Weight relief

GSPBASSES

I thought I'd give you an idea of how much wood you have to remove to make a substantial difference to the weight of a TC body. 



This is a Swamp Ash body, 39mm thick, it's oversize by about 8 mm or more all the way round the outside.



So after the routing, we've lost over 2lb. 



But of course, when the cap goes on, it will add weight to the body. But then, when the 8mm is removed from around the body, I'm hoping it will still be under 4lb.

    

the cap is now glued on and we've ended up at 4lb 1oz, I'm hoping that once the excess wood has been removed from round the edges and the neck pocket routed, it'll be well under 4lb.



This one has come in at 3lb 11 5/8oz, the finish weight on this should be closer to 3lb and a bit.

GSPBASSES

The bodies are now complete as far as I'm taking them. 



The weight now is 3lb 1oz, I should think if this body has a standard TC route it would end up maybe around to 2lb 12oz.



The weight of this one is 3lb 3oz, on a standard route for a TC? I think this will turn out about 5oz lighter.



Just finished a couple of LPJ DC's, they both been chambered to a smaller amount. I would think the chamberlain has taken roundabout 1lb from each body.
The lighter colour body is made from Khaya, the neck from Brazilian Mahogany with a Indian Rosewood fingerboard, the weight is 4lb 12 oz.
The darker body is made from Brazilian Mahogany with a Brazilian Mahogany neck Indian Rosewood fingerboard, the wight is 5lb.

fretmeister

This is fascinating! 

I didn't realise swamp ash can get that light. I suppose I was informed by EBMM's use of it for some Stingrays that ended up weighing loads.

drofluf

@GSPBASSES is that you "standard" Thinline construction? Was wondering how mine looks under the cap. 

stickyfiddle

fretmeister said:

This is fascinating! 

I didn't realise swamp ash can get that light. I suppose I was informed by EBMM's use of it for some Stingrays that ended up weighing loads.

Swamp ash can be super light or super heavy depending on growth conditions. My uber-light Tele was specced based on the lightest tradition wood body on Warmoth, which was swamp ash. Body was 3.9lb and the whole build with a skinny-ish neck is 7.1. And I'm sure I could've found lighter if I'd waited a little. 

GSPBASSES

drofluf said:

@GSPBASSES is that you "standard" Thinline construction? Was wondering how mine looks under the cap. 

If the body has a F hole, then it almost certainly the chambering that you see above.

WezV

stickyfiddle said:

fretmeister said:

This is fascinating! 

I didn't realise swamp ash can get that light. I suppose I was informed by EBMM's use of it for some Stingrays that ended up weighing loads.

Swamp ash can be super light or super heavy depending on growth conditions. My uber-light Tele was specced based on the lightest tradition wood body on Warmoth, which was swamp ash. Body was 3.9lb and the whole build with a skinny-ish neck is 7.1. And I'm sure I could've found lighter if I'd waited a little. 

"swamp ash" only became a thing because of it's lighter weight from growing in wet conditions... you get bigger wood cells that lose more moisture during drying and give a lighter wood.   It was rejected for all the things Ash is usually used for as its too soft and light. 

There are 3 or 4 species of Ash sold as Swamp Ash. 

It became a marketing term for the guitar industry,  but the lightweight bit was forgotten somewhere along the way.

it is still usually lighter than the average for Ash,  which would make most tele styles 10-11lbs, but not necessarily lighter than the other common choices of wood for guitars

fretmeister

My Esquire is mahogany and it's bang on 7lb. It only has 1 pickup of course but I did over do the tuners with locking ones.

I wish I had weighed the body before I did the arm and belly carves just to see what difference it made. The body was from Guitar Anatomy and I asked for the lightest one they had.

They do claim that the neck screw holes etc are Fender compatible but so far that hasn't been accurate! Holes had to be filled and redrilled. The ferrule holes weren't quite right - the wider diameter bit needed deepening a little.

I'm sure the neck pickup rout isn't quite in the right place either but as it's an esquire I don't care and even if in the future I get a neck pickup it can be routed out under the scratch plate easily enough.

But I think I paid £119 inc delivery so I can forgive quite a lot! 

GSPBASSES

fretmeister said:

This is fascinating! 

I didn't realise swamp ash can get that light. I suppose I was informed by EBMM's use of it for some Stingrays that ended up weighing loads.

Old Stingray's were certainly very heavy, but they weren't made of Swamp Ash, they were originally made from White Ash that is considerably heavier than Swamp Ash. Unfortunately, good Swamp Ash is becoming very difficult to find. What their round is very expensive now, I would say in the last few years Swamp Ash is nearly doubled in price. 

WezV

Mahogany is a very broad term

Khaya is often lighter and paler than other mahoganies.  It grows a lot quicker

drofluf

GSPBASSES said:

drofluf said:

@GSPBASSES is that you "standard" Thinline construction? Was wondering how mine looks under the cap. 

If the body has a F hole, then it almost certainly the chambering that you see above.

Thanks