An idea for a chambered body construction - whaddya think?

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

I had this idea for a thinline body: take four 8" x 1" x 24" pieces of wood, two of which would be glued together for the top, two for the bottom - instead of a 2 piece solid body or a solid with laminate top.

I'd hollow out thinline style chambers on either side, (mirror the chambering on the body, anticipating the ultimate shape of the body), then glue the 2 sections chambered side pieces together separately.  Once that's dried, glue the chambered sides together to end up with a 4 piece slab, solid down the middle, chambered down the sides.  Cut it out (with VERY careful attention paid to the location of the chambers, of course), rout it, voilá!

Or would it be better to glue the 2 top & 2 bottom pieces together first, then chamber both sections, then glue the top & bottom sections together?

Or is this a totally crackheaded idea that shouldn't even be attempted?  It seems not entirely different from the construction of a regular chambered body (with 2 piece back & book matched top), or is it?

 

[greywolf]

I  chamber all of my guitars , I do it after the body is bonded to the neck through.

 

[Cagey]

You would end up with the same thing as a typical chambered body, just with a little more than double the work and add some added risk.

Usually, you would only chamber the back or main bulk of the body and put a thinner top over that to enclose it.

If you chamber the two sides before gluing them together, the glue-up may misbehave. Two solid chunks can be more easily aligned and safely clamped up. Route the thing as a whole, glue the top on and be done with it.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

My thought on the rout out the chambers THEN cut was that I could screw the top & bottom pieces together (to avoid drifting) in spots where I know would be cut away once the body comes out.

Route the thing as a whole, glue the top on and be done with it.

Pfft, I've already done it that way!  I wanna try something new & strange.  :toothy12:

Besides, my thought on this is that I'd be using four separate 1" thick pieces, so there'd need to be a bit of planing & chambering on both sides.  I'm a tad fixated on some particular pieces of wood I saw today at a local lumber boutique, and they were both only 1" thick, but otherwise had plenty of length to be cut & glued into a body for a fine lookin' bass.  I'll be back there later to look through their stocks more, might find something different.

 

[Cagey]

Well, one advantage of doing it the way you want to is you could sandwich a thin layer of some contrasting wood between the top and bottom halves and have an accent line or pinstripe going around the centerline perimeter of the body. Kinda like they did between the top and bottom covers on this body...

... only in the center rather than on the edges. That would be sharp. Maybe even get fancy and do something maybe 1/4" thick with an 1/8" thick piece on either side of that, then the top and bottom on either side of that. Kinda like a wooden racing strip. If you don't have a bandsaw large enough to resaw pieces like that, veneer would work for the thin pieces and 1/4" stock can be made on a planer from something thicker.

 

[stubhead]

The "hippie sandwich" construction uses layers of different woods. Alembic is the big pioneer of these, another notable user is Carl Thompson, who's basses have a two year wait:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Thompson_%28luthier%29

There's a long video series about him, I can't remember which one but somewhere in here he talks about his construction technique as a way of using certain kinds of wood that he couldn't square up otherwise. I think it's like a six-part series? It's all worth watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZILQBY_l-4

It does seem that whatever you can get to work is what works.... there are no rules. Except make it great, which usually comes to pass around a luthier's 20th try. If they are willing to identify what's not great about the first 19.... :laughing3: Warmoth, and the great extant of information available these days, and all the parts, speeds things up a lot - as long as you're willing to copy combinations that have now been proven to work, and you know some guitar stuff, you can get them very good the first time.

 

[greywolf]

Rickenbacker chambers thier guitars as a billet , then cuts the body profile , and glues on the top .

 

[stubhead]

There's a lot of this style going on:

Sometimes the center block goes all the way up and down to the neck and tail. A 1" top isn't going to give you any resonance, I don't think. I think it would end up sounding exactly like a solidbody made of the same woods that weighed the same total body weight.

 

[tylereot]

There's a lot of this style going on:

Sometimes the center block goes all the way up and down to the neck and tail. A 1" top isn't going to give you any resonance, I don't think. I think it would end up sounding exactly like a solidbody made of the same woods that weighed the same total body weight.

Picture=1000 words.  I think this is the way most do it.  Talking with Marc Culbertson at Gilmer, he's particular about using a maple block, quartersawn, end grain up, I believe, for the bridge block.  Long neck tennon under the neck pickup.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Well, one advantage of doing it the way you want to is you could sandwich a thin layer of some contrasting wood between the top and bottom halves and have an accent line or pinstripe going around the centerline perimeter of the body. Kinda like they did between the top and bottom covers on this body...

... only in the center rather than on the edges. That would be sharp. Maybe even get fancy and do something maybe 1/4" thick with an 1/8" thick piece on either side of that, then the top and bottom on either side of that. Kinda like a wooden racing strip.

OOOooooh.... That is a RAD idea.  Hmm.... just thinking it through, it would mean a lot more planning & careful drawing & cutting, but yeah.... that would be kind of amazing.

 

[greywolf]

that makes for a very solid structure and won't tent to have the feed back problems as the back can't flex like a hollowbody ( although you lose some tone) 

 

[Cagey]

OOOooooh.... That is a RAD idea.  Hmm.... just thinking it through, it would mean a lot more planning & careful drawing & cutting, but yeah.... that would be kind of amazing.

Maybe not as much as it would seem at first blush. Just glue up one side of the sandwich with the veneers or whatever will go in the center as a solid piece, then route it out as originally planned. Route the other side as planned, and glue them together as planned.

 

[mayfly]

OOOooooh.... That is a RAD idea.  Hmm.... just thinking it through, it would mean a lot more planning & careful drawing & cutting, but yeah.... that would be kind of amazing.

Maybe not as much as it would seem at first blush. Just glue up one side of the sandwich with the veneers or whatever will go in the center as a solid piece, then route it out as originally planned. Route the other side as planned, and glue them together as planned.

I have a secret plan to do just this with an iconic C&W guitar known for it's funky looks and heavy heavy weight.  The trick will be sawing the thing in half lengthwise.

 

[Cagey]

You may end up having to quarter the thing, depending on the size of your bandsaw. Be easier to plane as well.

 

[mayfly]

You may end up having to quarter the thing, depending on the size of your bandsaw. Be easier to plane as well.

Yea, I have not gotten to practicalities yet.  Still in dreamland currently.

 

[Cagey]

I know what you mean. Every time I look at that tricked-up rosewood Tele body in the Showcase, I get inspired. But, it's unlikely I'll be building a proper woodshop here, so the ideas will probably stay in dreamland.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

One last update - I came across a great example of what I was thinking:

That's one of Paul Rhoney's amazing creations (details here).  This pretty much seals it that I'll join the top & bottom sections first, then chamber, then glue top & bottom together.

 

[ZionWarmoth]

Good stuff, but you need to have the tools and some experience will also help.