Short Scale Chambered/Hollowed Out Body

[orlogtsd]

I'll be hitting the appropriate sections for wood choice, finishing etc but I don't know where else to put this.  Hope it's right.

Little BG: Need/Want a short scale guitar (preferred 23" but 24" will do) semi-hollow body (edit: AND SMALL body) guitar but can't find one and can't afford to get one custom made for me so I'm investigating putting together my own.  I'm not guitar tech nor do I have a lot of experience so I'm not really a "newb" since I'm doing this out of necessity and don't plan on doing it again...unless I get addicted! And I do love the look of a natural wood grain---it's like it is alive and not alive at the same time!  But as they say, I digress...

Here's my idea, and let me know if it's plausible: Get an unfinished Mustang/Jag body with a laminated top but request they do NOT attach it.  Then route(?) out or chisel out the body (the chambered/hollow body option is only available for Strats/Teles/LP's etc) myself THEN glue on the top (after staining/finishing it), which would double as a "pickguard" of sorts that I could put some coil-tapping switches, a volume & tone know etc. in a similar fashion to the Fender Mustang Pawn Shop arrangement...if I can figure out how to do that!  But that's for another day.

Is that feasible?  What tools would I need to carve out the body?  Would a good set of chisels do?  I don't expect it to sound like a 335 but if I put some holes in the top (doesn't have to be the f-hole, just some kine of holes [a yin & yang type?  :icon_jokercolor:] would that give me a little "acoustic" sound?  I play a straight Strat without plugging it in right now sometimes to try out ideas so I figure a SEMI-semi-hollow body would have to improve on that *some*.

Anyway, thank-you for your help.

 

[swarfrat]

7/8 Scale bodies will mate with either 7/8 scale 24.75" 24 fret necks or 24" Mustang/Jaguar necks. The builder seems to show 7/8 Tele bodies as available in solid or chambered, but not hollow - though I'm not sure why. I'd call someone at Warmoth and see if you can get a hollow 7/8 Tele with a strat pocket, then get a 24" Jaguar neck.

If an acoustic sound is what you're after, then I'd focus on piezo bridge pickups rather than body construction. If you just want a lively body that interacts a bit more with the amp hollow might get you closer.

 

[Cagey]

I think you may be going around your thumb to get to your elbow. If you want an acoustic, why not just buy one of those? Put a Fishman or something on it if you need to plug it in to get louder. Guaranteed it'll sound a lot better than trying to get an acoustic sound out of an electric design. And if you want to wank and crank, there's no law against running acoustic's pickup output through a floorboard fulla pedals. Unsurprisingly, it'll sound appropriately processed, just like an electric does. You just can't turn them up very loud or they'll feedback uncontrollably.

Carved/chambered electric bodies are more about weight savings than any kind of sound/tone enhancement. Due to mechanical considerations, the wood ends up being too thick for it to have much acoustic quality, even with holes in the top. The F holes you see on some electric guitar bodies are there for aesthetic purposes, not any tonal consideration. Where it's carried to extremes, you only hear it acoustically. Pickups don't hear the body; they only hear the strings.

As for what Warmoth will sell you... they do sell body blanks pre-routed for neck attachment and pickups. You cut out the perimeter to whatever shape turns you on, hollow it out and finish it yourself. They don't advertise tops, but you could call and ask. Some other folks will sell you pre-dimensioned lumber suitable for tops, such as Luthier's Mercantile, but that stuff is more for acoustics than anything else. Stewart-MacDonald's sells thicker cut pieces suitable for electric guitar tops. There are others - Google is your friend.

I don't think Warmoth will sell a carved/routed body as a separate body/top. It wouldn't make sense, really. You have to attach the top to get it right. And to chamber/hollow out a body will require a router, not chisels, which you will need to clean up the top attachment anyway. Speaking of which, you'll need about a jillion clamps or a vacuum bag system to attach the top properly. The whole thing is not a trivial task - you have to be set up for it, tool and talent-wise. Better to pay them - it'll cost a lot less and there'll be fewer tears in your beers.

 

[drewfx]

If you're just looking for a little more volume for "unplugged" practicing on an electric, it's probably not worth the trouble and/or expense to hack away wood without the proper skills and tools.

You can try out a Tele Thinline somewhere to get an idea of the maximum you could hope to achieve, but a similar, smaller routed semi-hollow body is going to get you less than that. And a Thinline is nowhere near as loud acoustically as a 335 style semi-hollow (which is constructed much differently).

If you ask, for an upcharge Warmoth might be able to move the bridge/PU routes on a Thinline body to accommodate a 24" scale neck if a 24 3/4" conversion neck scale is too long. That's what I would consider first.

 

[stubhead]

You can get both a Strat and Tele style body chambered in the 7/8 size, which will both take a 24"-scale Mustang or Jaguar neck. The 7/8 size body information is hard to get to, you have to open up the Body Builder section.