Strat body.

hywelg

I bought a maple Warmoth strat neck off eBay about a year ago. It was a superwide and I have since slimmed it down a bit and given it a fret dress etc. I now need a swamp ash body and should have bought a  Warmoth one when the £ was in a better state.

So now I am wondering who makes decent strat bodies in the UK? I dont need it to be anything special, two piece Swamp ash , not too heavy, indeed not too light either, standard rout for vintage trem and 3 sc's. I like the contoured heel that Warmoth put on theirs but I can easily add this myself. No finishing required, I want to do a vintage off white thin nitro with aged mint pickguard look.

Any suggestions?

Megii

www.guitarbuild.co.uk

PVO_Dave

Calling @GSPBASSES

hywelg

Thanks, looks promising . Anyone got an experience with quality of fit and finish?

hywelg

I was in touch with Grahame @GSPBASSES over a year ago about getting a LP DC made with a wide neck but I backed out as the band had just folded and I was reviewing everything I owned gear wise.

Megii

hywelg said:

Thanks, looks promising . Anyone got an experience with quality of fit and finish?

I've built 4 guitars using bodies from www.guitarbuild.co.uk - I would say the quality is excellent. Phil the owner is a nice chap and I know if you are able to send him the neck he can ensure a perfect fit (I did this with one of my builds). He does a vintage style strat body, which has all the dimensions taken from a 1962 strat body - I know this, because I had the first one, and he sent me a picture of my body next to the original:

Megii

Megii

Should add that I think guitarbuild only do unfinished bodies, so that may have some bearing on things. And also fair to say I've only ever heard good things about GSPBASSES , although I've never used his stuff.

PVO_Dave

I've got a Raygun Relics with a guitarbuild body (all parts neck) and a GSP Superstrat that I just finished.

No idea on the finish out of the box of the gb body, but the shape etc.. looks fine, good fit with the neck too. The GSP fit and finish is amazing, he gave me the choice of body blanks that he had rough cut etc.. so that was a nice touch too

Megii

I did a thread for a build where I did my own body design, and used an old neck from a 90's Starfield guitar - that was the one where I had to send the neck to guitarbuild to ensure the right fit, as completely non-standard. So basically I sent Phil the neck, plus a detailed full-size plan diagram of the body shape, showing where I wanted the contouring and routing depths and whatnot, and after a while he posted the neck back to me plus the new body. Neck fit was spot on - some good pics here:

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/1397/wave-guitar-build-project/p2

Anyhow, going off subject a little, forgive me but I couldn't resist reliving the build, it was terrific fun to do.

Sarge

if you don't mind doing some finishing then have a look at Booboo guitars on ebay,  they sell mainly Guitarbuild seconds but some only have the tiniest of flaws,  like mine only had a small router mark inside the trem spring cavity,  that was a 1 piece swamp ash for under £70

paulnb57

Another thumbs up for Guitarbuild and GSPBASSES I have 3 from each and wouldn't hesitate to use either again..

impmann

I've built three or four Guitarbuild bodies into guitars - all have been superb.

My Jazzmaster has a GSPBASSES body and whilst I never saw it before paint, its a wonderful, resonant body and a Fender neck fitted beautifully.

victorludorum

Grahame made a bass body for me and I left the neck with him. It's a perfect fit as you can imagine. Can you send him your neck?

Deadman

Another recommendation for Guitarbuild. I've had 2 teles off them and they were faultless and quite cheap