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  1. #1
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    May 2019
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    Default Heavy olive guitar- help needed!

    Hi everyone! I need an advice on a weight problem I have on this olive wood/epoxy telecaster

    The guitar plays perfectly but I need to lower the weight by 1 kg (out of 5). How can I carve the inside removing material with little impact on the outside? I would avoid carving the back and place a cover plate, I could try carving and placing a metal plate on the lest side maybe using a router and then a drill...any advice on different tecniques?

    Thanks a lot!!!





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  3. #2
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    Feb 2007
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    Default

    The only way is to remove wood and then cover the voids at the back kind of making it a semi hollow. To loose that kg you are looking at 20% has to go and even then it is still heavy. Going to be as much work as a rebuild and likely change the tone of it. It is a great looking guitar due to the wood used. Heavy goes with that wood. Can you not live with that? Way I am looking at this, is the work and potential change to the sound worth it.
    Regards
    John

  4. #3
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    Default

    make some comfort reliefs on the back

  5. #4
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by orraloon View Post
    The only way is to remove wood and then cover the voids at the back kind of making it a semi hollow. To loose that kg you are looking at 20% has to go and even then it is still heavy. Going to be as much work as a rebuild and likely change the tone of it. It is a great looking guitar due to the wood used. Heavy goes with that wood. Can you not live with that? Way I am looking at this, is the work and potential change to the sound worth it.
    Regards
    John
    Thanks John, the problem is that the guitar is a gift for my 11yo nephew so he wouldn’t be able to use it longer than some minutes. It could be less than 20% considering the resin part.


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  6. #5
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    I had a google search on lightening a guitar and the general opinion is the sound is not affected too much. They all involve removing wood then either covering up the void or not depending on the look.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPOyppqgHQg
    Not suggesting you follow his suggestions but something to think on. He does say he would not do it to an expensive or rare guitar.
    11 year old will pretty soon grow big enough the the weight will not be a problem.
    REgards
    John

  7. #6
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    Jan 2019
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    Default

    Personally, I'd do the one thing you don't want to do. Carve the top and as mentioned above comfort reliefs on the back. A nice curvature to that top and a relief for the picking hand a la strat would make it lighter, sleeker and really make that top come alive.

  8. #7
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    Default

    With a little good planning (and the appropriate size neck) you could convert it to a 3/4 guitar. Remove 25mm off the body circumference to keep the instrument looking "balanced". You'd also need to extend the neck pocket towards the pickup slot (possibly into it and redo the pup slot) otherwise tuning and intonation would be impossible.
    Just a thought.
    The other thing of course, is at 11 years old, he'll hit his teenage growth spurt pretty soon so in the meantime play it seated.
    Good luck.
    If you never made a mistake, you never made anything!


  9. #8
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    May 2019
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    Default

    Update! Many guitar players told me that 5 kg would be too much for any age so I finally decided to remove as much weight as I can, carving the back...

    950 g removed! Now I plan to seal the hole with plexiglas and silicone an pour a clear resin layer...it will look like glass with a view of the wood inside [emoji28] let’s see...


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  10. #9
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    May 2019
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    Default

    Finished! 1 kg off


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