What are the chances of ruining a guitar body by making a DIY contoured heel?

diogoguitar

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I'm considering doing my 2nd full-on guitar-body combo. One thing that bothered me a bit in my previous build was the angled neck plate.
I'm thinking about just using a conical razor file, a fender contoured plate as a template and dig it in...

I will buy the body already finished and I don't care if it doesn't look super professional ... is this project a mistake?
I plan to seal that uncovered part later. Thoughts?

Cheers
 
It is safest in black color, followed by transparent original wood color.
3rd other solid colors that are easy to pair with are safer.
Stained/ dye and transparent color ones are the most likely to go wrong.

here is some one do it on original wood color. I find selling in 2nd hand market
306273139_10160119340024127_1547416045853503331_n.jpg


305770754_10160119340139127_4670226377662822056_n.jpg


305270689_10160119339939127_6481042708525690374_n.jpg
 
I've done 3 Fender-style contoured heels successfully (and I'm not a wood worker). Warmoth doweled the unused hole for me, and I carved the corner using a sharp chisel and a sanding block. I used photos of Fender guitars with the contoured heel (American Deluxe/American Professional/Jeff Beck signature model, etc.). I did not do the American Ultra style, as that would expose the unused pre-drilled hole on the neck. It's not hard to do if you have a good eye and a steady hand. I buy all my bodies unfinished. Carving on a finished body will ruin the finish and will look like crap.
 

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I've done 3 Fender-style contoured heels successfully (and I'm not a wood worker). Warmoth doweled the unused hole for me, and I carved the corner using a sharp chisile and a sanding block. I used photos of Fender guitars with the contoured heel (American Deluxe/American Professional/Jeff Beck signature model, etc.). I did not do the American Ultra style, as that would expose the unused pre-drilled hole on the neck. It's not hard to do if you have a good eye and a steady hand. I buy all my bodies unfinished. Carving on a finished body will ruin the finish and will look like crap.
How long did the contouring take? Was the chisel pretty aggressive, then the sanding block was the final shaping?
 
It is safest in black color, followed by transparent original wood color.
3rd other solid colors that are easy to pair with are safer.
Stained/ dye and transparent color ones are the most likely to go wrong.

here is some one do it on original wood color. I find selling in 2nd hand market
306273139_10160119340024127_1547416045853503331_n.jpg


305770754_10160119340139127_4670226377662822056_n.jpg


305270689_10160119339939127_6481042708525690374_n.jpg

Really nice job.
 
It is safest in black color, followed by transparent original wood color.
3rd other solid colors that are easy to pair with are safer.
Stained/ dye and transparent color ones are the most likely to go wrong.

here is some one do it on original wood color. I find selling in 2nd hand market
306273139_10160119340024127_1547416045853503331_n.jpg


305770754_10160119340139127_4670226377662822056_n.jpg


305270689_10160119339939127_6481042708525690374_n.jpg
ahhh very cool... natural color on the back might do the trick for me... I want Warmoth to finish the body for me bc I don't have the skill to do it myself (and other vendors aren't as cost effective). I guess that's what I'll do. That, or black back
 
ahhh very cool... natural color on the back might do the trick for me... I want Warmoth to finish the body for me bc I don't have the skill to do it myself (and other vendors aren't as cost effective). I guess that's what I'll do. That, or black back

It's not that hard. Get a Fender Elite/Ultra neck plate and trace the outline using the 3 holes that line up. Then for the 4th, drill the hole. Trace the outline of the neck plate using the existing holes, and then start shaping the heel. I've done 3. One I used a sawsal to zip off the corner and then finely shaped and smoothed. On the other 2, I just used an orbital sander and shaped that way.

Below is the guitar in my signature. This is still very rough at this point, and was done with an orbital sander.

Velocity neck heel - Copy.jpg
 
I've done 3 Fender-style contoured heels successfully (and I'm not a wood worker). Warmoth doweled the unused hole for me, and I carved the corner using a sharp chisel and a sanding block. I used photos of Fender guitars with the contoured heel (American Deluxe/American Professional/Jeff Beck signature model, etc.). I did not do the American Ultra style, as that would expose the unused pre-drilled hole on the neck. It's not hard to do if you have a good eye and a steady hand. I buy all my bodies unfinished. Carving on a finished body will ruin the finish and will look like crap.

This is how I would do it. It keeps that extra hole that's in the standard position on the neck covered up.

Been thinking about trying this myself, on my next build.
 
Ok, so I’ve got an unfinished body coming from the showcase, and it’s routed for recessed OFR. What’s the best method for contouring the heel?

-Use an elite plate and either do the rectangle to elite shape as shown above or do the full elite rounded heel like some have. This would require a Floyd neck without a side adjust, so Off Menu potential?

