Weight relief
Material deliberately removed from a solid body, such as drilled holes or routed chambers, to reduce its weight without changing its outline.
Weight relief exists because solid mahogany and similar timbers can make an instrument uncomfortably heavy, and players reported back pain before they complained about tone. The wood is removed in patterns of holes, channels or larger chambers under the top, usually with the outline and the contact areas left intact so the guitar still looks and feels like a solid body. The result is lighter and more resonant, and opinions differ on how much of the original character survives the process.
Example: A solid-body guitar listed as lighter than the original specification because of internal chambers under its top uses weight relief.
See also
Related
- PageChambered body
- PageBody
- PageSustain
- PageAction
- PageArchtop
- PageB-Bender
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley