Bass build, the beginning

I have been thinking about building a guitar for a long time before I began.  I bought two books that I thought would help me get a grasp on where to start.  Build Your Own Electric Guitar,  by Norman Hiscock and Making an Archtop Guitar, by Robert Benedetto.  I found both of these extremely helpful and would not be attempting this without at least this much instruction.

The first thing I did was decide exactly what I wanted to make.  Since I play bass in a gigging act, this seemed like the logical instrument to make.  The temptation of course is to try to make the most amazing, tricked out axe possible with every kind of pick-up, made from some wood that I can't pronounce the name of, that will play so well that I'll have to quit my job and become a guitar making rockstar.  Of course this is not a reasonable expectation.  I want to make a guitar that looks and plays nice.  I'm sure that this being  my first time, it will not be perfect.  I'll be happy if it plays in tune and is not visually offensive.

I'm going to build a through neck style 5 bass.  Through neck means the neck of the bass will carry through the body with the body pieces laminated on to the neck.  I guess this style has some tonal impact, maybe more sustain.  I believe the tone is mostly produced by the pick-ups and am not sure it really makes a difference. I'm choosing this style because I think it will be easier than cutting the mortise and tenon that attach the neck to the body on a traditional style of guitar.  Besides that, I think it looks really cool.  I've always wanted a five string bass and I figure it won't make it any more difficult to add an extra string (except for maybe more tension on the neck).  Other things to think about are what kind of pick-ups to use. I haven't decided yet and since I am buying small pieces at a time,  I won't need these until later in the process.  It's good to think about though and incorporate it into the design.


Next I got some big quadrule paper and a french curve and started drawing full size guitars.   I drew several different Ideas and blended different aspects that I liked in some, shifted necks up and down till I came to one that I liked.  Its a pretty traditional single cutaway with a a slightly asymetrical skew to it.  The next step for me was has been the wood selection and procurement of materials.  I'll get into this later.