My first guitar build was in 2009 and like a lot of people it was a strat style.
It still plays well and it is a great guitar however.... Its just not a good looking guitar with its plain Sapele body. Also its very heavy. So time has come to make a new body for it. Still using Sapele but chambered to lighten it a bit and painted 70's Olympic White just because Ritchie Blackmore is my hero and him late Rainbow strat was this colour.
I have started with a one piece Sapele body blank. Marked a centre line then using 1970's start templates mark out the outlines and then marked the chamber areas. That's it so far. I plan to get the body done for summer so I can spray in the summer heat.
BTW I'm using the original neck and my posts are photo heavy.
Comments
Any help on this?
Pic 1 | Pic 2 | Pic 3 | Pic 4 | Pic 5 | Pic 6 | Pic 7
Cut it into 3 then jointed it on the table router but I was not happy with the joint line so I sanded the edges with a spirit level and then glued them up.
Tomorrow I will drum sand the top of the body to ensure it is flat and also the underside of the drop top then glue them together.
I was happy the way the top came out. It was flat and when the underside was sanded its very hard to see the joint.
I will be hogging out the cavities next.
I'm also happy with the top joint.
I used a 4 blade top and bottom guided bit and template to route out the body shape.
Finished result.
Not much to report other than I have ran it through the drum sander for final 45mm thickness and put a large 70's radius on the profile. Its also a nice weight now.