G&L F100. Sounded great, hurt my back.

Been half keeping up to date with the YouTube quasi-scientific battle of guitar boffins arguing about whether structure of electric guitars makes any difference at all to sound or sustain. Seems an increasing number think it is irrelevant, in which case wrecking a back is unnecessary!

Got rid of an Eastwood Sidejack VI a few years back, and it's weight (10lb+) was a contributing factor, if I'm being honest. I got a Cort Sunset Baritone (the Gretschy SpectraSonic styled one) with the proceeds, which was both a shorter scale (28-ish inches vs 30") and chambered (at least a good two pounds lighter)....still got it, play it a lot, still love it.

As it happens I recently got an SX Jazz Bass copy, which given it's supposed to be basswood, came in a little heavier than I was expecting (again, pretty much bang on 10lb). Somehow the combination of the Jazz Bass shape and the scale length balance it out well enough that I don't notice the weight half as much as I did with the Mosrite-y shape of the Eastwood. Design/ergonomics definitely plays a part when it comes to comfort with guitars/basses erring on the heavier side.

To me the weight is less important than the balance and how the guitar 'sits'. Even a 7 pound tele or LP jr. without arm and belly cuts forces my arm to be a bit forward, and aggravates my tennis elbow. Also- we need to come up for a more macho term for 'tennis elbow', cause that shit is a total bummer and I wanna be able to call it, like, 'too-much-fucking forearm' or 'motorcycle stuntman elbow'.

I have a 10 pound tele that I cut arm and belly relief into, and now I can play it w/o pain. Also a very old, wide, soft leather strap that has molded to the shape of your shoulder is a great help.

c jury wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:34 pm Also- we need to come up for a more macho term for 'tennis elbow', cause that shit is a total bummer and I wanna be able to call it, like, 'too-much-fucking forearm' or 'motorcycle stuntman elbow'.

"Downstroke warlord tendonitis" "Hot Snakes elbow"

Adam_I_III wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 3:59 pm Been half keeping up to date with the YouTube quasi-scientific battle of guitar boffins arguing about whether structure of electric guitars makes any difference at all to sound or sustain. Seems an increasing number think it is irrelevant, in which case wrecking a back is unnecessary!

I am sorta inclined to agree w/ this. Speaking of Swami, I think we all saw those horror shots of how he reduced weight on his LPs with a forstner bit all over the place and I don't think anyone here would think his guitar sound is lacking in any way.

c jury wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:34 pm I have a 10 pound tele that I cut arm and belly relief into, and now I can play it w/o pain.

How did you do the cuts? I pulled my tele out of it's case for the first time in ages, thought "goddamn you are a cool looking guitar, ima play the fuck out of you right now". Two minutes later I put it down cause I just can't deal with the slab body, I gotta have the forearm contour at least.

Anyway my brother is a woodworker and he'll help me cut this thing up, just wondering about the best/easiest way to do it.

Dudley wrote: "Downstroke warlord tendonitis"

I am a downstroke warlord, I approve of this term.

Adam_I_III wrote: Been half keeping up to date with the YouTube quasi-scientific battle of guitar boffins arguing about whether structure of electric guitars makes any difference at all to sound or sustain. Seems an increasing number think it is irrelevant, in which case wrecking a back is unnecessary!

I assume you've seen this?

MoreSpaceEcho wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:42 am

c jury wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:34 pm I have a 10 pound tele that I cut arm and belly relief into, and now I can play it w/o pain.

How did you do the cuts? I pulled my tele out of it's case for the first time in ages, thought "goddamn you are a cool looking guitar, ima play the fuck out of you right now". Two minutes later I put it down cause I just can't deal with the slab body, I gotta have the forearm contour at least.

Anyway my brother is a woodworker and he'll help me cut this thing up, just wondering about the best/easiest way to do it.

The way I have always done it, on the couple dozen bodies I've made over the years, is pretty simple. I just mark across the top and front/back the borders of the portion to be removed. I use a small hand saw to cut down to near those lines, then a chisel to remove the bulk. Clean up w/ a belt sander, then hand sand and refinish.

We do it similarly but a rasp instead of a chisel - often just go hog wild with the coarse rasp and sand > finish.

Awesome, thanks!

MoreSpaceEcho wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:31 pm Awesome, thanks!

Having considered this for my Vintage LP, I can say there are a fair few youtube videos of people doing this, some going with rasps, some by sanding etc. Not a woodworker, so hard to know who's making the most sense, but it seemed to be within even my meagre abilities on an unfinished guitar, or one you're going to refinish.

Ultimately, my limited woodworking skills, combined with not wanting to take anything off the top of the guitar, thus limiting how much weight I would take out of it, meant I decided to leave it be and try to sell it. I don't care about the back of the guitar, so it would have been relatively risk-free, but I doubt a belly-carve is going to shift enough weight to make it worthwhile.