...ooopsss ..safety planer slip..

[Robert Smallwood]

Hi.
Against my better judgement and out of idle curiosity I decided to actually make necks.

Today because of a slip using the safety planer I have as a result quite a nice looking maple tele neck with a scarf joint and angled headstock the thickness of which is 1/2 ".

IIRC the conventional thickness is about 1/20" more.

Is 1/2" too thin?

Thanks.

[Mark Swanson]

Nah, for a telecaster peghead that will be fine. You could always add a veneer if you wanted.

[Jim Bonnell]

I had a similar problem one time and placed an overlay on the back and I think it looked pretty nice. I called it an "added feature".

[Mark Swanson]

How do you think I knew right away how to fix it?

[Charles Bloss]

I was thinking about going that thin on the neck I am working on but I was concerned with strength. Although its at 1" now and it seems you can drive a car over it without any give.

It might get another pass or two over the jointer if you guys think it is okay.

[Mark Swanson]

Well, please describe a little better what you mean Charles. The original question here was about a peghead being 1/2", are you talking about the peghead or the neck itself? Two different things.

[Charles Bloss]

Oops I must of being in a hurry when reading it the first time. I was talking about the whole neck. I really like the feel of a thin unfinished maple neck.

[Mike Dotson]

Most Tele Necks taper from nearly an inch to @ .850" at the first fret. A .500" neck would be fine if, you have the hands of a 10 yr old girl and use .008s.
Sounds like time to start over to me.

[Mark Swanson]

Just to keep things from getting confusing- 1/2", or .500, would be fine for a peghead, but as Mike says, that's too thin for the whole neck.

[Charles Bloss]

I decided to stay above .75 with this one. Although I do like my .08s.