-Attempt to angle the back of the body where the plate lays, I guess I’d measure that depth from my other body and attempt to replicate it. Would I mark the contours on the side of the body, sand it close then use a flat sanding block to make sure it’s flat? Then use hand sanding to ease the lower cutaway into the heel?

-I guess a third option is to keep the holes where they are but contour the heel like others have done. What is the little bezel/washer/grommet that most people use for individual neck screws?
 
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Very helpful, thanks!
Wait, did you mean Warmoth FILLED the hole? I forgot about this detail
Warmoth doweled the unused neck mounting screw hole in the body. If you do the "Ultra" contoured heel, you don't want the neck holes pre-drilled, as the unused hole will be exposed. That hole will not show with the "Deluxe"/"American Professional"
contour. With either style, you need to drill one new hole in the body and neck for the repositioned screw location on the rounded neck plate, and you cannot use the side-adjust truss rod without modification. Measure carefully, as you get only one chance to do it right.
 
I've done 3 contoured heels on strat-style bodies (two Warmoth, one Fender) with an orbital sander. I'm not a skilled woodworker, to say the least! What I've done is trace the outline of the neck plate in pencil as a guide, and then I did the contour that basically removes the corner/tip, not the fully rounded edge. I'm not describing it well, will try to find a picture. I like that this covers up the unused neck hole, and I find that it removes all of the wood that really gets into my palm while playing. I've even done this using Warmoth modern necks, trimming the neck screw that would otherwise go straight into the side-adjust truss rod access point so that it grabs just a little. I tested to confirm that the other 3 screws are sufficient to hold the neck in place securely anyway. Of course using all 4 screws, fully seated, would be better, but using 3 or 3 plus a small part of a 4th seems to work just fine.

The first time I did this it probably took me 30 min, after that the others were closer to 10 min. It's really not that much wood to remove, nor is it hard to get it nice and contoured. Finishing it is another matter, that's what I'm terrible at doing myself...

Good luck!

Here'a pic of the 1st one I did. It's a Warmoth body which I was having refinished in gold elsewhere, so I thought I might as well try contouring the heel before sending it out for painting. It's also a Warmoth neck, vintage/modern style.

Contoured Heel 2020-04-03.jpg
 
In MY day we didn't have any contoured heels. You slide up past the 12th fret and you knew where you were going, right into a square block, and we liked it!

Grumpy Old Guy.😁
We didn't have seat belts either in cars, you got in a wreck and you knew where you were going, through the windshield, and we liked it!
 
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I've done 3 contoured heels on strat-style bodies (two Warmoth, one Fender) with an orbital sander. I'm not a skilled woodworker, to say the least! What I've done is trace the outline of the neck plate in pencil as a guide, and then I did the contour that basically removes the corner/tip, not the fully rounded edge. I'm not describing it well, will try to find a picture. I like that this covers up the unused neck hole, and I find that it removes all of the wood that really gets into my palm while playing. I've even done this using Warmoth modern necks, trimming the neck screw that would otherwise go straight into the side-adjust truss rod access point so that it grabs just a little. I tested to confirm that the other 3 screws are sufficient to hold the neck in place securely anyway. Of course using all 4 screws, fully seated, would be better, but using 3 or 3 plus a small part of a 4th seems to work just fine.

The first time I did this it probably took me 30 min, after that the others were closer to 10 min. It's really not that much wood to remove, nor is it hard to get it nice and contoured. Finishing it is another matter, that's what I'm terrible at doing myself...

Good luck!

Here'a pic of the 1st one I did. It's a Warmoth body which I was having refinished in gold elsewhere, so I thought I might as well try contouring the heel before sending it out for painting. It's also a Warmoth neck, vintage/modern style.

View attachment 59185
very interesting thread. i also will assemble soon a unfinished strat without a contoured heel and was initially thinking of this solution as well. then i found out that it is not possible because of my modern neck. my new plan would be to archieve basicly the shape in this picture but just using the three standard screws for the fender contour plate. for the fourth "standard" screw i would use a ferrule that sits at about 10mm of the remaining wood. any inputs on this? do you think this would work out?
 
very interesting thread. i also will assemble soon a unfinished strat without a contoured heel and was initially thinking of this solution as well. then i found out that it is not possible because of my modern neck. my new plan would be to archieve basicly the shape in this picture but just using the three standard screws for the fender contour plate. for the fourth "standard" screw i would use a ferrule that sits at about 10mm of the remaining wood. any inputs on this? do you think this would work out?
There's a thread here somewhere about a product you can buy that allows the modern neck to be used with the Fender contoured heel.
 
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yes thanks i already found this, seems to be a clever idea. but unfortunately it says out of stock and i couldnt find this adapter anywhere else.
 
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