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Telecaster neck bolted to __ " thick laminated poplar body?

I'm new to the site... I'm sure this is a newbie question that has been asked a million times, but a search pulled up nothing here. I'm building a telecaster cbg with a one piece maple neck and bridge and neck pups. I have all relic'd 50's fender tele repo parts... and a general layout, but I now need to strap it all to something. I have a piece of poplar that is 3/4 thick. I am going to cut them down to the size I need for my box (11 long x 4 13/16 wide) and laminate two of them together for a total of 1 1/2 and maybe 3 of them for 2 1/4. What are the guidelines for thickness vs string tension? They will also be screwed together. I am a guitar player, and a Fender guy, so I'm going for a quality (finger quotes) build. I also have to finish the neck before I can do assembly, but I am just planning right now. Thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on August 5, 2013 at 2:26pm

You won't have any problems as long as you can rout a neat neck slot. Because you're using an adjustable bridge there's plenty of leeway to get a nice action and intonation. In the event that the saddles won't crank high enough you can remedy that by shimming the neck angle. Have fun :)

The body thickness won't affect string tension. Main thing is its thick and strong enough that string tension won't rip the bridge off or rip the neck out

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Permalink Reply by Kentucky Mojo on August 6, 2013 at 1:28pm

Yeah that's what I meant... how thick should the"body" be for 6 string tension?

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Permalink Reply by Randy S. Bretz on August 6, 2013 at 12:31am

Sure is a small box for all that hardware, I`d fill the inside of box up with blocking. At least then you`ll have a solid attachment for the neck and tailpiece.

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Permalink Reply by Kentucky Mojo on August 6, 2013 at 1:01am

Its hard to see, but it's really deep. I am going to basically build a body that the box fits around. I am changing the poplar to maple and rerouting the layout to allow for control plate to go on top. There's one on YouTube that is the same dimensions as mine (and is a tele) and it works out well. It 's tone I'm going for on this one.

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Permalink Reply by Randy S. Bretz on August 6, 2013 at 2:33am

It looks like it`s a hinged lid, an option is to flip the box over and use the bottom for the top. Then you`ll have easier access then using a control access panel by just opening the lid. Yeah I think your best way to make this build is a solid block inside and use the cigar box as a decoration.

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Permalink Reply by Kentucky Mojo on August 6, 2013 at 2:22am

CBT (Cigar Box Tele)

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Permalink Reply by Wade on August 6, 2013 at 2:28pm

It might be a good idea to get some measurements off a tele body to get you started as far as route depth, etc;

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Permalink Reply by Kentucky Mojo on August 7, 2013 at 5:37am

yeah that's kinda what I was looking for

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on August 8, 2013 at 11:51am

A standard tele body is 1-3/4" thick. I've also done 1-1/2" on a solid guitar body successfully. I think anything thinner than that is starting to get too thin though.

So two laminations to make 1-1/2" thick ought to be fine.