Plywood faces over solid wood sides is a relatively uncommon way of building a guitar body. It is similar to plywood over plywood, except the sides have a nice wood grain that can be left exposed.
This body is maple plywood over a hollow pine core, double-bound. It came out very lightweight, too light to balance even a guitar neck. This was originally going to be the 12-string, but I realized that it would never balance. So I shuffled parts and bodies between some other projects - a planned six-string got canceled and became the twelver. That left this body free. I thought about it a while and decided it would make a good mandolin.
More: Audiovox Mandolin ...
This bass is a 21" scale, with a piezo saddle mounted in an adjustable bridge. The soundhole is just for looks. The strings are metal-wound Kalas. The fretboard is cut out of the ugliest piece of wood I ever received. For such a small neck, I managed to cut around most of the ugly, and the result isn't half bad.
More: Audiovox Uke Bass ...
This was a box of junk I got on eBay, originally a vintage Convertible. I replaced the front and back with cabinet-grade birch plywood, as the original mother-of-countertop material is no longer available. I rebuilt it as something like a Companion, which is a very rare model. The neck and sides are vintage, the rest is modern.
More: Danelectro Companion Guitar ...
These were my first two tries at a 325 bass. Both are plywood over pine hollow-bodies. The one on the left - #1 - used an experimental neck mounting that I didn't like. The one on the right - #2 - suffered a router mishap. I took all the good parts and built the solid-body, and both of these spent years on the scrap heap.
More: Rickenbacker 325 Bass 1 ...
These were my first two tries at a 325 bass. Both are plywood over pine hollow-bodies. The one on the left - #1 - used an experimental neck mounting that I didn't like. The one on the right - #2 - suffered a router mishap. I took all the good parts and built the solid-body, and both of these bodies spent years on the scrap heap.
More: Rickenbacker 325 Bass 2 ...
The skunk stripe is the walnut strip down the back of many 'classic' guitar necks. It is an indication of the type of truss rod within: A single steel bar in a curved channel. To create a perpendicular force, a truss rod needs two members: one in tension and one in compression. The skunk stripe rod uses the neck itself as the compression member. This was originated on a guitar neck and then extended to the bass. The problem is, a bass neck is much longer and less stiff than a guitar neck and is under much greater compression. The last thing you want to do is add more compression. Also, using two dissimilar materials for the two members inserts a host of issues, and using steel against wood, that's just hideous. The wonder of the skunk stripe is that most of the time you get away with it, despite how awful the design is. Of course, it is very cheap and easy to manufacture, in a factory setting.
More: Skunk Stripes ...