Big ole fat heel on the Dynasty, me no likey...

Alright, need some insight from you bunch of geniuses.

So yes, I'm desperate.

Dynasty got a big ole heel (oh yeah?). Makes it hard to rip off amazing face melting solos in the higher frets because of the giant block like heel (not to mention my limited skill to date, but that's not the point)! I seek to eliminate such a hindrance by shaving the heel back. This will weaken that area, so how much can I safely shave off, huh?

My my... you really ARE having fun with her, aren't you.

Throw up a pic then please.

Oh yeah, I love this thing. Doing the trem and bridge pup as soon as find suitable subjects.

Here's the heel...




Completely unacceptable! What were they thinking?! I tell you what they were thinking, they were thinking "thick heel... it'll ship well"! So I'd like to mod it, feels too much like a brick up there. How thin could I safely go here boys, 1/4" off?

Hmmm. There are plenty of bolt on guitars where they take some of the thickness away from the body where it attaches to the neck. I would look at some of them to get a good idea on how they do it before ya start. The problem as I see it is if you take 1/2 the thickness of the body away from that area it becomes weaker with shorter screws, which may not be a big deal for some guitars that have "horns" or some type of additional support above and/or below the neck join.

If it is done, then the new screw holes will need to be precisely measured, countersink them, use a good washer since a neck plate won't be used.

I think it can be done, the question is, should it be done on this type of guitar? I think I'd pass if it was a guitar I liked. But if you do it, please document it eh!

That's an ambitious project! And one that could easily lead to tears.

From an aesthetic POV just looking at the one pic, my inclination is to follow the curve of the neck into the heel. That looks like it might reduce the area by about 25%?? With luck you could still use the neck plate, on the slant. Trouble is, the screws will then enter the neck on an angle.

You might consider using threaded inserts in the neck to maximize gripping power, but that means plugging and re-drilling. Tricky, and a lot of work, but I think it might look more "finished".

Otherwise a simple stepped cutout might be OK, but again, I'd go with inserts. Washers will not look too good though eh?

Great insight men, thank you. I'll advise on what happens here.