hey thanks Dave, your insight is greatly appreciated. I'll probably end up getting the tools/spools after the holidays. The body is gonna be a flat top, and likely I'll have to plane off 1/8" since I'll be using a aftermarket neck (building guitar first, then later a neck).
Also I did some research to my other questions/concerns and I thought you might wanna know for any of the readers...
Stew Mac and Warmoth sell Thinline Teles that has a top routed control area, so this is not a problem.
1/8" = .125. Stew mac spruce/cedar soundboards have thicknesses of .125-.130. If an acoustic can handle it, so can an electric. Altho Warmoth uses 1/4" for their thinlines.