Uncle Os Posted October 9, 2004 Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 (edited) Hey Guys... Here's the whole story. Sorry it's so long... I was wondering if'n y'all'd care to give me some technical info, as well as you opinions. I took one of my Tele bodies to a friend's shop (I don't have a planer) and like a fool, ran the body through the planer (face UP, I might add ::: rolling my eyes ::: ) without checking things out on a blank first. Welp... Suffice it to say, I took too much off the front of this tele. Not much... About 1/8". To recover from this, I was just going to take 1/8" off the back of the neck pocket. Done deal, right? But noooooooooooooo!!!! I had an idea. Since... I've since sculpted the hell out this body. I've cut on the lower horn to allow for reaching the upper register without my fingers knockin' against it, added a massive belly cut, the arm contour starts down near the back strap button and ends at mid point of the body (goes all the way down to the pickup area from the top of the body). Holding this thing in mock-up, I've gotta say, it's the most comfortable thing I've ever held. It's now molded to fit a person's body perfectly. Feels great. I'm babbling... I was thinking of taking this idea further buy setting the p'ups, bridge and neck deeper into the wood to create this singular kind of effect with the body. A stealth Tele! One where the only thing projecting above the body surface would be the strings, ya know? The problem is, I'd have to reduce the thickness of the back of the neck pocket to about 5/8". Will that support string tension? What is the thinnest one would want to go for something like this? Any assistance/direction would be greatly appreciated. MLAR, Cor Edited October 9, 2004 by Uncle Os Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushy the shroom Posted October 9, 2004 Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 I think it would work. One thing you could do, is instead of using a standard metal neck back plate, get a very thick one, and embed it further down into the body, so it reaches below the neck pickup. Stealth tele sounds cool, I REALLY like thin and/or stealth guitars (check out my GOTM entry). Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted October 9, 2004 Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 5/8" should be fine. For reference you can look at an AANJ Ibanez Saber. It is among the thinnest neck joints around, especially when you take into account that the screws and ferrules are recessed another 1/4" or so. The old style Saber neck pockets are about 3/4" thick. On a Tele there is a lot of supporting wood around the neck pocket so you don't just have thickness, but you have width. If you've carved away most of that, or you've dramatically slimmed out the body on either side of the neck pocket, it could reduce the overall strength. But I would say don't worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dugz Ink Posted October 9, 2004 Report Share Posted October 9, 2004 A lot depends on the wood that your body is made out of... and not just what type of wood. You can have two pieces of Maple that crack at very different levels, due to the wood grain. So you have to examine the wood that your body is made out of before you can evaluate (or guess) how much that particular piece can handle. And if you're really worried, make a steel backing plate that is wider and longer than normal, and bolt or epoxy it to the body. That will help help spread out some of the stress to wood that is thicker. D~s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Os Posted October 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2004 I think it would work. One thing you could do, is instead of using a standard metal neck back plate, get a very thick one, and embed it further down into the body, so it reaches below the neck pickup. Stealth tele sounds cool, I REALLY like thin and/or stealth guitars (check out my GOTM entry). Good luck! Thanks mushy. Thanks for the suggestion regarding the extended and inset neckplate. While I was out about town this afternoon, I was thinking about something along these lines only MUCH more difficult. Stealth... Realistically, it's not very 'thin'. The guitar is 1 1/2" thick from the top of the p'up mounting area to the bottom. Above that (and from the midline backward) is sculpted on the front. The back is sculpted from a couple of inches behind the strap button darn near all the way to the back strap button on the top. And the belly cut goes all the way down to the A string ferule. It's pretty deep too. But it won't interfere with the p'up cavities going deeper. I've got a little bit more space there. I didn't modify the shape from the top of the p'ups down because I wanted to maintain the mass of wood. I don't want the tone to thin out, ya know? Can you gimme a link to your GOTM entry? I can't find it, Senor. Is it the modded Epi LP? Thanks again, Senor... Cor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Os Posted October 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2004 5/8" should be fine. For reference you can look at an AANJ Ibanez Saber. It is among the thinnest neck joints around, especially when you take into account that the screws and ferrules are recessed another 1/4" or so. The old style Saber neck pockets are about 3/4" thick. On a Tele there is a lot of supporting wood around the neck pocket so you don't just have thickness, but you have width. If you've carved away most of that, or you've dramatically slimmed out the body on either side of the neck pocket, it could reduce the overall strength. But I would say don't worry about it. Thanks Frank... I agree with you comments. I haven't taken much away from the forwardmost part of the guitar on either side of the neck pocket. I really think I'll be safe. Thank you for the vote of confidence. Cor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Os Posted October 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2004 A lot depends on the wood that your body is made out of... and not just what type of wood. You can have two pieces of Maple that crack at very different levels, due to the wood grain. So you have to examine the wood that your body is made out of before you can evaluate (or guess) how much that particular piece can handle. And if you're really worried, make a steel backing plate that is wider and longer than normal, and bolt or epoxy it to the body. That will help help spread out some of the stress to wood that is thicker. D~s Hey There Dugz... It's an alder body. The center piece of the body is really close to being quartersawn so I think I'll be pretty safe. I'm trying to decide how far I'm going to set the neck within the body. If I take the neck all the way down near the top of the fretoboard, that'll leave me with about 3/8". ::: cringe ::: The good news is... I saw a piece of flat stock at home depot the other day that I can set on the back and epoxy. I've got summa dat construction grade stuff that can hole up and entire building! Thanks Dugz. MLAR, Cor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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