Body size

[Tom Albano]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

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

Thank you for the links, I will go through them for sure.
So the center block determines size or overall width, which is obvious now that you say it
... So both the BO's and NT's are basically the same size.
I am looking at both body styles (NT) And I thought I read somewhere that the vintage body has a wider bottom as opposed to the longer horn on the BSR's.
- T