The building of the Strat body in chronological order. To enlarge the photo to full size, click on it

The two boards, each made up from 3 planks of tong and grooved ‘parquet’ Merbau flooring.

 

 

 

The ‘Fender Stratocaster’ drawing found on the web

 

 

 

 

Creating the body template – gluing the body outline on MDF.

 

 

 

 

Board and template. Routed the template very carefully by hand and then sanded for final Strat shape.

 

 

 

 

Taped the two boards together with double sided tape (marvelous invention) and then cut the outline with a jig saw.

 

 

Ready for routing the top board.

 

 

 

 

 

Double sided tape and a couple of screws to hold the template in place.

 

 

 

 

Top board routed, bottom board next.

 

 

 

 

 

Making the routing template for the cavities under the pick guard. The Bosch router has a small guide that allows routing to follow the contour of an opening. The offset I needed was about 4mm.

 

 

Pick guard cavity template routed.

 

 

 

 

Test rout before attempting the real thing… Worked well.

 

 

 

 

Now the real thing! You see the small circular guide around the router bit.

 

 

 

 

First route of about 6mm done, routing in stages to final depth.

 

 

 

 

Second route…

 

 

 

 

 

Top and bottom boards together. Back not routed yet.

 

 

 

 

 

Time to glue them together but first all the ‘cuts’ you see in the bottom of the floor boards will need to be filled so they are not so obvious when looking at the sides…

 

 

 

Here is how I fill them with small cuts of the same timber.

 

 

 

 

All done and now clamping the two halves together.

 

 

 

 

Routing the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

Close up of the routing bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edge routing done, no mistakes, all looking good.

 

 

 

 

 

Marking the body cut (where it rests on your ribs). This should reduce the weight a little. Obviously the back has been routed.

 

 

 

Using a spoke shave to remove the wood.

 

 

 

 

 

Done… Sanding will smooth it out.

 

 

 

 

Removing the body cut (where your upper arm rests on). Original flooring varnish now very visible.

 

 

 

 

All original flooring varnish removed with orbital sander using 80 grit.

 

 

 

 

Same for the back.

 

 

 

 

Engraving my initials and the year. Now it is ready for varnishing.

 

 

 

 

Back has received about 4 coats of water based varnish. Each coat rubbed in gently with a very damp soft cloth. This will give it a beautiful, even finish. The results with this method are much better than application with a brush.

 

Same for the front. About 10 coats will be applied in total.

 

 

 

 

A few more coats of varnish and the body will finished.

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Just checking the neck pocket with a Squire neck to see how it fits. Looks good.

Next up, the making of the neck.
Photo Gallery of Building the Neck