Question About Wood Thickness For Body

[Lufhat]

Hello everyone, new here also new to guitar building =D

I was just wondering what would be the absolute minimun thickness of a piece of wood to be used for a guitar body, we have a huge amount of blackwood offcuts and boards some are 6 feet long and up to 2 feet wide, BUT for the most part they're only about 1 1/2" thick or less. Now instead of buying more wood when I already have two tonnes, it seems the smart idea to see if I can use what I've already got.

So, is any of this wood suitable for building a guitar? =]

Thanks for any replies, much appreciated.

[Stewey]

My general rules, The body must be thick enough for the electronics, no point making a body only to find your 3 way switch is thicker than it.

Also allow enough thickness for the neck to mount with a bit off material around it to keep it stable.

The thinnest body I have made was 20mm, same thickness as the neck blank. I wasn't using any electronics though so it was not an issue.

The last thing to keep in mind is the balance of the guitar. If you are making the guitar thin do anything in your power to make the neck light as well.

Good luck and plan well.

[supplebanana]

well i'm assuming you're talking about Aussie blackwood - if so then yes it's perfectly usable - 1.5" is the thickness of a lot of explorers etc it just depends on whether its 1.5 after planing. if it still needs planing after sawing then it may be too thin - but either way you could still put a drop top on it of maple or bubinga or something.

an' if you got any spare you can always ship it to me for offering you sound & usable advice

[Lufhat]

Ahah, thanks both of you. I shall go ahead with my plans then, and if it works out I shall chronicle my adventures here ;D I own an Epiphone SG which is very neck heavy so I will try to avoid that as much as possible, and as for the electronics I didn't even think about that so thanks again.

[erikbojerik]

Also don't forget to factor in the trem block if you're going to have a tremolo.

If I were you, I'd pick a fairly plain piece for the back, and find a piece with nice grain or figure for the top that you can resaw (bookmatch) and glue to the back.