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So I’m very new to all of this but really looking forward to learning more and more as I go. My biggest motivation for getting the xcarve was that I could design my own bass and/or guitar bodies. This is my first attempt and is still a work in progress.
Keeping in mind that this is also largely a test project at the moment, and I am keeping the cost as low as possible, I designed the bass body in Easel and used a laminated pine shelf from home depot (I know, I know) that I cut in half and glued together to make the full depth of the body. I then used the xcarve to route out the neck, bridge and pick up cavities as well as the outside perimeter.
From there I’ve done some minor carving by hand (still need to do plenty more). Everything is coming together so far and haven’t had to do too much tweaking to get things to feel right so far.
We test necks and bodies all the time with Home Depot pine boards. There’s actually a company that brings bodies in to be painted, and there gimmick is that they are pine and sound vintage, lol.
Work with what you have. Looks good so far.
I appreciate all the support, it still has a ways to go and I’m waiting on some pots to finish off the electronics. Some questions or concerns I have at the moment are what do you all use to seal and protect the pine? It’s obviously a softer wood that can be dented or scratched pretty easily and I’m thinking I’d like to flame the wood to bring out the grain. Any suggestions for a protective finish that is somewhat natural feeling/looking would be great. I have yet to dive into the finishing research.
I just realized I had never followed up with the end result. Here’s a picture of the finished bass. I ended up going for a rougher look than i originally intended, but I’m digging it.
That was an interesting turn of events, the pots weren’t long enough to get through the wood I had left after the cavity, so instead of routing deeper, I opted to inlay some wood into where the knobs would go and throw an f-hole inlay into that, fix a mistake and add a different aesthetic thing.
