Your ideas about building a chambered eucalyptus body

[zionstrat]

Hello wood working gurus! I’m a woodworking neophyte and would like to do a project with my Dad- I’ve built lots of parts instruments, so hoping that a bass body won’t be too hard= Long scale, 34 inch bolt on- Buying everything except the body

I could use input on a wide range of topics- Concept follows and totally open to ideas!

1. Wood- I have a eucaliptus trunk that has been drying for a few years and would like to cut into planks, join and make a bass body from it and wonder if this makes sense?

a. Eucalyptus Trunk is roughly 12’ long * 5”circumfrance
b. Cut into strips
i. Maybe 2”*2”*2’
ii. End up with a solid hunk of wood that is 2 inches thick
iii. Band saw shape and rout as if we were making a solid body
iv. My Dad has a lot of joining and non-guitar woodworking experience
v. Does this make sense so far?

2. Design-I understand that eucalyptus has great tone, but is very heavy, so we were thinking
a. Bass sized, L5 shape with a flat top (would look something like a Rumblecat)
b. Rout out the wings from the backside
c. Keep the complete center section from neck pocket to end pin intact to support neck, bridge, pups
d. Will end up with 2 symmetrical, routed sections on either side of the center
i. Bevel those edges and cover with plastic covers that are significantly larger than the average back plates
e. Does this make sense?

3. What would it Sound like?
a. Technically it won’t be a hallow body, but I image it will have more thump and less sustain- like a chambered electric?

b. I imagine eucalyptus is bright

c. I imagine that this design might do well with 3 passive pups
i. Neck mini-humbucker, maybe get a somewhat thin thump similar to a 60s hollow body
1. The size would be nice
2. Or alternatively, a big Gibson EB3 L neck pickup that would be less bright?

ii. Pbass center, normal placement for somewhat traditional Pbass thick sound
1. I’m a jbass nut and could imagine J pup in the center could work- But trying to make up for the ‘hollow’ nature and image the pbass pup would be the only ‘heavy bottom’ pup

iii. Jbass bridge pup-
1. As I said, I’m a J nut and Joco rules, but if eucalyptus is bright, this might be rather bright

iv. Probably a standard Jbass bridge

v. 3 vol and master tone

vi. Will probably go with a 5 position blade
1. Jbass bridge
2. Jbass + Pbass
3. Pbass
4. Pbass + Neck
5. Neck

d. Does this make sense and what would it probably sound like?

4. Questions
a. Appreciate feedback on all question above

b. How deep should we rout the wings?
i. Leave ¼ inch of top?
ii. Is this strong enough and the top isn’t really acoustic, so no reason to go thinner? Any reason to go thicker

c. Controls- Would have to route controls sections much farther to allow pots and switches to make it through the top- I guess these are standard thickness, and we are depending on the strength of the rest of the top to keep control cavities from collapsing

d. How wide should the sides be?
i. I image that we would route the wing cavities to leave ½ sides?
ii. Would this be strong enough, considering that the center section will be solid?

e. Ideas on a free design app?
i. Google markup?
ii. Something better?

Appreciate any additional ideas, thoughts-

 

[VinceT]

Re: Your ideas about building a chambered eucalyptus body

On the chambering at what Music Man did on the Reflex guitar (don't know if they did similar with the bass) - it works really well.


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[AlexR]

Re: Your ideas about building a chambered eucalyptus body

Tone and workability depends on the Eucalyptus species. My bro made a bass out of redgum. It was dense, heavy as hell, split, and sounded terminally muddy.

I would bear the weight, but keep it solid myself. I'm thinking those plates are going to be cheap looking and not really do much. My educated guess is chambering tends to work best where the chamber has a complete surrounding of wood - not an open back effectively (the plastic would simply absorb any of the effect.

Maybe tapering off the edges, the middle can be 1 1/2 inch to 1 3/4 inch (most fenders I think are 1 3/4, things like the Flying V and Firebird are 1 1/2 thick).....you can then get down to maybe 1" wide by the time you get to the edges.

All routing is done so that the bit that has to fit in that rout will fit. Pickups are routed deep enough so they can adjust under the string properly, electrics cavities are routed so the pots you choose will poke out far enough. Only once you have your parts will you know what depth you need.

Design/shape is purely up to you. Find one, print it at 1:1 and stick the paper to you body blank. Cut and sand away.

I've made numerous guitars, some hollow, some semi, some solid. The key thing I've found is the more you deviate from a standard model, the more you need to make it up as you go. And for sure you need to have ALL of you hardware before you start the build. Never assume a standard measurement for any item. Have it in hand and measure then.

Below - 2 different designs, 3 different neck attachments. Without a bridge you can't make decisions on the neck rout. Without a neck you can't make a decision on the bridge placement OR neck rout.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Your ideas about building a chambered eucalyptus body

The key thing I've found is the more you deviate from a standard model, the more you need to make it up as you go. .

That's happened to me. My current build is so retarded it's just not even funny. :boggled: next time less frets

I always start with about 6months of pondering followed by another 6.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Your ideas about building a chambered eucalyptus body

Not only is eucalyptus heavy, but it's a very oily wood. Not so sure it is the best choice to do the way you want. After you cut out the blanks (better make them at least 2 1/4" thick to allow for shrinkage and warpage) you would need to let dry (preferably kiln dry) for many months before planing and gluing together. This is a project that could take a year before even beginning to cut out the body shape.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Your ideas about building a chambered eucalyptus body

There's almost 1,000 species of eucalyptus from climates all over the continent and the woods vary greatly. They range from shrubs to the world's tallest hardwoods (300'). Can't really make any generalizations about the wood. You should ask some Australian luthiers what species work best for guitars.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Your ideas about building a chambered eucalyptus body

^ Funnily enough that tall hardwood (Mountain ash) is actually one that has been used for guitars. I'm not sure on some of the others......maybe Tassie blue also.

Checkout this guy - perhaps some of nicest guitars I've ever seen - and a LOT of Aussie wood used:
http://www.bluestoneguitars.com.au/html/HOME.html

There are several galleries of guitars where perhaps some tonewood types are listed.