I recently underwent my second neck surgery (2nd disk fusion) and the weight of my Variax 705 is simply too heavy to play without major pain.  Since Variax won't sell a kit to adapt their electronics to a lighter body, is there a "weight reduction" tact that I can take?  I'm actually thinking "router" with strategic cuts.  They claim that the sound is all in the electronics and that there is no reason for them to have chosen the heavy alder body for the axe.  I realize that this primitive approach may yield other consequences such as the need to replace the neck with a lighter wood version.  There may even be structural concerns to consider as well.  Without a solution, this guitar will either sit in its case for a long time or end up for sale.  This would be awful. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Chris