Weight Relief. How much is really possible

[Ursupator]

Hi folks,

After I hurt my upper spine in a work accident I can't play really my SG und my LP anymore because they are so heavy and unbalanced.

So I strated sarching for guitars with reduced weight and stumbled across the claim of warmoth that their chambering/weight relief reduces a minimum of 25% of the overall weight of a guitar body.

Yesterday I went to a very big shop and tried out a couple Gibson Les Pauls and non-fender Strats with and without the weight relief.
If I didn't knew about it, I hadn't even noticed the reduced weight on the LPs just from playing them a few minutes (maybe after a whole evening on stage).


At the moment me and my brother are planning to build a guitar (strat or jazzmaster still undecied) for me and maybe a chambered body (not a real hollow body cause I'm a metal guy) could be an option for me.


What is your experience with those weight relief and chambering techniques? Are those 25% realistic and what is possible without a CNC router?

 

[AlexR]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

There are a lot of options if you go Warmoth or similar.

Paulownia is your friend. Its not hard to make a regular strat at under 6lbs with that wood......and having one like that I will say mine sounds pretty damn nice even with all vintage pickups which are the most finicky of options from a tonal balance aspect.
Take out the trem (probably advisable for that wood anyhow), and you perhaps reduce another 1/2 pound.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

Are you into any of the goofy headless ergo designs? Lots of people obviously are not, but if you're after lightweight and aggressive tones, you might check out the Strandberg Boden. Those weigh like 5 pounds, and I believe start around $1500. There are tons of similar designs at all price points from other manufacturers.

 

[ibanezrocks]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

You should consider headless guitars. If an SG is too heavy for you, it might be less about total weight and more about weight distribution - the neck acts as a lever.

Otherwise you can make the body as light as you want but then you're back to the problem you stated with the SG of it being too unbalanced. The only way to make the neck much lighter is to go headless.

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[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

This one is pretty Stratty: https://strandbergguitars.com/product/boden-classic-6-trem-graphite/

 

[Ursupator]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

I think headless guitars and even a lot of more modern "standard" guitars (e.g. by Carvin/Kiesel, Gibsons "modern" lineup and Skervesen..) look very goofy and like kids toys.

Even I'm into modern metal and Core I prefer the classic designs and fnishes with a light modern touch.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

Understood. I never liked them, either, then all of a sudden I did.

Just bear in mind that you're asking for extremely light weight and balanced, and the headless guitars deliver that in spades. Your SG wasn't even designed well enough to not crash into the floor if you let go of the neck. I have a real '62, and it wasn't even designed well enough for the neck to not fall off.

 

[Ursupator]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

The neck dive isn't that bad, but the overall balance of neck and body makes it uncomfortable for me to wear the guitar since the accident.


I already designed a guitar to build (jag style HSH with prs style headstock)

 

[Ursupator]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

Looks like this

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

I like it.

Again, not conventional so most of the crowd will hate it, but check out the strap Matt Heafy from Trivium uses. It distributes the weight across both shoulders.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

Looks like this

View attachment 100079

Yeah, I'd say a paulownia body would work well, but it would be best if you could find a way to reinforce the trem posts, so they don't strip with time. A paulownia neck would help with balance issues, but if your brother knows what he's doing installing a few graphite rods would help with increasing the stability from the softer wood without affecting weight much.

The easiest way to add weight relief is to built the body a bit thinner, route several medium sized holes about 1/8" from the bottom of the guitar, and add a cap on it.

Moving the lower strap button a bit closer to the bass side of the guitar will also help with balance.

If you want to go completely overboard with how light weight it is, there are many ways to do that while still having a metal guitar. Using an HSH set of Alumitone Deathbuckers will save you a little under a half pound, and there are many options for lightweight tuners and FR style bridge options (there's a titanium version that will save you another half pound, but it's $900)

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

A few points -

• Yes, Paulownia is very light. I have a Strat in Paulownia; while it is a pretty mushy wood it makes up for it by not sounding mushy at all (like basswood)
• Speaking of - I have a basswood Jazzmaster (Squier.) It is heavier than the paulownia Strat - but keep in mind a Jazzmaster body is quite a bit larger/heavier to begin with
• Having said it now - the Squier body is thinner than a standard Fender body. If you really want to go light, you can go Mustang (or Bullet Mustang) thickness. Bullet Mustang thickness, chambered, paulownia Strat body may be as light as you’d want to go

Ref. pic below - The Strat is full thickness, the Jazzmaster Squier spec, the Mustang is thinnest. You can also see somewhat how much smaller the surface area of the Strat body is, though the Telecaster next to it is smaller yet. The Jazzmaster body is much longer/wider if it’s not evident.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

If you're going to build it yourself, including any chambering, you can make a BIG difference. All of my builds are chambered and reduce the body weight by 35-40% compared to ordinary brand name manufactured guitars. And I use heavy hardwoods. I could easily chamber one to reduce over 50% of the body weight using a lighter wood.

