Body thickness?

[IkarusOnFire]

I am contemplating getting a custom 7 - and have so far decided on bubinga top, myrtle body an all wenge neck, ebony fretboard. I am however, undecided on the thickness of the body.

I want a radiused top, so the flow of the guitar goes with the radiused fretboard (12-16), but I want a very thin body too - like the thin Ibanez' out there. Does anyone have any pro's and con's - we're talking soundwise (obviously, weight and feel will be affected).

With my choice of woods, I will have a rather heavy guitar, and I am hoping the dense woods will balance out a thin body, and still give a rather rich tone...does that make sense? Anyone have any experience with that?

I realize, pickups and bridge style will have a serious effect too - for extra info, I am going for BNP aftermaths and have yet to decide on a bridge style...I use OFR on my other custom, and love the feel and change of tension I can get from it, but the hassle of string change bothers me. So any good ideas on that front would be cool too =)

Thanks!

 

[Swyse]

my thin ibanez s series sound awesome to me, but they are mahogany and I have no idea what myrtle will sound like. It sounds like you might like the speedloader floyds where you just slip the strings through the saddle in the back instead of clipping the ball ends. I don't know if you can get a 7s version though.

 

[Erick Kroenen]

that depends on the luthier if he is willing to do it its fine good idea!

 

[teleofseven]

you should take neck dive into account.

i have a 6 string tele with a 25.5'' neck. the neck is all maple and the body is all mahogany.

the body is 42mm thick and the guitar is in perfect balance. no neck dive.

neck dive means: when you have the guitar strapped on you, the neck tends to be pulled down. a heavier body helps with this. what also helps is strap button placement, but i won't get into that.

so say if you're making a 7 string 25.5'' scale, mahogany body, maple neck guitar. you'd be wise to have a body atleast 45mm thick.

but if neck dive isn't so much of a problem to you, or you don't care (usually the whole neck dive thing is so anally about millimeters and grammes)

then just think how much sustain, overall weight, overall wood tone you want.

complex? nnnnope. you just need to think what you want from your guitar. about 45mm thickness is good.

 

[IkarusOnFire]

Thanks for all your replies. I was actually here to find some info on how to avoid neckdive - it bothers me, whenever I play a guitar with neckdive, so I guess I'll have to take it into account.

I have chosen body woods that are quite heavy/dense (ancient kauri or myrtlewood with bubinga top) - and a wenge neck. Has anyone done any math on it? You know, body mass/weight contra neck+head weight?

Anyhoo, I'll discuss it with my luthier, go by his advice and the info you guys gave me.

Any other ways to avoid neckdive - other than a heavy body?

/Marcus

 

[Lorcan Ward]

neck dive means: when you have the guitar strapped on you, the neck tends to be pulled down. a heavier body helps with this. what also helps is strap button placement, but i won't get into that.

My mate went to stand up with his new Explorer and the neck/headstock flew down and smashed off the ground it was so top heavy.

 

[teleofseven]

Any other ways to avoid neckdive - other than a heavy body?

well, strap button placement can effect it. aaand how long your neck is definetly effects it.

i usually (when designing a new body or guitar) try to get the neck as in to the body as is can, with still being able to reach to the highest frets.

ballast weights... ah no, forget that.

smaller tuners? smaller headstock? using wood instead of metal on the tuning keys?

 

[stupidspoge]

ballast weights... ah no, forget that. :lol

Would those be weights towards the bottom of the guitar?
I've been designing a thinbody guitar that I'm going to start when I go home for Christmas break. I came up with a few slots that I will route out on the back, just down from the bridge that I can put metal cubes or blocks into to adjust the balance. Is that not a good idea or something?

Just tie balloons to the headstock. Duh...
I suppose you could also put a weight on one end of the strap...