Robbert1's bass project

[robbert1]

I am, more or less, in the planning stages of a scratch build of an acoustic 5 string bass guitar with a neck-through design based on an electric 5 string I built in the past.
I do know some basics about building a guitar but am new to the acoustic part of it. The things I need a lot of information about are side bending, bracing and sound hole placement.
I want to incorporate some unusual features in my design (like said neck through construction) so I do know that I need to make a pipe bender (I've got the pipe, I am looking for the heating source) instead of a jig for bending.

[ken cierp]

The "through neck" is an interesting idea for an acoustic instument. Do you have a plan or drawing? It seems if done like an electric bass there would be no way to have the necessary free movement of the sound board? I believe there are a couple of bass plans available -- maybe free?

Do you have any pictures of the Bass you constructed?

[robbert1]

My plans are to make the dimensions of the body bigger (an extra 2 cms on the entire outline) and give it a depth of about 16 cms. I want to make the top touch the through-neck only in the place where the bridge pieces have to come and remove a layer of about .5 -1.0 cms between that point and the point where the neck enters the body.
I am planning to put the sound hole in the upper bout for a better bass response.
I am not sure yet about amplification.
WEoodwise: I have Mahogany for the sides and plan to use mahogany for the bottom as well. The top will be maple. No bindings.
The neck will probably be a mix of several woods with a Wengé fretboard. I will put in carbon rods for added stiffness together with a dual truss rod.

I am getting my specialty tools together: a tube bender for the sides and top (I want to make the top tilt a bit backwards at the position where I will be resting my arm when playing it) which I will first try out with some triplex or other cheap wood to get the hang of the process.
I am still wondering about the template for the body.

Any tips on how to pull this off and/or tips which topics to browse will be highly appreciated.