How to do a belly carve on your guitar by hand (FAST and EASY!)

In this video we are continuing our telecaster guitar kit build by creating a belly carve on this guitar to make it more comfortable and lighter. We are doing this exclusively by hand using a few tools from Solo guitars.
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[@ScavGecko]

IT IS FEELING PRETTY GOOD

[@faktdiz3897]

I was just dying for the next 5 minutes straight. 😂 I love this man.

[@peterneville1729]

I was always a bit nervous about doing this to my tele but after watching your video and using the tools that I have I have ended up with a perfect job thanks for the knowhow Brad

[@BradAngove]

Glad it helped. Thanks for watching.

[@muhammadjalalkausarayub3274]

My friend use to have the thick wooden guitar with belly carve he says his father make it who knows maybe they saw ur video 🥺because they are awesome 🌟

[@OnTheFritz602]

Great vid! That wood came off quicker than I expected, and looks nice and comfortable.

[@BradAngove]

Thanks. I’m glad you liked it. It does feel pretty good now haha.

[@briansimpson8116]

Looks great!! I can't wait for you to paint a galaxy over that spaulted maple. It's gonna look AMAZING! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@BradAngove]

You stop that right now!

[@briansimpson8116]

@@BradAngove Okee dokeee. 😂😂😂😂

[@GarethFlatlands]

I used one of these rasps on my Jazz bass build, for carving the belly contour and for shaping the neck. I was impressed how fast it removed the wood, and I got a really good shape on the neck for a first time builder. These rasps are well worth the reasonable cost. Scratched my wedding ring up though so that's a lesson for next time :-(

[@BradAngove]

Yikes! I’m glad it worked well for you. No rings in the shop!

[@MixingGBP]

This carve, along with the faceted neck carving method are my favorite parts of the building process.

[@BradAngove]

Yes, the fun woodworking.

[@rondelio8562]

Hey, Brad, thanks for the tips! I recall when I did my first project guitar in the mid 80's, I also added a body curve, but I used just 2 simple tools - a 4 sided rasp, and a bastard file. Yeah, it took a bit of elbow grease, but it turned out well.

[@BradAngove]

I’m glad to hear it turned out the way you wanted.

[@chrisfrezza1449]

Thanks Brad, just did this technique and it came out great!

[@BradAngove]

Glad to hear it!

[@robruthless4703]

Literally was going to look this up and see if you covered this. I was thinking about doing this to my tele body so that worked out perfectly

[@BradAngove]

Excellent timing!

[@bindodundid]

Thanks for this video, confirmed my suspicions on how to do this

[@jcool0122]

Those saw rasps are awesome. I used mine to radius all the edges on my amp head cabinet when I was building a 5E3 copy. Took about 20 minutes per side.

[@BradAngove]

Nice! Yeah, they’re very efficient.

[@davidburns4176]

Worked like magic for me today and fast. Thanks for the instruction.

[@BradAngove]

Thanks for watching.

[@Poxytrene]

Hey thanks this is great! I saw another method where the guy cuts diagonals from edge to edge of the lines you drew and then used a chisel to carve out the chunks before smoothing over with spokeshaves. Either way I love those tummy cuts.

[@BradAngove]

Yeah that’s a fun method as well. Important to have sharp chisels and steady hands for that one.

[@FF-so3su]

Great video

[@DragonofLimerick]

Got mine from Crimson guitars, same Shinto rasp, absolutely love it.

[@BradAngove]

Excellent!

[@bevinmodrak4997]

Perfect timing, just got a tele body and have a shinto saw/file.

[@BradAngove]

Excellent!

[@DJBuglip]

Just caught you were a lefty. I'm surprised you don't do more left-handed builds, Brad.

[@BradAngove]

So far I don’t do any left handed builds. I switched to learning right handed immediately when I started playing and figured out annoying it is to get left handed stuff.

[@hyramjackson]

I'm on my way of building my first guitar, your videos always are very informative, thanks!

[@BradAngove]

Glad to hear you’re finding them helpful.

[@TheEchelon]

Using an angle grinder with a wood carving disc or sandpaper flaps disc is a great technique to check out. There are some vids on youtube

[@BradAngove]

I’ve done some of those vids haha.

[@GuitarOverdrive]

Digging this build a lot. Adding a belly cut to a Tele is a good idea, but what I’m really excited for is the finish!

[@BradAngove]

Haha me too. I think I’m going to convert it to double humbucker first though.

[@GuitarOverdrive]

Interesting. Why not push it all the way with H-S-H or even triple hums?

[@BradAngove]

Because I’m terrible at wiring haha.

[@TheAtariCreep]

And just like that, thousands of Tele fans cried in terror. HAHA Looks great. I always found this type of work to be relaxing. Little therapeutic.

