Solid wood scratchplates

[MrDinsdale]

Hey,

 

Building a guitar (except for the neck) based on a Peavey T-60 (thread). I'd quite like add a similar scratchplate to the original but made with Wenge, it'll look excellent against the Black Limba body.

 

 

Has anyone got any experience making wood scratchplates? Wondering what thickness is recommended and if anyone re-enforced it at all? I was thinking probably 5mm but it'll be pretty high. Would be a faff but could maybe inset it a couple of mm into the body?

[JPJ]

We use a lot of veneers adhered to aluminium for both stability and lightness in yacht construction.
Personally I think a 3 - 5 mm think piece of wenge on its own would be prone to cracking, and you’d definitely need some additional backing under the pots. 

Of course an alternative could be to glue the scratch plate to the body and have rear access for the controls? 

[MrDinsdale]

Yeah this did cross my mind. My only reservation was having the humbucker lugs (not sure what the right term is) routed in the front. I guess I could do some rear access for them too, I imagine that could get faffy to install though!