Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

SirJackdeFuzz, dominus, MojoMonster, and jtees4 ,
You guys have it pretty much on the head as this is still the cheapest, easiest, and best looking on my eye thing to do. I am unfamiliar with GFS but a Google should clear that up. Paulownia bodies? Again a new one on me. So I will check out your recommendations and see what's what.
You have all been most kind and generous with your time. Dominus; all my guitars are what someone called "player guitars", in other words, if I can't play 'em what good are they? If they get beat up, well that 's what happens when you love 'em and play 'em. They will still look good enough to be hung and looked at, i will not do any gutting that shows. All work will be on the back.
If I had 58' Burst or a 63 Strat, then yeah, but the only one out of my bunch that has that kind of "weight" is my '66 Black Beauty", and even that has been re-finished and had the back cut 1/3 off the mahogany and it STILL weighs 8 lbs. Must be the single most dense slabs of mahogany and maple ever found on the planet.
Titanium parts, good idea. Still have to look up the PRS. Got to sleep at 5 am and just got up @ 2:30 pm.
I heard from a reliable source that the Rev. Billy even had some of his necks weight relieved. That sounds farfetched to me, but hey, I've seen x-rays of some where the whole LP is gutted except for JUST the pickups, NO wood around the S.Tailpiece. Just anchors. Gotta coffee and pain pill up, mucho grande Thanks. All the rest of you too, good advice-thanks for chiming in. All of you, top dog forum guys. This really helps me, not just talk for the sake of theoretical noodling. Hope you all know that.
Steve Buffington interesting about Framtom's LP.
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

GFS Bodies:

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Necks-and-Bodies_c_70.html

I'd be jumping all over the silver metalflake if they had it in a hardtail version:

stp_si_sp.jpg


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=376975&highlight=Paulownia

Ron Kirn is a builder that uses Paulownia to build Telecasters:

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/5_Tele_Style_Builders_You_Should_Know
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

Dominus,
Very nice, I have seen that site, and I went to the other sites also. That looks really good. Very tempted. just looked some more. That is cheap. What do you think of that red Mother of Pearl w/cream binding body? For 75 bucks? Is it too much of an eyefull? Damn, it looks good from afar. That would cost 400-500 bucks at Warmouth.
On the one you posted it says white on their site, but clearly that is silver, yes? It could be a winner.
Thank you,
Steve B. Edit: Warmoth-basswood w/cream binding and red trans finish=$597.00 before shipping & handling, and before tax, so= $650.00.
 
Last edited:
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

There is a reason why one one is about 10x the price - GFS is 'cheap'
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

Plenty of guys have had good results with the GFS bodies and paulownia is very light. You may have to adjust screw holes in the neck pocket but after that you should be good!

What about guitars like an ES-335 or a full hollow? Maybe a thinline full hollow like a 330 or a casino if I'm not mistaken.
Or perhaps a CS336? Apparently those sound more les paulish due to the smaller body and hollowed out mahogany back
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

Hey AlexR,
Cheap like the wood is crap? Something else? Seems like good reviews so far.
To C-Thunda, adjusting misaligned screw holes is easy. Not a deal breaker. My 1st real guitar was a 335. It was bigger than I was. Sounded great though. Pretty much a SG only big, with hollow wings. SG's, LP jr.'s, Tele's, and Strats for the vibrato bar are my "thing".
If I could have one made and could afford it, I would want a mahog/birdseye maple sandwich, LP jr. shape, fit somehow w/a short brass block 2 fulcrum Fender floating vibrato, maple/rosewood neck, H-S pickups, very nice deep red on maple finish, flat neck, 20 radius 22 jumbo frets, 1 vol, 1 tone, small coil split switch, and I know I could design it around 6 pounds. That about sums me up. Cost me thousands, I bet.
Still haven't seen that PRS. I must do that now.
Steve B.
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

Hey,
I looked at that PRS and man, it said THICK mahogany back, maple top, just to look at it, it must weigh 7-8 lbs. Might feel lightweight to the guy in the post, but I looked at several, and could not find PRS SE soapbar with Korina in the name. I will look further. The Vibracell was interesting and yes, kinda ugly, but I did see a couple in that line that weren't so bad. Cheap too.
EDIT: OK, found the KORINA version. Very nice. good price. best guess I can find on the web is about 7 lbs. That was a guess. So kinda back where I started, but very good suggestion. Thank you.
sb
 
Last edited:
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

The wood that is sold is sorted into the cheap forced growth plantation stuff, and the more expensive natural forestry cutting. To get a $75 body that is finished will be bottom of the barrel stuff, both for the wood and the paint. It certainly can't be said that there is a definite correlation between cheap accelerated growth wood and poor tone, but it is certainly more inconsistent. There is a higher chance of a poor quality bit or bits, and the painting will certainly be of poorer level. Its all up to you......as long as you go into it with all the info then the choice is an informed one.
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

