Body size

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Tom Albano

Hello, Since there is a thread similar to what I was going to post I thought I would try my question here...

Are the sizes of the Bolt on bodies the same as the Neck throughs... is there any difference at all?
I am looking at possibly buying a NT Smith in upcoming month/s .
Thanks and sorry if I hijacked the thread it seemed like a good place to post my question
- Tom

It's a very good and valid question. I have probably answered similar questions before but maybe not as exactly asked.

We make two body 'wing' shapes. The BT and the BSR. The Fusion is a modified BSR in the Neck Tail shaping and the older pre-BSR shape the BMT was just a bit bigger.

If using the same shape, a Bolt-on has a tapered center block and the Neck Thru a tapered neck. It's the exact same taper so between the two, with the exception of some sanding for glue-up of the body to the neck or center and the sanding of the bass by hand during the carving/pre-finish stage. It is the Neck or Center Block for a 4, 5 or 6 string that makes any of our basses wider, not the body 'wing' as they are all uniform in size for each shape. Although the Necks and Center Blocks are machined flat on the Shaper machine and the Body Wings Jointed, there is still some slight movement in the wood as it sits between stages so just before glue-up, we use small sanding planes we have made and a square to true up all the glue surfaces to perfect the joint as humanly possible.

Some links here that might be helpful and/or interesting to look at;
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/ft/sho...on/naptha.html
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/ft/sho...nterblock.html
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/ft/sho.../wingjoin.html
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/ft/sho...blockjoin.html
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/ft/sho...velsquare.html
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/ft/sho...BDYglueup.html