verhoevenc Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 I was wondering if anybody sees any problems with this... I'm thinkin' of taking a 1" body material and a 1/2" claro walnut top and making a guitar out of them. Now I know that a 1.5" body is perfectly fine thickness wise... but what if I then take that 1/2" top and carve it down so that it carves into the back body wood leaving the edges of the guitar slightly under 1" thick (if you're thinking "what kinda carve is that" go check out the Kritzes, they ahve a carve where the top carves into the back wood so that you can see the break-line between the two woods from the front). So yeah, just to re-cap, does anyone see a prolem with a 1.5" thick guitar at the center that carves to just under and inch at the edges? Does that opinion change if I were to go "and I want to make it a semi-hollow body"? (obviously the cavities for the hollow would be pretty shallowand far enough away from the edges so that the blended carve wouldn't carve into them...). I'm THINKING this is possible because the Pagelli jazz-a-bilities (from what I've TRIED to estimate from pictures etc. is hollowed and it is only 1.25" at the edges of it's carved top... and has round-overed edges...). Chris PS: Some people I've already run it by said I might just end up with something really neck heavy...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott French Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 The SF3 I posted in the May Guitar of the Month thread is about 1/2" thick along the edges and hollow. The top is about 3/4" thick bookmatched. The back is a little over 3/4" thick bookmatched. The neck is thin and light. The entire guitar only weighs 5.25 pounds (with heavy brass bridge/knobs) so being neck heavy isn't really an issue. You have to be careful selecting your hardware/electronics but thin guitars are not impossible to build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted April 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 I can understand selecting the electonics so that there's neough space for them in the shallow hollow... but why the hardware? The hardware would all be on the neck of in the center of the guitar where it's at it's thickest? I would have thought if ANYTHING you've gotta be careful where you route the hollow... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott French Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 Many years ago I cracked the back of a thin guitar while pushing in a bridge post. I guess you're not going to be that thin but the depth of your hardware mounting stuff or trem springs, etc are things to keep in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushy the shroom Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 The guitar I built a while back (The Nebula) was 1 and 1/8" thick all the way through.. and I haven't had any problems with strength yet (it is chambered as well). I would watch the neck joint for strength most, it is bound to fail if the wood under the pocket is too thin. Unless of course you are planning to use a neck-through (which I highly recommend for a thin guitar). Good luck on this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted April 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 So I had a pretty sweet idea.... build the whole body (I'm talkin' carve and everything) out of a 1" piece, and a 1/2" piece of MDF..... however, the 1" back I'll route the hollowing pattern all the way through the guitar and I'll use double sided stick tape (the fiber kind that holds almost TOO hard!) to keep the top on the body piece. That way, when everything is shaped i can flip it over and trace the hollow's pattern onto the bottom of the top piece adn then pop that bad boy off and check if it's thick enough at the point where the hollow is. And I'll also be able to get a real nice feel for the body, etc. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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