Thanks, AlexR,
It turns out I can't even FIND Paulowinia on Warmoth, or even Mr. Fradua's very extensive list of woods on his personal site.
So thanks to you & all I have some good choices before I dig in. As my peronalized LP jr. can be replaced easily at low bucks, I will give a go of it on all the back where there are no stop TP and see if that can get me down to 6 from 7 lbs. I will report bak in a few days, have orthopedic apointment on Wed, so I still have a cool Squire Bullet basswood tele w/Duncan upgrades, rewired the way I like it. Also my basswood strat w/J.Beck maple/rosewood neck and LSR nut that many dislike, but it works well for me, as does the TusqXL nut. Very good nuts for trem use, seems to work as wellnas LSR.
Also, the Beck neck is VERY, VERY DENSE. So this helps with the bright basswood body. Comes out to about 6.4 lbs. Not bad. Looks cool also.
Thank you,
SB
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

AlexR said:
The wood that is sold is sorted into the cheap forced growth plantation stuff, and the more expensive natural forestry cutting. To get a $75 body that is finished will be bottom of the barrel stuff, both for the wood and the paint. It certainly can't be said that there is a definite correlation between cheap accelerated growth wood and poor tone, but it is certainly more inconsistent. There is a higher chance of a poor quality bit or bits, and the painting will certainly be of poorer level. Its all up to you......as long as you go into it with all the info then the choice is an informed one.
Click to expand...

Well, I built 6 or 7 guitars from GFS' Paulownia bodies. They were just fine. How informed are you?

Also, did you even READ about Paulownia? It *is* a weed, it's known for it's fast growth, even labeled as an invasive species in some places. It's also been used for musical instruments for hundreds of years. The ONLY problem with it is that it's really soft. As long as you're not going nuts with a 6 screw trem, you'll be fine. (Although it's much better for a non-tremolo guitar.)

Edit - 8 of them.




100_2998.jpg100_2974.jpg
100_0203.jpg100_3002.jpg
100_2983.jpg100_2944.jpg
100_2993.jpg100_2963.jpg
 
Last edited:
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

SJ318 said:
Dominus,
Very nice, I have seen that site, and I went to the other sites also. That looks really good. Very tempted. just looked some more. That is cheap. What do you think of that red Mother of Pearl w/cream binding body? For 75 bucks? Is it too much of an eyefull? Damn, it looks good from afar. That would cost 400-500 bucks at Warmouth.
On the one you posted it says white on their site, but clearly that is silver, yes? It could be a winner.
Thank you,
Steve B. Edit: Warmoth-basswood w/cream binding and red trans finish=$597.00 before shipping & handling, and before tax, so= $650.00.
Click to expand...

I think the red mother of pearl body would be only for people that like that sort of thing. :D I may like my black pearloid pickguards, but the body itself needs to be a metallic color. ;)
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

dominus, I agree,
The flash caught me by surprise, the sunburst strat came that way and you built the rest of it? Very nice guitar. All of them, Good work.
Thanks,
Steve B.
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...g&matchtype=&gclid=CIKwjpmUpb8CFQSEaQod5GMA7g
I have one of these (Gretsch Corvette) and it's the lightest one I own. Mine only has one pup, and doesn't have the Bigsby so that shaved a bunch of the weight off, too. If you like SG's, you will like a CVT. They're every bit as good as any SG and also have a bit of that Gretsch sparkle if you like that. Mine, I put a set of P90s in it to get back to that raw mahogany sound like an SG-special, which it does very well. And it's nice and light, in case I haven't mentioned that yet...
I had a Palouwina Tele body from GFS, it was fine, after I moved the bridge a little. THe holes were drilled too far back (or the neck pocket was cut too far "in") but using a top-load bridge it worked out OK. ANd fully loaded, the body was still lighter than the bare wood body it replaced.There was a body company a couple years ago selling Okoume wood bodies that were super light, but their store seems to have gone off line. THere may be some of them kicking around if you don't want to mess with Palouwina (which are perfectly fine, as long as you don't drop them...)
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

Been thinking about lightweight guitars, and one of the absolute lightest I've come across recently is the Squire Classic Vibe Thinline '69 Tele with a mahogany body. I'm sure I've used heavier chopsticks at times.

I really like these--I had an original '68 Tele Thinline in ash with a Bigsby back in the day, and it was light on the shoulder and a great sounding guitar. Still miss that one. The mahogany bodied Squire should be light enough, yet still balance well.

I picked up a new SG today--it was heavier than some of my Les Pauls!

And don't for get the Hello Kitty Fender! These are great guitar for the $$$, and with an upgraded pickup, they rock! :)

Bill
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

dominus said:
Well, I built 6 or 7 guitars from GFS' Paulownia bodies. They were just fine. How informed are you?

