Cool idea.
Electric.
Why:
1. All the variables (Mutt probably got most of them) make designing an acoustic a pretty daunting task- how would you know what design feature did what? Electrics have fewer variables, or at least easier to change variables- you can swap out pups in an hour, whereas changing the top's bracing pattern requires rebuilding the entire guitar.
2. Results should be more interesting, at least visually.
3. If we are lucky enough to avoid a monstrosity (see "Ugly guitars" posts,) we might have a decent guitar. But as it will be done by committee, the smart money says "Ugly!"
Acoustic, but something out of the ordinary. A hybrid, like a solid body electric for the top. Resonant ports along the sides. Some weird monstrosity.
Reasoning: to do somethign out of the ordinary.
Acoustic, cos any fool with a hammer and chainsaw can build an electric.
24.75 scale, neck through
Reason?
I like the playability of the shorter scale length, and I like the richer, fuller sound and solid feel of the neck through design.
If an electric design is ultimately decided upon:
I would like to see you add the PRS 25" scale to your list of standard options.
I would like a decision on Hollow, Semi-hollow, or solid made before I chose a scale length or neck joint.
It would be interesting for you to set a rule that guitar not be a copy of a popular commercial design. I'd like to see the drawings you get.
We are going electric 7 - 4.
Any reason why you would choose the scale length post body design? It's not normally done that way. Assuming a fairly standard neck body join in terms of what fret it occurs at the scale length dictates a few things that for ever after are set in stone such as bridge position. In the case of a hollow or chambred body it also limits where you can and cant remove material from to some degree.
This is a point in case though and part of this exercise is to illustrate that design is not simply a question of taking all the bits you like and stacking them up..
The first question I ask myself is what I would use the guitar for. In my thinking everything flows from that. I might choose a different scale length for a deep bodied archtop than I would for a solidbody with humbuckers as I would play the two guitars differently.
25 1/2 scale please. I prefer the extra tension that you get with the longer scale. 24 3/4 scale gits make the strings feel a little 'rubbery' to me.
And while you can go up a string guage to offset that it's not quite the same. I also like having slightly more room at the higher frets.
Neck-thru-body please. While there's controversy about this ..... the couple of neck-thrus I've played (and I own one right now that's my fav git ever) did seem to have enhanced sustain ever when using pristine cleans and a neck thru allows for really good high fret access.