Guitar Neck Thickness

wtfuhz

wtfuhz

5 dollar loud blunts
Hello fellow home-recorders! I've had my Les Paul Custom for several years now and it still sounds wonderful. I haven't had any major problems with it to this day but I do have a little issue with its neck thickness. My LP has a setneck that's quite thick, which can get very uncomfortable to play after long periods of time. My SG on the other hand, is quite low end and has intonation issues and a weak sound but also has a very comfortable and thin neck. That lead me to this question: would it be realistic for me to somehow thin the neck out on my LP so that it would be similar to my SG? Would this be unhealthy for the neck and cause truss rod issues? I know some of you might think that it would be easier to get a new guitar but lefties don't have lots of options to play in person :cursing:

P.S. I've tried learning righty. Not a good idea :facepalm:
 
Lots of people shave their necks. Are you good with a hand sander or wood in general? If not go find a competent luthier and bring the SG with you.
 
There will possibly be a loss of sustain and some alteration of tone as the neck will become more flexible. Be conservative about how much material is removed.
 
I'm not sure why you would ever want to modify such an expensive guitar? But it's your guitar so you can do what you like....
 
ido1957 said:
I'm not sure why you would ever want to modify such an expensive guitar? But it's your guitar so you can do what you like....
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You would be amazed at what people do with Les Pauls. They may be the most modded guitars out there - most modded expensive ones for certain. Shaving the neck is minor and will not affect resale if done well and refinished.
 
A better idea would be to take the SG to the luthier and have it set up correctly and maybe some new pickups installed. That way you could switch between the two guitars and you wouldn't need to butcher your Les Paul.
 
You might go to a music store that has some lefty Les Pauls and try one with the 60s tapered neck-they are somewhat thinner than the much bigger 50s style necks-before shaving that neck. You can then decide if the different feel of the 60s neck would actually be the one you are looking for.
I have several Les Paul style guitars and I can play the wider or the thinner styles with no problem.
 
I have an R4 Goldtop that I freaking love but it's a got a 50's baseball bat neck that i have thought about shaving. I can play it okay but it's not optimum. I worked for a couple years hand-sanding gunstocks for Thompson-Center Arms - many a Hawken was shaped by me - so I'm no stranger to the craft - just haven't got around to it. Probably just oil the wood after. It will still be worth more than I paid for it - by a wide margin.

It's just wood. A custom piece is better than stock. Just don't fuck it up.
 
Well, the prices weren't TOO bad, considering that they're both epi's. That's probably the reason they have issues in the first place. If I could somehow fix the intonation on my SG, it would be a lot better. The only real issue with that is that it's not a bolt on neck so i can't just switch it out real easily.
 
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