I have a very thin piece of oak that I'm working with, it's about 6" long, 1.5" wide, and 1/16" thick. I'm using it for a control plate on a telecaster guitar. It's this shape:
I made it to replace the steel one on the guitar. It has a few components mounted to it and I would like to make it a little stiffer. Can anyone suggest a finish that would accomplish that?
Take a piece of fiberglass cloth and glass it to the back. That's what I did on a piece of cherry I used to replace a control plate on a Tele I did years ago. Made it plenty stiff.
Take a piece of fiberglass cloth and glass it to the back. That s what I did on a piece of cherry I used to replace a control plate on a Tele I did years ago. Made it plenty stiff.
If you want it indestructible buy a carbon fiber kit. For a piece this small it will be cheap. That will look very cool and you even may not want to stick the wood on top but you always can,
It would be possible to glue on cross braces
underneath to the extent they will fit into
the recess beneath. That would do something
to reduce the likelihood of splitting down the
center.
Gluing the oak to a piece of ultra thin plywood
would be my choice. You can buy pieces down
to about 1/32" thick on ebay.
The steel has the strength that won't fracture and the panel even looks a bit proud of the face so a minute amount thicker will not really be a big deal.
Scuff the face of the metal so the adhesive will stick.
Maybe color the edges to match, or,
Maybe recess the whole shebang to be flush on the guitar face.
These started to pop up a lot the last few years. Several ways to do it, I've seen them one single 1/4" thick piece of wood, glued to plastic, etc. If it were me I'd get 3-4 or 5 (depending on how thin they are) veneered cut outs and glue them up, alternating the grain like plywood. Also use washers on both sides of the wood when screwing in to help from splitting/breaking.
Veneering the steel isn't really possible, it'd be too proud of the guitar body. And I bet that switch tip wouldn't fit right then. The fiberglass idea is great, and the cross-braces.
A friend suggested running dowels from the plate to the bottom of the cavity. Might be a bit tight in there with the wires and pots…
One thing I remember from when I wired up a Tele… some of the component sets require that the plate serve as ground, which means it has to conduct. If you find things not working, you might need a thin sheet of copper or aluminum on the back of your wooden switch plate.
One thing I remember from when I wired up a Tele… some of the component sets require that the plate serve as ground, which means it has to conduct. If you find things not working, you might need a thin sheet of copper or aluminum on the back of your wooden switch plate.
if that mounts flat on the body, is there a reason it needs to be stiffened? could ya glue it to the body?
reading the last post, it reads like the control plate sets into the body. how thick is the control plate? is it oak the same thickness?
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