There is a limit of course. You don't want to compromise the integrity/strength of the body.

But even a hardwood guitar that weighs 6 pounds (that's what mine generally weigh) is a big relief from strapping on a 10-11 pound Les Paul or even a 7 pound SG.

 

[mistermikev]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

Hi folks,

After I hurt my upper spine in a work accident I can't play really my SG und my LP anymore because they are so heavy and unbalanced.

So I strated sarching for guitars with reduced weight and stumbled across the claim of warmoth that their chambering/weight relief reduces a minimum of 25% of the overall weight of a guitar body.

Yesterday I went to a very big shop and tried out a couple Gibson Les Pauls and non-fender Strats with and without the weight relief.
If I didn't knew about it, I hadn't even noticed the reduced weight on the LPs just from playing them a few minutes (maybe after a whole evening on stage).


At the moment me and my brother are planning to build a guitar (strat or jazzmaster still undecied) for me and maybe a chambered body (not a real hollow body cause I'm a metal guy) could be an option for me.


What is your experience with those weight relief and chambering techniques? Are those 25% realistic and what is possible without a CNC router?

I have back problems. just finished a strat that is thinline... ended up at 6lbs 8oz. that's fairly light but I find myself wanting to go lighter. that guitar is 2.125" thick at center... so thicker than normal for a strat but the thinline rout was really aggressive. I'm told that thickness will remove more weight than chambering... but at the end of the day... even if you get a body down to 3lbs... you are going to add about 3lbs in hardware so... it is really difficult to get under 6lbs. if you are trying to go really light... you have to consider a smaller headstock as you don't want neck dive. you aslo need to consider non-locking tuners as they add a lot of weight. I would say a single action truss would help. if you are into metal I'd say you focus on making the body 1.25" thick... which has it's own challenges.
all that said, a balanced heavy guitar will feel lighter than an unbalanced light guitar IME. here's to you finding what you need, and finding something useful in what I've said.

 

[Ursupator]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

Using other wood wouln't be possible the way we planned to do the built.
It's not from scratch, but using sth. like this:

if you are into metal I'd say you focus on making the body 1.25" thick... which has it's own challenges.

Would be cool. It has to have a min. thickness of 1.5" because even with a small block like a 37mm/1.45 the FR needs it space. Ibanez S series thickness would be cool but is a bit too extreme

@guitardoc :
How do you do the weight relief? just Big chambers? Round cut outs?

My brother is a carpenter, so he should know what he's doing. Even he doesn't know a thing about instruments

 

[Ursupator]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

I checked out the PUs the Deathbuckers are absolutely awesome. And their weight is an absolute bonus point

 

[Mincer]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

The only think I worry about with chambering is balance- take too much wood away and suddenly the guitar is neck-heavy, which, to me, is just as bad as a heavy guitar. But hey, I like the goody headless stuff, too (well, as long as it has only 22 frets).

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

The only think I worry about with chambering is balance- take too much wood away and suddenly the guitar is neck-heavy, which, to me, is just as bad as a heavy guitar. But hey, I like the goody headless stuff, too (well, as long as it has only 22 frets).

You can try for a lighter neck if this is a concern. Traditional open back tuners, thin profile, no locking nut, tele headstock (or similar), wpuld make things about as light as you can get.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Weight Relief. How much is really possible

billy gibbons is a tiny human being. slight of build and nothing but skin and bones. he has had some of his gibsons severely modded to the point where even the neck is chambered. granted he plays 7s on most of his guitars, 8's for slide, so there doesnt need to be much there. point being you can remove a lot of wood if you really wanna. when you layer on the distortion and have an eq handy, you can still sound HEAVY with a guitar that weighs four lbs

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Weight Relief. How much is really possible

I once took a basswood Strat body, cut it open like a clam shell on my band saw, and hollowed the entire body out, except for a block up the center. The whole guitar weighs about 5 pounds. It has a nice tone.


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