Also, did you even READ about Paulownia? It *is* a weed, it's known for it's fast growth, even labeled as an invasive species in some places. It's also been used for musical instruments for hundreds of years. The ONLY problem with it is that it's really soft. As long as you're not going nuts with a 6 screw trem, you'll be fine. (Although it's much better for a non-tremolo guitar.)

Edit - 8 of them.
Click to expand...

I'm a horticulturalist, so I'm quite well versed on plants, trees, wood and how it grows and is farmed. And even fast growing species are going to be fed and pumped for quick sale if money can be made quicker.

My point here is only 'be aware of what you buy and why things are cheap'

If you have only bridge pickups on every guitar it may well be that you're into heavier music - I can certainly see several high output pickups there. In which case the quality of the wood is nigh on irrelevant as it gets buried by the overwhelming tonality of the pickup and the amp.
For those of us who play with low drive and low output pickups exclusively I find the specific match of pickups and wood to be a long quest....pickups (and necks if they're teles or strats) get swapped out at my place almost weekly in the attempt to find the precise tonal match for each guitar.

I'm in no way trying to be elitist here, but its a horses for courses scenario. It all depends on what our OP want tonally as to whether he feels cheap bodies will serve his purpose.

Rock on.
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

Concerning light weight only, I played around with one of these at Guitar Center when the came out around 2006 and it was easily the lightest solid body guitar I'd ever picked up.
Specs list it at 5.5 lbs.
The Yamaha RGXA2.

RGX-A2061705.jpg

Discontinued, but it looks like you can find them on eBay for under $400.
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

AlexR said:
I'm a horticulturalist, so I'm quite well versed on plants, trees, wood and how it grows and is farmed. And even fast growing species are going to be fed and pumped for quick sale if money can be made quicker.

My point here is only 'be aware of what you buy and why things are cheap'

If you have only bridge pickups on every guitar it may well be that you're into heavier music - I can certainly see several high output pickups there. In which case the quality of the wood is nigh on irrelevant as it gets buried by the overwhelming tonality of the pickup and the amp.
For those of us who play with low drive and low output pickups exclusively I find the specific match of pickups and wood to be a long quest....pickups (and necks if they're teles or strats) get swapped out at my place almost weekly in the attempt to find the precise tonal match for each guitar.

I'm in no way trying to be elitist here, but its a horses for courses scenario. It all depends on what our OP want tonally as to whether he feels cheap bodies will serve his purpose.

Rock on.
Click to expand...

So you have no experience with them, and my experiences don't matter because I play a different style of music. Got it.

I suppose a Google search for GFS Paulownia would suffice for other people's experiences then.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=gfs+paulownia
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

The Vox SDC 22 I just got weighs in between 5 and 6 lbs on the bathroom scale , it is very light and was pretty cheap used at MF $300ish. For what it is worth
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

dominus said:
So you have no experience with them, and my experiences don't matter because I play a different style of music. Got it.

I suppose a Google search for GFS Paulownia would suffice for other people's experiences then.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=gfs+paulownia
Click to expand...

You seem to be taking offense where none is intended.

As I've said, having your eyes open when buying cheap stuff is the only thing I'm trying to say.

And I'm not knocking any wood type either - there is cheap and expensive of everything, and the existence of a cheap offering doesn't automatically mean the expensive or good examples are therefore less because of it. The existence of better quality similarly doesn't mean every plank will be the same.

And music style does matter yes. I remember a thread a couple of weeks ago where someone wanted a body with less 'musicality' as it was affecting the heavy music he was playing. I wouldn't be so silly to suggest that everyone is like that though. On the other hand, the subtleties are more important for more subtle music - naturally.

Once again, the OP has to decide what is the best range to buy in.
 
Re: Very Serious-Bad Back question-semi guitar gutting

To everyone.
2 things
1. I have learned years of information and am very grateful.
2. Read my origianal post.
I was looking for opinions on tonal variations with less wood on the same guitar. I had in mind weight relief on specifically 2 of my guitars that were both more or less like my 61RI SG. Mahogany.
The Les Paul LOG trick.
I wasn't looking to buy. However, all your information was a fabulous education. I pulled the trigger on my Les Paul jr. I had totally revamped. I do not play loud enough that wood does not matter. I use PAF style pups. I left the center alone and was able to take my 7 lb. (too heavy) guitar down to 6 lbs. I played it low volume against my (still) uncut SG, with my blues jr. It sounded great and still sounds like it used to. It sounds like my SG still. 6lbs. is my max and it worked.
As I noted, all the weight came fron the back sides and horn. Center block clean. Looks great from the front. Side edges left alone.
I love my SG and if I have to weight relieve to play it I must. I can't just look at a cool guitar and not play it. Can you? I gots to play it. So, thanks to all of you, if I ever buy a new guitar, I have these pages bookmarked on my ipad and computer for all time. The only one I won't touch is my '66 LP Black Beauty. It records fantastic. Lots of heavy dense maple and rock hard mahog. Too much of everything to even try to weight relieve.
Steve Buffington
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top