Smuggler's or swimming pool routes: Concerns?

[poolshark]

In trade for convenience and marginally less weight, smuggler's and swimming pool routes remove a lot of material from the body. Curious what the group's thoughts are re: body rigidity, tone, that sort of thing. I've never heard of a smuggler's body caving from string pressure, but hey, you never know.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

smuggler's?

 

[Blix]

Here's a 1967 Telecaster with the smuggler's route:

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/23276-vintage-vault-1967-fender-smugglers-tele

 

[swiveltung]

I have no problem with the swimming pool. I'd never heard of the smugglers rout before now. Is that an actual 67 tele with it?

 

[Blix]

Is that an actual 67 tele with it?

Yeah it is.

 

[SamBooka]

I think you have to be realistic about how much weight you were expecting to relieve. I have a 74 telecaster that, despite having been routed out for a single in the middle a humbucker in the neck and a freaking small stone phase shifter in the back still weighs in at 9.5 pounds. No one has been able to tell me exactly how deep the smugglers route is but I've pretty much given up on it as an option and bought a road worn telecaster instead. Other than that, what I have seen as long as the pick guard is properly supported and you don't take so much wood out that it compromises the neck joint then it's no harm, no foul.

 

[Steve_U1S]

That looks to be 5/8" deep, which I /believe/ would be same as the pickup rout and neck pocket.

The bones are still good there; I couldn't imagine that being a structural issue, with those 'ribs' still working sort of like joists =]

 

[KGWagner]

I know on the hollow/chambered Warmoth bodies, there is no loss of strength or real change in character. It's mainly for weight loss when using denser woods like Ash, Maple, Mahogany, etc. The weight savings is usually in the neighborhood of 25% even though they're pretty aggressive about how much material they mill out...

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In view of that, I wouldn't expect the smuggler's/swimming pool routes to have much of an effect.

 

[K-Line]

They never reduce the weight as much as you would hope. 3 ounces maybe at best.