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Hey hey!

I'm studying acoustic lutherie, but can't wait to build an electric (and I need one, so...). I ordered a Precision Bass Plan, and I also bought a Spalted Maple Top ( about 1/4 or 5/16) and a Curly Maple lumber (for 12 necks!? Maybe one willl be good... ).

I'll probably change de body form a little bit. You know, i'll keep dimensions of the plan... for the neck joint, the scale, the pickup holes and all this stuff... Just to save some calculations and probleme or fitting... Anyways, i'll just change the body form a little bit, and I had the idea of partly hollow body, like maybe just remove some wood in the wings, about to reduce weight. So is my first question:
- Should I cut my Swamp Ash (I'll buy a 1¾" laminated S.A.) at ¼" (or something like that) at bottom of it to make holes in wings, and after just reglue the bottom, and the maple top?

And here comes a second question:
-What is the better way to empty picks up and electronic' holes? Regarding the fact that i'm not really equiped... ? In fact the question is: is it possible to make them other than with a router?

Thanks for your help! I have some more question, but i'll wait to be at those steps to ask it

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Hello-
You can bore out the bulk of the electronic cavities with a drill and then finish the job with a chisel.

A decent laminate router with a template-following bit can be had for around $100 and would make the job much easier. I don't know your situation but if you can swing it, I would consider the investment. You can use it to route the truss rod slot and the neck cavity as well.

If you are going to hollow-out the body to reduce weight, just make sure that you strategically place your cavities so as not to cut into them when you contour the body. Ask me how I know....

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It's not the miles ahead, it's the stone in your shoe


In Markham,Virginia

on guitars with a top i have cut out the electronics cavity with a hand held reciprocating saw and then cleaned up the inside with a spindle sander (you could do this by hand with files or sand paper or something it'll just take a while), but as far as the pickup cavities and the neck joint and truss rod channel i agree with Jon, you would be ahead to get a router. personally i use a machine mill to do all my cavities... but im guessing if you don't have a router you probably don't have one of those either.. lol. you could do it like Jon was saying with a drill bit and stuff but you will save yourself a lot of time and probably some headaches if you just get a router.

doing a partial hollow body is definitely a possibility, but once again it would be far easier to just buy a router and route out some cavities before you glue the top on rather than all that with sawing of the bottom and gluing it back on (thats way more work than its wort IMO), but personally i think i would be careful doing cavities in a bass body, they tend to be neck heavy a lot of the time anyway. if you do put one in it though i would just make sure that your upper horn comes all the way up to 12th fret or maybe a little better.

one other thing, curly maple isn't as stable as straight grain maple, so you may want to consider some type of extra reinforcement like CF or something.

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Ok, yhea, i'll probably get a router. And after reflexion, I wont do cavities in the body... But today, i remarked that my spalted maple was stuck just beside a bloodwood lumber... then I said... WOW. So I'll put a double-top, Maple, Bloodwood (or some red-teinted wood...), Swamp Ash. And for the neck, i'll consider your advise... I have a lumber au curly but maybe I wont use it (Maybe would-it enough stable for a guitar?)

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

if i were going to make anything with a single piece of curly maple i would reinforce it just becuase you dont know how its going to behave. anymore i dont even use a single piece of straight grained wood for a neck i laminate almost all the necks that i do. i like to have neck that is stable enough that a truss rod is just a luxury not n necessity. I'm in the middle of a build right now that will have a solid piece of curly maple as the neck im going to put a two way adjustable truss rod and carbon fiber in it.
its one of those things where you maybe be ok and you may not, but i dont like to put that much work into a neck and then gamble on how stable it will turn out being.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

I'll second the thoughts on a laminate neck...for the same reasons. I also have found it easier to plan the neck with laminates, as I don't have to find a single billet that is the right size.

Ok. I'll reconsider the idea of laminate my neck... Maybe with bloodwood and Ebony... cause there's gonna be bloodwood for "bindings" and ebony on my head veneer.

And, talking about this... What is the better to procede with my laminations for the body? I'll have probably have about 1 or 1¼ inch of swamp Ash, 1/8" of bloodwood, and 1/4" ou 3/16" of Spalted Maple. How to procede? Glue Spalted on bloodwood, and after glue it on ash, or go for 3 at the same time? What is the better glue, the better way the ajust pieces, etc... Glue it rough, or glue it "body shaped"?

I have my ideas and point of view about this but, i'm curious to hear your suggestions.

Thanks a lot!

Ti-Roux

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

If it were me, I would glue the biggest chunk up first, then the next layer, then the topmost. If you try to glue the thin layers together, it will likely curl up on you.

Darrin

Dah, it's logic! Thanks man lol!

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

as for glueing it up rough or shaped, thats just a matter of personal preference. i have done it both ways and i would say imo its easier to glue up it up just roughly to shape and then work it on the spindle sander, but some builds wont allow you to do so...

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/