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I have some Spanish Cedar that I want to build a tele out of, but I think it might be too light. About half of it is around 32 lb/ft^3 which would probably be fine, but I have a bunch of pieces that are 20 lb/ft^3 which is extremely light. Would the lighter stuff be usable? Usually I like lighter bodies, but this may be too light to use without a cap. Has anybody here had much success with Spanish Cedar for bodies?

I have no experience with spanish cedar personally, but I've seen electric guitars built out of it.
I've also seen a lot of pine teles, which are very light, especially if the wood is old. TDPRI's Tele Home Depot is full of them. I have built a P bass out of 100 year old pine. The body by itself only weighed 2 lbs before assembly and finish. The wood was so well seasoned I had visions of it crumbling away into dust as I worked it. No joke. It is an awesome instrument. I love it in every way imaginable.
I say go for it. If I can build a bass from extremely, old, well seasoned (very very light) wood, with the big huge honking 34" scale bass neck and tuning keys, plus the tension of big flatwound bass strings, I don't see any reason why a Spanish Cedar tele would in any way be a problem. In fact, you'll probably fall in love with it.
I'd built it in a heartbeat, if the wood were laying around here. MHO.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

i would worry about cracks at the neck cavity if it is a bolt on, or, splitting down the middle entirely. if you like the look, maybe just using a cedar cap would be safer.
ever split seasoned cedar kindling with a hatchet? it basically just falls apart...

http://www.ruokangas.com/ This guy almost exclusively uses spanish cedar bodies with arctic birch tops. I think you'll be fine.

He's also got a pretty cool youtube video where he builds an "updated" version of a Les Paul from the drawing table to finish. Pretty interesting to see his process. Gave me some ideas.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I'm kinda new here, but the Spanish Cedar thread caught my eye. I've used it for a few things and enjoy working with it. Here's a pic of one that I built earlier in the year:



More pix here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sullyville ... 5583206395

Sully

Looks great, Sully!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I wouldn't hesitate to use any kind of wood on an electric,
as long as I liked it,
and was pretty sure it wasn't moving around much.

+1. I would build with just about any wood I had on hand. Heck, my first was built out of an old cutting board with a chestnut neck from an old piece of furniture. Turned out to be a really nice sounding and playing guitar. Unfortunately, there were too many flaws in the build to keep it around, so it's long since been disassembled for parts. But the headstock in my avatar is from that guitar, so I've kept some of it, lol.
Nice looking git, jsullysix. And welcome to the forum.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thanks!

I've got a small stash (I think about 12 to 18 bodies worth, depending on design) of Spanish Cedar precisely because of the weight. It's got a nice tap to it, and if I'm not greatly mistaken Gibson has used it in the past for bodies. It's also traditional neck wood for classical guitars. I'll be using it for both body and neck (with CF bars, but all my necks get those anyway).

Hi Nathan-

I think that John Mayes said he likes Spanish cedar for electric guitars.

I have a PRS SE with P-90s - the body and neck looks just like Spanish cedar. The guitar sounds great - it is resonant and has great sustain for a lightweight guitar (6 pounds). I have found that Spanish cedar sounds nicer to my ears than mahogany when you "thunk" it and there are plenty of great sounding mahogany guitars.

A telecaster body should end up with roughly 1.85 boardfeet of material after routing and final shaping. If I am calculating correctly, then the heavier stuff you have will give you 4.9 pound bodies; the lighter cedar will give you 3.1 pound bodies. I am currently building a tele copy with a sugar pine body and maple/rosewood neck. The body ended up at 3.25 pounds. I would try the lighter cedar if it were me, but I bet both would make a nice guitar.

Good luck-

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds