as the neck, making it a normal bolt on or set neck, and seeing how it comes out.

Get your feet wet. I don't know if you've built anything yet. Even if you have, like others have said and you have realized, what are the pros?

Really, the only "pro" (if you can call it that) is novelty.

Which is not really a pro.

This was my first thought. And my second was the "1 mistake and youve just ruined a lot of wood" thought.

I personally dont see an advantage anywhere. Harder to work with, harder to come up with a big enough piece in the first place, and harder to work with. If youre going to laminate up this "one" piece bass anyway, why not do it in sections-glue up the neck and get it finished, then glue on the wings. If you use all the same wood, it will look the same either way, but be way easier to work around.