[@BradAngove]

Haha thanks. I also enjoy doing this type of thing.

[@electroKrunch]

Thanks Brad, great vid! You reminded me to put a shinto rasp on my to-buy list! Thanks man....

[@BradAngove]

Good choice sir!

[@JoeKyser]

i prefer my spoke shave any day of the week over the shinto rasp to make those belly cuts.

[@BradAngove]

I’m glad you have something that works for you.

[@johanandersson7382]

Hi Brad! Just saw the video. A suggestion, go get a set of cheep metal plaster spreders and sharpen one edge. A good cheep scraper will make you throw away those nasty razorblades!

[@BradAngove]

I have a set of cabinet scrapers among other scraper type items. I still use razor blades frequently.

[@mpshields]

I appreciate your attention to detail. Thank you so much Brad. This video was so helpful. Maybe I'll post my guitar when I'm finished? I'm sure not as good as yours Buddy.

[@BradAngove]

Thanks Michael. I’m sure yours will be every bit as good if you’re patient with it.

[@mpshields]

@@BradAngove Thank you Buddy! 😁 I try. Although I'm not as extremely handsome as you Brad, I'm doing my beard & hair like yours! LOL😄 Oh... & I've been working out. I'm all around inspired!!! 🤗

[@edgardner7025]

Hi Brad thank you for all your help over the years well my back finally went out and my Telecaster too heavy to play putting a belly car in an armrest in it how much weight will that lose or any other good ideas stop planning on turning it into a piece of Swiss cheese

[@BradAngove]

A belly carve will help and you could go quite deep if you want to really remove some wait. The more ambitious approach would be to chamber it.

[@davidfinn5029]

Another great vid mate. That's a very deep carve little too deep for me but never know that could be super comfortable. Keep up the great work... interested to see what finish you going to apply... add some vintage Wilkinson pups to that will be a guitar worth keeping

[@RobMods]

Nice video as always. I would also add a couple of tools you might like to try. In the past I have always used a spokeshave for this sort of carving. Then I shift to a cabinet scraper. (Also called a card scraper.) But I've never seen a shinto rasp, and I'm keen to check one out now. Oh, and I like to draw curves with a curves ruler. Cheers!

[@BradAngove]

My card scrapers are at the shop. Would have made sense to bring them back for this haha. I really do need to get my hands on a spokeshave one of these days. A curves ruler? Sounds like cheating haha. Kidding; I’m not sure I’ve seen one of those.

[@RobMods]

@@BradAngove Curve rulers: www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/staedtler-flexible-curve-400-mm-st57160400 Aussie link there, but you get the idea mate... They are especially great for drawing up guitar design plans. Ha, yep, my cab scraper is my fav wood working tool. So simple and effective. (Hot and tired thumbs not withstanding!) The LMI slotted burnishing tool was a revelation for me too...

[@Nsherman2012]

I did this exact thing with a handheld belly sander, this seems way cheaper and more controllable

[@BradAngove]

I think you would find this tool more versatile as well, but I’m glad the belt sander worked for you.

[@cruddygamer1524]

I wasn't even looking for a painting video this time and still found the answer to my question in one of your videos! Also, a question: Did you do a video on using power tools for this? A link in the description would be great if you did.

[@BradAngove]

I’ve done it with power tools on all three of my GGBO builds. I haven’t really done a tutorial on it though. It’s the kind of thing where I worry a bit about someone hurting themselves.

[@cruddygamer1524]

@Brad Angove That makes sense. I did see the Maximum Guitar Works video on cutting an arm contour with a table saw, and that was pretty slick. Between your video and his, I don't feel hesitant to cut my own body for a custom build and paint I'd like to do someday. Now the neck, on the other hand.....

[@BradAngove]

Yeah, necks are a bit of a different animal. I’ll have my series on that coming out at some point.

[@SanfilippoAngelo]

Wow super video cool

[@BradAngove]

Thank you.

[@Terry3Gs]

Excellent video !!

[@BradAngove]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@j-mo2453]

I’m like that as far as jumping into things on an improvised work space and I bet working on that shelf was knocking spray cans over...lol I’d be like yes! I picked up the spare! Woot! Rasp... rasp... rasp... lol

[@BradAngove]

So many cans down there I’m playing 21 pin.

[@b.cguitarcovers2347]

Nice work man🤘

[@BradAngove]

Thank you!

[@stu-j]

I normally use a grinder with a flap disc its amazing how much control you have! I do fancy one of them rasps tho.... good job as always Brad love the top on that Telecaster....

[@BradAngove]

Thanks Stu. I’ll be demonstrating grinder option that is better than a flap disc soon.

