body thickness

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Micah Covington
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon May 28, 2012 9:49 am

body thickness

Post by Micah Covington »

So......

I glued up a body blank and surfaced it. After surfacing the body is quite a bit thinner than I had originally planned. It is currently about 1.25 inches thick. Is there any reason why this wont work? Assuming the neck will still fit, the only real negative I can think of is that a thinner body will affect the balance a bit.
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Mark Swanson
Posts: 1991
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:11 am
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan USA
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Re: body thickness

Post by Mark Swanson »

There's nothing that says it won't work, but the bottom line is your design. My rule for building is that if something is not right DO NOT go on until you get it right, otherwise the finished guitar will never be right and you'll always know it. My suggestion to you is to get a top for the blank. Glue it on and get back to the thickness you wanted. A fancy wood top can be really pretty.
  • Mark Swanson, guitarist, MIMForum Staff
Rodger Knox
Posts: 497
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Re: body thickness

Post by Rodger Knox »

Nothing wrong with 1.25" thickness, unless you have a pickup switch. It may still be OK, but you'd better check out all your electronics to be sure there's enough depth in the body to route the electronics cavity. +1 for adding a 1/4" top.
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon
julian gifford
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:01 pm

Re: body thickness

Post by julian gifford »

Also depends on the bridge you want to use. A tremolo bridge has the bridge block going through the body. They can be shaved down easy enough. I made a pair with strat tremolos at 1.33" thick (on purpose) For a TOM or any other style of bridge besides a tremolo, that thickness isnt an issue.

Agree with Robert. You need to be sure you have the depth for your elecronics to fit. This was a big concern on my thinner one's- A gibson style 90 degree 3 position toggle doesnt require much depth.

+2 put a fancy cap on it.
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