Reshaping the Tele-master body

[boris bubbanov]

Got a 5 pound 2 piece ash body from USACG for a reduced price, commensurate to the body's weight, and I'm having difficulty with the sheer size of the lower half of the body.

It is just kinda oversized and bulging to be carrying the Telecaster bridge and control plate, and really nothing else below that:

Mocked up stock, you get this:

I've taped off the proposed wood to be removed with tape, leaving the new profile:

What do you think?

Much obliged.

 

[Durtdog]

I agree, it's a lot of body hanging down there. I think you could take off another inch from what you have taped off. Maybe 2.

Approaching Melody Maker type body, one of my favorite guitars.

 

[Buckocaster51]

I think I like it in the un-altered form.

How big is that round-over?

 

[Rob52]

I think it looks good either way.
You've also got enough space to put a Strat jack cup in the top. (I've allways prefered the Strat jack placement to the edge socket on a Tele.)
Maybe a different rout for the controls, in a slightly different place could work, if there isn't a rout under the plate you have sitting there in the pics. How about one of your own design control plates in a shape to suit the JM style body, along the lines ofl those wood ones you showed in another thread??

 

[Mike Simpson]

Put a Bigsby on it... that will take up some of that extra space...
I would use a bigger pickguard too. That one would look better on a Tele body.

 

[Brett Faust]

Hi Boris, It looks to me like you will only reduce the weight about 7% at best.
The T master is about 189 sq. inches in area and a quick sketch of a modified version looks to be about 177 sq. in. more or less.
A Strat is about 165 ,a Tele about 163 ,if that is helpful.

I hope that will help in your decision process.
If you only want to reduce the size for artistic reasons ,I say have fun and enjoy your new guitar.

On the other hand ,the larger body gives more room for stickers and decals

 

[newtwanger]

Respectfully, Boris I think your pickguard (which is ultra cool on your Teles) adds a bit to the problem. The reason I put a large guard on mine was to occupy some of that extra real estate.

That being said, I really think trimming by the amount you suggest would balance the look better. It's also not overdone where you have people look at it and think you chopped it down.

 

[ddhr]

I've often thought about a Jazzmaster style body, but smaller (maybe 3/4 of normal size), but with the regular scale. Of course, I don't have the wood working skills to try it! I really like the look, but for me, a scaled down size would be better and lighter. I think a larger Mustang body would be cool too.

Doug

 

[KevinB]

Nice body!

I also think the small pickguard looks a little lost on it, and I'd try a larger, more appropriate guard before I trimmed the body.

 

[Ronkirn]

I'd make a dummy outta MDF or some other junk and give 'er a squirt of Krylon to see what it looks like aesthetically from a distance before I would take the Poulan to a perfectly good body..

Ron Kirn

 

[ponticat]

I've often thought about a Jazzmaster style body, but smaller (maybe 3/4 of normal size), but with the regular scale.

I've made one.

3/4 size would be very small. On the right is the "Lady Jazzmaster" I built for my wife. The body is a 7/8th scale (87.5%) Jazzmaster. The neck and electronics are from a 2009 MIM Strat. She loves her 2006 MIM Fat Strat but dislikes the weight and bulk. In the middle is my modified Jazzmaster shape bass, body narrowed by 3/4" with the upper horn stretched 1", 30" scale Bronco neck. On the left is our friend's mid-90s MIM Strat that I refinished. I love matching instruments in a band.

 

[Brett Faust]

Very nice work

 

[jimdkc]

I've made one.

3/4 size would be very small. On the right is the "Lady Jazzmaster" I built for my wife. The body is a 7/8th scale (87.5%) Jazzmaster. The neck and electronics are from a 2009 MIM Strat. She loves her 2006 MIM Fat Strat but dislikes the weight and bulk. In the middle is my modified Jazzmaster shape bass, body narrowed by 3/4" with the upper horn stretched 1", 30" scale Bronco neck. On the left is our friend's mid-90s MIM Strat that I refinished. I love matching instruments in a band.

I've been thinking about building a short scale bass (maybe a project for next year)... and I like that one a lot!

Jim

 

[boris bubbanov]

Superb work.

Excellent eye.

That bass is so ready for introduction to the FMIC lineup - as much as any design I have seen in a long time.

The 7/8ths scale J body 6 string also puts either the Jazzmaster or especially the Jaguar totally to shame.

 

[boris bubbanov]

Hi Boris, It looks to me like you will only reduce the weight about 7% at best.
The T master is about 189 sq. inches in area and a quick sketch of a modified version looks to be about 177 sq. in. more or less.
A Strat is about 165 ,a Tele about 163 ,if that is helpful.

I hope that will help in your decision process.
If you only want to reduce the size for artistic reasons ,I say have fun and enjoy your new guitar.

On the other hand ,the larger body gives more room for stickers and decals

Thanks for those wonderful calculations!

No, I don't actually mind 7% at all.

5 lbs, two ounces = 82 ounces. Times .93 = 76 ounces. 4 pounds, 12 ounces.

That's some nice secondary benefit. Getting shape more to my liking is what I'm really about here.

Respectfully, Boris I think your pickguard (which is ultra cool on your Teles) adds a bit to the problem. The reason I put a large guard on mine was to occupy some of that extra real estate.

That being said, I really think trimming by the amount you suggest would balance the look better. It's also not overdone where you have people look at it and think you chopped it down.

I may do a pickguard that extends down into the area between the two plates. My feel is, if the pickguard and the body contrast little, then the eye goes right to the bridgeplate and it will be centered and make the body well.
Too much going on between the neck and the bridgeplate only makes the body look more lopsided. This is why the big butt aspect was not so apparent on the Jazzmaster or Jaguar - they had activity extending down into the lower half - that corrected the issue.

I agree with you. I do not want the observer to recognize, until he looks carefully or is reminded, that the body is trimmed down. I want him to like what he sees without actually understanding why.

 

[Casual_Reader]

it's a pinch under your arm kinda geetar, innit?

the control plate route is the limiting factor here, or you could pretty much do any shape you like within the bounds of the outline. Unfortunately, tightening the lower waist for proportion is out, unless you care to plug as shown in the JWells thread.

here's a marauderish end...

surface area 186.325368 to 168.397702

if nothing else, you can print it out and pencil in your own lines

 

[treadwm]

Good work, CR! I like that. It tightens it up nicely.

 

[Jack Wells]

I would use a bigger pickguard too.

Definitely. Just my opinion, but I'm not a fan of that pickguard design.

 

[boris bubbanov]

That's really neat, Casual Reader!


I neglected to disclose where the jack bore is. It is at right angles to the centerline of the guitar, down there in the flattish area where the lower right extends out so far. There's a bit of a flat spot, which corresponds to that bit of open ash grain you can see on the body.

So, I'd would have to revise this version some, and carry the flat spot over. Or perhaps I could use a football shaped jack plate, and permit some angle where the body and bore intersect.

Again, great proposal! Thanks!

 

[jefrs]

Hmm, if you are going to cut it about, a thought, that whilst the sloped bottom of the jag/jazzmaster looks cool, I find that if you play seated with it between your knees (as I do) it has a nasty habit of of trying to deposit itself on the floor. I've thought that If I were to make another, I would fashion a recurve into the lower bout. I find an ergonomical guitar much more fun to play than one that wants a wrestling bout.