[@mjn55128]

Brad Angove Hey, did you ever do the belly carve using a grinder video? Can’t seem to find it 🤔

[@BradAngove]

I did a belly carve with a grinder as part of my metal top Stratocaster series. Not 100% sure where in the series though.

[@azmiyusof6253]

I tried rasp but not the japan ones - not working well maybe my work bench not quite sturdy - ended up using the grinder with flap disk 150 grit - way quicker - using low speed gives good control. Its a G&L asat body btw

[@BradAngove]

The flap discs aren’t bad. Not nearly as fast as the carving disks, but that may be a good thing.

[@Im2Old4ThisShite]

I'd like to see you do an arm relief carve on the top and fix the binding afterwards. I love my MIJ EVH special but good god is the edge ever sharp and uncomfortable.

[@BradAngove]

That would be an interesting video. Good idea.

[@Im2Old4ThisShite]

@@BradAngove I've just literally never seen it done and as much as I love my wolfgang, like I said, it really digs in, and before people start calling me a cry baby 😆, I'm an old, blown up, combat wounded Marine and I suffer miserable f-ing pain in my body and it's hard enough for me to sit and play than to add something digging into the soft side of my forearm. I'd love to have mine carved down and since it's black, the hardest part would actually be redoing the binding. It might just be easier to but the standard and upgrade everything on it but I'd rather not buy another guitar...

[@BradAngove]

I see the dilemma. If the opportunity arises I’ll see if I can do something like that.

[@Im2Old4ThisShite]

@@BradAngove from what I've seen of your work, I've got zero doubt that you will knock it out of the park when you do take it on.

[@Neverender08]

hey Brad, thankyou for this video! Its really great to see a well presented visual guide on how to do this. Do you have any extra tips for someone who would like to contour an Explorer body to that of the E2 explorer body?

[@BradAngove]

To me those look like they are probably done using a large angle/chamfer bit on a router.

[@russellklassen7951]

Brad, try a draw knife next time.

[@sunriseshell]

Conventional rasps come in curved versions. Good for getting in those curved areas.

[@garrettknecht6420]

Helpful video, thanks. Could you demonstrate how to contour a heel joint on a similar body type?

[@BradAngove]

I can do that on upcoming LP kit build. It kind of needs to be a set neck for that.

[@charliequatrano5780]

This would be a helpful video. Fender offers a contoured heel plate and chapman offers this style heel on a Tele but with just bolts (no plate). Not sure if that helps you or not.

[@BradleyJohnsonmakingthings]

Great video, is there a power tool video on this?

[@BradAngove]

A couple, yes. In fact, the video I have coming out on Monday will include a portion on this.

[@jonmatthews4254]

Better to do it this way than with power tools, less chance of messing it up.

[@BradAngove]

It is the safer option for sure. Especially if you’re new to it.

[@davidmaher1313]

Brad, there seems to be a couple of different sizes (blade lengths?) of rasps, on Solo, and elsewhere. Which size did you use on this project, and do you have a recommended size you use for most of your guitar projects, that might give a bit of flexibility for other projects as well? Thank you for your help.

[@BradAngove]

I opted for the longer one. For what I do I figured it would be faster and give me more control because there’s more area to “grip”. I didn’t bother with the extra handle model.

[@davidmaher1313]

@@BradAngove Brad, thanks for the prompt reply. Rasp ordered and received. Just as expected. Simple, well-made and does the job perfectly!

[@BradAngove]

Excellent! Glad to hear it.

[@FushaStrat]

At 10:33-10:57 the edge view looks very uneven as far as the thickness. That makes feel a little apprehensive as I am not so good at wood working.

[@BradAngove]

If you’re concerned, make sure your drawn lines are how you want them at the beginning and only go up to them. The rasp is easy to control. My carve is the shape that I intended.

[@johnomeara7272]

Hi, great video. Can you post a link to the rasp you are using? I am in Taiwan and I have to order from overseas and I want to make sure it is the right model. Tough enough to do the job. Thanks

[@BradAngove]

I think there are only two on the solo music gear website in the description. This is the smaller one, but they would both work fine.

[@johnomeara7272]

Thanks

[@mannydecastro8604]

Nice job! Did you by chance weigh before and after?

[@BradAngove]

No, I didn’t really think about the weight aspect all that much.

[@alabamahebrew]

And, if your going to use a grinder to make a belly cut on a Les Paul, pay attention to the chambering places!! I spent a few weeks trying to fix that boo boo lol.

[@BradAngove]

But it turned out well in your case!

[@bjornkommedal9364]

Hey Brad, I need to do exactly the same thing! Great video! So, if I simply click your link below to Solo Guitars, that helps you out? I'd like to help you out! Also, you recommend their 200mm or 250mm Shinto rasp? Belly cuts and similar are my target activity.

