Uncle Os

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

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

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

If all you're concerned about is tone... Who cares? Finish that sucker with the tung oil! Most of the RG 7 bodies I've seen are usually made of 3 or more pieces of basswood. To test what it's going to look like, get a clean rag and through some mineral spirits on it. It'll darken the wood a hair like the tung oil so you can see what it's going to look like. Let it dry out and then go for it. When I do tung oil, I use the '0000' steel wool and do several coats over several days. Done!

Let us know what you decide on and how it turns out.

MLAR, Cor

Oy! A reference to Ed Roman. :roll:

I think it's a great idea! Go for it! But, uh... I wouldn't take any information from Ed with anything more than a grain of salt.

MLAR, Cor

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

I was thinking of trying a Carvin kit myself, as a good way to experiment with a Carvin guitar (All I hear is good things about them) but I cant seem to find them on the site anymore; it appears as though Carvin has done some revamping and lost some content and gained some broken links along the way. Any ideas?

-Random

I've thrown dozens of those kits together. They are, far and away, the best kits I've come across. I've seen kits on the net for ungodly amounts of money (Upwards of $1,000) and the Carvins are a fantastic value. You can also have them make stuff for *you* to go along with your kits. You can have them add options on ncks, have the bodies read routed, etc, etc, etc... They call it the 'Bolt Plus' kit and you have to call them directly because these options aren't available in the catalogs. If you have time, hit the Carvin catalog, bop around a check out what some of the folks over there have done with them. Some pretty great stuff in there.

MLAR, Cor

Hey All...

I didn't sleep last night, so please pardon my lack of articulation.

I was going through several of my guitars in the wee-hours of the morning contemplating their tonal characteristics before sitting back and merely looking at the beauty or lack thereof and I've realized something about myself. That is to say, I realized that I much prefer the beauty of an instrument sensed aurally as opposed to that I experience with my eyes. I can't really explain it other than to say, I much prefer the tones that come out of my ugly guitars as opposed to the ones that look nicer. I have a Baretta strat with and alder body and nothing more than one coat of a hand rubbed flat poly finish on it that sounds absolutely fantastic. I have an ugly Frankentele with nothing more than a tung oil finish that was once described by a studio owner I was doing session work for (this was in about '93) as having God-tone'. I love the way these guitars sound. Not necessarily the way they look... But I love the way they sound.

Then there's the other side of it... I've got a guitar with thick quilted maple top and a burst finish on it. It plays better than the others, it feels better than the others, it looks better than the others. But it doesn't sound as good as the others.

As a 'control' for this train of thought... I used my old 7 string. It used to have this big, thick and cheap finish on it that I couldn't stand. I stripped that sucker down, through a veneer on it and with a few coats of gloss poly on it. I'm not kidding when I say it 'sounds better'. Previously, I had been the self appointed spokesperson against basswood as it tends to color the tone so little. Blekk. My train of thought dictates that the wood should color the sound in order to assist with it's identity as an instrument.

Then I thought back over the years and realized... All of the guitars I preferred (Schecter Custom 7 with flamed walnut top (oiled), Ibanez S540FM that had been stripped and oiled, Schecter Custom with a swamp ash body that'd been wire brushed and oiled, my Baretta Strat as well as the Frankentele) have little or no finish. What gives?!?!?!?!

When I take into account all of the amazing talent I see around this place with regard to finishing, I fall in lust instantly!!! No kidding. I really, really REALLY... want one. I could build one... But wait... All the guitars I've ever built had little to no finish as well.

I came to a couple of conclusions though all of this confusion. I'm embarrassed that it took me 'til my 36th year to come to it too. I'm a 'late bloomer', I suppose.

Cory's newfound opinions...

1) A good 'tone wood' is nothing more than a big hunk of resonant lumber. Ie, the lighter, the better for our purposes here on the forum. For instance... The 'light' Les Pauls I've had the priviledge of playing have always sounded better than the heavy ones. Why? The wood, being lighter, is more resonant. Ash... Same thing... Swamp ash, IMHO, sounds far superior to northern ash. Why? It's lighter and more resonant. And... It sounds better.

2) The lesser the finish, the more representative the tone is to the individual instrument at hand. Therefore, it sounds better, no?

3) If I had my druthers (sp?), I'd prefer to actually be able to feel the raw wood beneath my fingertips. Why? Only because the feel of the raw wood is more organic and grounding to humanity and our attachement to our environment. The more finish you have, the further the musician gets from the natural elements allowing for more of a 'plastic-like' feel. I realize, without any finish the instrument would crumble and fade to dust. However... I bet it'd sound better.

If you made it all the way through this insomnia induced haze of inarticulate 'spewage', you're a better man than I am.

