Strat Thickness

[richiehamilton]

Hi everyone

I'm just looking for opinions; can anyone think of any good reason why not to make a slightly thinner strat style guitar? It's just that I have a lovely piece of ash which isn't quite 45mm, only 39. It's actually two pieces, a thin top on a thicker back piece. I don't want to change it because the grain is great. Anyway any opinions re: viability would be welcome. Thanks

Richard

Edited September 28, 2006 by richiehamilton

[prs man]

Hi Richard I think you would be o.k.

I have used some nice maple and walnut that was not as thick as it should be for a tele body.

be sure you have enough room when routing for pickups.

[spazzyone]

i have a custom rich that is only 1-1/2 inches thick so why not

it sounds great is comfortable as well and sustains great

but it is also quatersawn so im sure that helps alot

[CrazyManAndy]

It should work fine. SG's are 1 1/2 in.

Leo Fender was looking for the economic route when he built guitars. 2 in. (1 3/4 by the time they were planed and what not) is the norm, so that is what he used. A lot of what he did wasn't for sound quality, but to save money.

CMA

[Drak]

As long as you don't want to stick a tremolo on it, you can make it any depth you want as long as you can get pots and switches inside of it OK.

A Tremolo block will severely stick out the back of a 1 1/2" body .

I'm building a 1 1/2" strat right now actually, it's quite nice.

[Robert Irizarry]

As long as you don't want to stick a tremolo on it, you can make it any depth you want as long as you can get pots and switches inside of it OK.

A Tremolo block will severely stick out the back of a 1 1/2" body .

I'm building a 1 1/2" strat right now actually, it's quite nice.

As Drak points out, your choice of bridges will be the first challenge. Take a look at the guitars over at Black Machine. They use fixed bridges and their bodies are just a fraction over an 1" thick!

[thegarehanman]

You could get away with a thin body and a tremelo if you machined a bit of material off the trem block and redrilled the holes that the springs mount into. If that's the route you want to go, I'd be willing to machine your trem block down to size.

peace,

russ

[Drak]

You could get away with a thin body and a tremelo if you machined a bit of material off the trem block and redrilled the holes that the springs mount into.

While that is perfectly true and a very generous offer, the other consideration is the depth of the tremolo cavity (typically what, 5/8"?) versus the depth of your pickup cavities.

If you don't watch what your doing VERY carefully, you will route your pkp cavities right into the tremolo cavity and it will look like crap.

Just food for thought.

[marksound]

I think if you're not a huge trem user/abuser, just stick a hardtail on it and no worries.

[spazzyone]

Drak if very very correct on this issue

i have not checked this on my rich so i could not say what this thickness is

but i know if it was more than an 1/8 of an inch i would be shocked

[Nitefly SA]

I used to use only floyd rose tems after I bought one hardtail I was hooked. It just so much easier to make it play so much nicer.

[thegarehanman]

You could get away with a thin body and a tremelo if you machined a bit of material off the trem block and redrilled the holes that the springs mount into.

While that is perfectly true and a very generous offer, the other consideration is the depth of the tremolo cavity (typically what, 5/8"?) versus the depth of your pickup cavities.

If you don't watch what your doing VERY carefully, you will route your pkp cavities right into the tremolo cavity and it will look like crap.

Just food for thought.

Very true drak. I had not considered that. Honestly, I have yet to equip any of my guitars with a traditional trem. After using the stetsbar, I really have no intention of using anything other than surface mount trems.

peace,

russ

[Digideus]

The only thing I do with Floyd Rose's is to lock them down with a block of wood. I HATE HATE HATE Trems. Apart from the tuning & intonation issues, The only thing that transfers the vibration between string and body is 2 piddly pole peices that the floyd pivots against and the springs underneath.

[spazzyone]

For all those that hate a trem you should try a hipshot trem setter

or better yet a backstop like the one ibanez used to make

someone else makes a similar unit (i think it is floyd rose)

its almost like having a hardtail

[jaycee]

Ah something I can comment on with some authority. (thats novell)

I have just finshed building a strat with standard parts all fitted to a body which is on average 32mm thick !

I used a hardtail bridge mainly for the reason given above. I have a 5 way selector switch, which has about 3mm of wood underneath it. I routed the cavity a little deeper to accomadate the extra depth of the switch, but only directly underneath it

It plays and sounds good, if its any help its biult out of 60 year old pine floor joists.

When I look at the regular strats in the shop they look absolutely huge

[jaycee]

Ah something I can comment on with some authority. (thats novell)

I have just finshed building a strat with standard parts all fitted to a body which is on average 32mm thick !

I used a hardtail bridge mainly for the reason given above. I have a 5 way selector switch, which has about 3mm of wood underneath it. I routed the cavity a little deeper to accomadate the extra depth of the switch, but only directly underneath it

It plays and sounds good, if its any help its biult out of 60 year old pine floor joists.

When I look at the regular strats in the shop they look absolutely huge

[jaycee]

Ah something I can comment on with some authority. (thats novell)

I have just finshed building a strat with standard parts all fitted to a body which is on average 32mm thick !

I used a hardtail bridge mainly for the reason given above. I have a 5 way selector switch, which has about 3mm of wood underneath it. I routed the cavity a little deeper to accomadate the extra depth of the switch, but only directly underneath it

It plays and sounds good, if its any help its biult out of 60 year old pine floor joists.

When I look at the regular strats in the shop they look absolutely huge