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Stiffening a Piece of Thin Oak

2K views 17 replies 15 participants last post by  tomsteve 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello all.

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?

Thanks much!
 
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#11 ·
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.
 
#13 ·
I would veneer the steel piece.

- Rick_M
+1 ^^^^^ This is how I would do it.

I had to look up what this looked like;

Musical instrument Guitar String instrument String instrument accessory Guitar accessory


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.
 

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#14 ·
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.
 
#15 ·
Thanks, some excellent suggestions.

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…

Thanks so much again.
 
#16 ·
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.
 
#17 ·
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.

- Dave Polaschek
I think you are right on the tele. or at least wire the ground lugs of the pots together with the circuit common
 
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