Fixing Neck Dive

[BryanFTWL]

So my Gus G EC-600 has terrible neck dive.
I think the 25.5" scale has a lot to do with this, which was one of the selling points on this guitar for me.
I feel like drilling a new hole for the strap button would really be the only permanent fix for it, and since I'm getting it refinished soon, it won't be a problem to get the old hole filled/covered.
Only question is, WHERE exactly do I put the new button? The guitar is neck-thru, and doesn't allow room to put it where it is on say an SG.

 

[Isan]

You could just add weights to the control cavity

 

[BryanFTWL]

I feel like you run the risk of them moving around and knocking solder joints loose if you go that route.

 

[seven_stringer]

I have routed out a section of a light weight 2 piece Poplar double cut style 7 string body and then added steel to fill the route and it worked well enough. Since that build I have been more cautious about the body woods I use so I haven't had to do that again. I wouldn't do that to anything but one of my own hand built guitar's. I have heard of people replacing the tuner knobs with wood or plastic while some just replaced large tuners with smaller lighter weight units. I have also heard of people using rear control covers made out of steel and some adding weight to the control cavity as mentioned already. Recently I even saw an ad for a guitar strap that had a pouch that could be filled with metal weights in one end of it called the Heads Up Strap but it's not cheap. Sometimes a better guitar strap can solve the problem for you so you should take your guitar to your local music retailer to see if that does the job. In the end it is your guitar and you have the option to do any combination of things to it to get it the way you want it. Good luck.

 

[Swyse]

Making a heavier control cavity cover is a neat idea, if you make it out of metal you could weld extra pieces on and then make it non conductive. Maybe you could make some home made silly putty and put it in the control cavity. Its fun and functional then.