Q for thinline TL kit builders

[McCreed]

For those of you that have built a thinline kit, do you reckon there is enough wood at the back top edge (behind the f hole) to get a comfort contour in there without ending up with a hole?

The square edge on the back of a standard tele body is about the only thing I think Leo got wrong.
Being that he was a notorious cheap-skate, I understand the "time is money" thing, but just how much time & money are we talking about here?

Thanks in advance.

- Mick

[TZK321]

I don't think there's enough wood for a contour.

[McCreed]

Thanks TZK.
Any other opinions?

Maybe if I rephrase the question "How much could the top edge be safely rounded without going through to the cavity?"

[Simon Barden]

Looking at the kit pics, I'd say very little indeed. You might round off the rear edge with a 1/2" radius, but that's about it. Certainly not enough depth to put a Strat-style comfort contour in there. It looks to me like the body is made with a routed-out centre section, with a flat ply top and bottom sheet added (though I may well be wrong). The rout below the F-hole rout is certainly pretty deep and you probably don't have more than 3mm between it and the back of the guitar.

[McCreed]

Thanks Simon.
That's pretty much what I've discovered with the little research I've done since asking the question.

There's obviously a reason I haven't seen a photo of such a guitar anywhere on the web. They mustn't exist!

[Simon Barden]

Not unless you did your own scratch-build.

[Dedman]

nope defiantly not

[McCreed]

Not unless you did your own scratch-build.

Zactly what I was thinking!
However, I have very different ideas for my first scratchy. Nothing on paper yet, just all in my head, and I feel I'm a ways off being kitted out enough to undertake the challenge. Someday...

And thanks for weighing in Dedman!

[TZK321]

"How much could the top edge be safely rounded without going through to the cavity?"

I have a thin line. I'd estimate somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. That's 6-12 mm

[McCreed]

Thanks TZK. Def too thin.
Cheers