Feel free to shoot me down or offer up some vindication. I posted this to share my thoughts as well as see what you guys think of these topics. Does any of this stuff make sense to you guys? Or have I wasted a night with useless epiphany(sp?).

Ever so respectfully....

Big Cor

Hey Uncle 0s, if you could find the info on the manufacturers site that would be great.

Hey there BeAR... I've looked all over the darn place and came up empty handed. I found some links to pix that are now defunked. Sorry I came up short on this one. I know you'd certainly like some more information.

MLAR, Cor

follow this link http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/ and you'll find several different types of leaf materials. in the catalog index on the left of the home page click on decorative materials. i've been playing around with their varigated leaf lately on some wood work other than a guitar and it's pretty cool.

i've been using these guys for several years now and they have some great products and their service is excellent. i don't own any stock but i know how hard it is sometimes to find reliable mail order stuff.

Great Site, Senor! Thanks a ton. I've just penciled in the 'Gold Leaf' project.

MLAR, Cor

Given your fixed budget, I'd consider picking up some tools from pawnshops. There are several close to my house and I hit them biweekly to check for deals. For $100.00 you could get a bigger and better bandsaw. I saw a decent looking makita a few weeks ago. The asking price was $120.00. When buying from pawnshops, walk in with an educated idea of price and quality. Make sure to ask if the prices are negotiable (they always are) and haggle them down to atleast 50% of what they're asking.

MLAR, Cor

I used the tutorial mentioned above. Worked out great.

MLAR, Cor

My wife and I were talking about this just the other day. I didn't know it was possible! Swweeeeet! How much does that stuff cost anyway?

MLAR, Cor

That looks a LOT like a guitar made by a place in China that builds nothing but Ibanez knock-offs. From what I've read/been told, the quality is for shite. If I'm not mistaken, the prices are at or about the $200.00 USD range. From what I could tell on the english version of the company's site, the neck and body are made out of decent lumber. I can't remember what the name of the company is though.

I'll see if I can find more info.

MLAR, Cor

Thanks for the welcome guys!

bluespresence Thanks for the comments on 'The Mark'. You hit it right on the head, Senor! The initial riffage was written with the intention of achieving a Zakk-ish sound. I had quite a bit of fun with that one with Rory and Eric. Makes me feel good to share it.

Thanks again for the welcome, guys.

MLAR, Cor

Hey All!

Newbie here. My name's Cory and I found my way here after being pointed toward Brian's site for a veneer tutorial. I really like the feel of the forums here with what seems like a tight-knit group of friends.

Me? Uh... I've been makin' music off and on throughout my 36 years and I worked my first major mod on an Electra Explorer when I was about... 14, methinks when I refretted Mighty Mite neck (with the help of the old man, Al, from across the highway) that was given to me, replaced the pickups, tuners, switches and controls, installed a Schaller bridge with fine tuners I got out of the Carvin catalog and refinished the plywood body with several coats of Krylon. Truth be told, that was the baddest sounding and playing beginner guitar I've come into contact with since then.

About ten years after that, I actually made an attempt to make a living with guitars that I built. I gave it up because I was starving to death. When all was said and done, I was getting paid about $3.00 per hour for my labor. Which is prolly about what I was worth when it came to building guitars. The guitars weren't anything special, really. I would purchase necks that had rather large profiles and reshape them to customer's preferences and build the bodies from templates that I'd made from the guitars I had at the time. I certainly was not a luthier. Hehe. But... I was (somehow) managing to eek out an existance building guitars and playing in bands. This would not have been achievable, however, if my diet had consisted of anything other than Beer and Top Ramen. Hehe.

Flash ahead about about 12 years... I'm now a 36 year old guy who stilll plays when he can and finds himself on disability for several months with a few tentative back surgeries, my undying love of music as well as the instruments I play (guitar, bass, keys) and a LOT of spare time. I'll be working on instruments for a while and trying to sell them for some sort of profit along with teaching music privately so that I might be permitted to provide a larger menu for my wife and daughters than I had the last time I did this.

Since I picked up the guitar again, I've had a chance to record a couple of noodles you can listen to if'n y'r insterested. Feel free to offer up some criticism and/or comments if you care to.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/4/uncleosmusic.htm

The Mark

A really heavy tune in Drop A with seven strings and a dastardly topic. it's a really fun tune, IMO. I'm the guy on the left side.

Funk Jam

I funky kinda 'shreddy' noodle I did over a canned backing a while back.

I look forward to getting' to know you folks and hopefully contributing to what y'all have here whenever I can. Most likely, however, I'll be a question asking fool for a while. So please allow me to apologize in advance... I'm sorry.

Much Love and Respect...

Cor