[@BradAngove]

The 200mm and 250mm are both effective. If you’re mostly doing belly carves the 250 is a bit better. For tighter work the 200 is helpful. If you click my link to get to the site and then make a purchase there it helps me out.

[@davegoss4276]

How long have you been building guides

[@BradAngove]

Making tutorials? Quite a while. Hopefully they’re helpful.

[@frosttgasian1168]

Any way to do this without a Shinto rasp?

[@BradAngove]

Sure. Pretty much anything that removes wood in a controllable manner. I often use a grinder with a carving disk.

[@user-xn2ip9on7h]

hello? I am someone who watched the video and was thinking about trying it myself. However, is it okay to do the arm rest and belly cut contour work as above on the telecaster thinline model? I am worried that holes may be created in the thinline model while working on the contour.

[@BradAngove]

You’ll have to check how far the holes go. That is a possibility. I’ve never done it on a thinline.

[@user-xn2ip9on7h]

@@BradAngove thx ㅠ_ㅠ

[@kravensoda6038]

I need a belly cut cause I'm like a fat kid who had too much cake lol. Nicce Job Bradley! Likd 17

[@BradAngove]

Thank you! Are you sure you didn’t just have too much soda???

[@kravensoda6038]

@@BradAngove Ha that too lol

[@ranman58635]

Does this work on a plywood body? 86 Squier stratocaster/TELECASTER contemporary bullet 1

[@BradAngove]

It should. You’ll just need to do a bit of filling after if the plywood has gaps.

[@ranman58635]

@@BradAngove , thanks Brandon. Hope the baby is well.

[@KaptainSloth]

Would I be able to put in a belly carve on a Tele Thinline Semihollow?

[@BradAngove]

I doubt it. You would probably just end up with a big hole.

[@KaptainSloth]

@@BradAngove yeah that's what I thought, thanks! Keep up the great work btw

[@roberthelmick9574]

I'll stick with my angle grinder with a sanding disk attachment. lol

[@alabamahebrew]

Lol I was thinking the same, but with the right and sharp tools doing it this way would not take that long. When I cut one into my Les Paul it took forever with my grinder, I was using just a regular grinding wheel and the wood kept plugging it up lol. What type of wheel do you use on yours? Also, never make a belly cut into a Les Paul without first knowing how deep to go before hitting the chambering lol. I completely forgot about this and was just removing the mahogany back when suddenly a hole starts appearing, it took me about two weeks to fix that little boo boo lol.

[@BradAngove]

There are better options than the sanding disk if you’re going with the grinder method. I’ll be demonstrating one of them soon on another build I’m working on.

[@roberthelmick9574]

@@BradAngove I draw out the carved section just like you showed me this video and use my grinder to carve it. I can't see it being any easier? Takes me like 5 minutes, the maybe 2-3 minutes with an orbital to smooth it out. Everybody has their way of doing stuff. And don't get me wrong man, I enjoy your videos, but I leave the rasps and files in the box as much as possible. However, I noticed a lot of your videos are aimed at the inexperienced. And I wouldn't suggest for them to use a grinder at first either. I was just being a bit of a smart-ass.

[@roberthelmick9574]

@@alabamahebrew practice makes perfect. I've gotten so comfortable with using a grinder and sanding disc that I even carve tops and necks with it. I saw another channel of a guy doing the same thing so I gave it a shot. With that said, by trade I am a tile installer. And a grinder is a tool that I am very skilled with. It may be why I picked up on that method so easily. I've had one in my hand almost every day for the last 23 years. With it I can cut circles in stone, so I doubt a piece of wood is going to stop me. Lol

[@BradAngove]

Robert, I know what you were getting at. A grinder is what I generally use as well. I’m just saying there is something better available for your grinder than a typical sanding disc. It allows better visibility, works faster, and alleviates the occasional burn mark issue from trying to overuse a sanding disc. I’ll demonstrate it in an upcoming video.

[@tdalb8985]

I must be a savage. I set my circular saw to the desired depth and swept it back and forth until I was close. And finished with my belt sander.

[@BradAngove]

You didn’t start it lower? Went right for the desired depth? That’s a bold move.

[@adammoran7849]

Step 1. Draw belly curve Step 2. Clamp BOTH ends of the object to be carved.

[@BradAngove]

Indeed.

[@adammoran7849]

And, once you've clamped both sides of your object.. it's time to fire up the belt sander!!

[@GIBKEL]

I asked....and damn if you didn’t have an answer. Reading something on the internet....you just never know but damn if someone has answered the question before you asked. Getting that angle is probably rife with oops!

[@BradAngove]

Glad I could help!