Really Lightweight

[Skip Ellis]

I'm old with a bad back and need to build a Tele in the 5-6lb range - what wood would you suggest? Or would I be better off building something hollow or extremely chambered? I've built with Pauwlonia but find it hard to finish. Fortunately I have a local lumber supplier that stocks lots of 8/4 stock but all hardwoods. I've done all the above, just wanting to get suggestions from the hive mind. Attached is my last Pauwlonia surf Tele build.

 

[trapdoor2]

I'm planning a hollow body. 2 F-hole thinline with a single Charlie Christian pup in the neck position. Might even glue the neck in (doubtful). Should be light!

I've never worried about neck dive.

 

[peterg]

Guitar body wood doesn’t get much lighter than paulownia. Maybe use a wood lighter than maple for the neck and reduce the metal components? i.e. no neck pickup, body mounted bridge pickup, fixed strat bridge, rear loaded pots with a wood cover instead of a top loaded control plate, plastic knobs instead of metal.

 

[Skip Ellis]

Trapdoor2 : Sorta like this?

 

[Dan German]

I'm old with a bad back and need to build a Tele in the 5-6lb range - what wood would you suggest? Or would I be better off building something hollow or extremely chambered? I've built with Pauwlonia but find it hard to finish. Fortunately I have a local lumber supplier that stocks lots of 8/4 stock but all hardwoods. I've done all the above, just wanting to get suggestions from the hive mind. Attached is my last Pauwlonia surf Tele build.

Balsa is a hardwood. Not suggesting you make a tele with it, just sayin’…

 

[Freeman Keller]

One of the lightest woods that is used for solid body electrics is bass wood but it is terribly soft and you need to be aware denting it and screws not holding and finishing issues - frankly I would never build a guitar out of it.

What I would do, and I do this with almost every "solid body" guitar that I build is to chamber the heck out of it. MY personal tele-clone is made out of mahogany which is not particularly light wood, but the finished guitar weighs 5 pounds 12 oz. Everyone who playes it comments on the weight (or lack of0

 

[guitarbuilder]

Basswood is light -ish. but lacking a lot of character unless you put some oil on it. A million guitar bodies are made from it. Screws are not a problem unless you use the wrong size pilot hole or overtorque them. Basswood is low density but heavier than pawlownia, which I think is way too light myself. I used to use 1000 BF of basswood a year at my previous job.

Why We Use Basswood For Our Instruments

Basswood is one of the most frequently talked about tonewoods out there and there are many factors that go into the choice of wood for our instruments here at Ernie Ball Music Man. Our design team …

blog.music-man.com

One of my Vox like basswood bodies.

 

[trapdoor2]

Trapdoor2 : Sorta like this?
View attachment 1101402

Somewhat. I'm thinking, stop tailpiece/TOM bridge. I really like the looks of the Select carved top teles...but in thinline form. Warmouth has a body available along those lines.

 

[dkmw]

Catalpa looks like ash, but can be lighter. It’s too bad that Clearfork Designs guy stopped his fleabay site. It seems he now supplies one of the “bigs”. Which he deserves, because his bodies were/are just about perfect.

Anyways, he had offered some catalpa that were under 3 lbs. So there are light pieces of that wood out there.

 

[Bob J]

I prefer a lighter guitar as well, and have either chambered or drilled all the bodies I’ve built to reduce weight. They typically end up in the 5 1/4 to 5 3/4 lb range. I tend to go for “woods of opportunity” (cheap or free or easily accessible), and so far they have been on the soft side (Doug Fir or pine for the core) but with a harder cap (ash or walnut). You can get pretty light if you’re willing to sacrifice other attributes.

 

[gb Custom Shop]

I would suggest picking out some lumber you find pretty and chambering the body. Also, torrefied woods can often be ever so slightly lighter than non-torrefied woods (at least in my experience)

 

[Geo]

I bought a GFS paulownia body that came with a white finish. It was then lightly sanded and another paint color was sprayed
over it.

 

[Newbcaster]

to help with neck dive you can channel the neck some too. Billy Gibbons does this on some guitars.... YMMV

 

[Moodivarius]

I built a Jazzmaster out of western cedar, and roasted Birdseye maple neck.
It’s the lightest solid body guitar I have.

Western Cedar Jazzmaster

I grain-filled with Zpoxy to harden the cedar surface, then painted with Dupli-Color automotive lacquer, the clear nitro.




Scott

 

[dogmeat]

5 pounds completed. as in completed with neck, pickups, and controls. may be a bit more, don't know but the scale did not say 6. made from an evilbay pawlaweenie wood body with a veneer. then hollowed out, then a 1/8" plywood back.

 

[kifla]

Few months ago I've sold a handful o Jazzmaster bodies made out of spanish cedar

All were in the range between 1200 and 1300 grams....and Jazzy body is significantly larger than the Tele one

Nobody reported any issue with the wood.

 

[DrASATele]

I've gotten under 5lbs on a finished build with Spruce for the body, cherry for the neck maple fret board. A very balanced instrument.

 

[hopdybob]

maybe something.
i have a old L6 copy full maple, and that is way thinner (3,3cm)and lighter than the others i have.
if you can combine this with the example of @Freeman Keller
use a headstock like

Redemption x3: Ripthorn's 2023 Brotherhood Build(s)

I wasn't sure if I was going to do a brotherhood build this go round, but have since decided that not only will I build one, I'll build 3. To set the stage, I recently finished off a build of my Photon design. The problem was that, while it looked great, it was some shoddy work by my standards...

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maybe you get what you want