The Woodshop Shed

Fender Strat Style Guitar

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


This is my second guitar. It's designed to be a blues Fender copy. I heard somewhere that 2 makes somebody an official luthier. Anybody on the fence about making one, thinking they lack the skill or something, I would say get going, it's a rewarding project that gives back more than most.My wife's arthritis is getting to her guitar playing. An electric has lower action and she didn't have one yet. Merry Christmas!For this design, I found a 1962 Fender Strat drawing on line and followed the print. The body is 3/8 of Zebrawood laminated over 1-3/8 Honduran Mahogany. For a blues style, the Mahogany is supposed to give the guitar a mellow tone. The neck is Hard Maple reinforced with 2 carbon fiber barstock pieces (0.25×0.40 section oriented to stiffen in string direction). The neck is laminated, with the grain being alternated for stability and a stripe of Mahogany (racing?) For any guitar, such a stiff neck is supposed to improve sustain. My wife tried several different neck profiles while taking some lessons at a local store. (I recommend this, neck profile is very important especially for arthritis). I ordered a pre-cut black ebony fretboard and added the fret wire myself.The electronics are 100% Fender, this being a gift. I ordered the Texas Blues style of pickup set and an American modern tremolo bridge. The tuners are modern locking style.It felt great shaping this guitar. So much fun. The tolerances needed for a guitar are not that demanding. Mainly you have to get the neck on straight! There is so much adjust-ability in the bridge and nut and truss rod that the rest doesn't have to be that accurate. +/- 1/32 is ok. Use marking knives and good scales and verniers when possible and it'll work out fine.I finished the body with 3 coats of poly gloss and carefully scraped the nibs with a razor blade. Looks fine. I finished the neck with 4 coats spray lacquer and glossed it up with a progression of wet sandpaper. Serious players say lacquer feels best.Plays great! I guess I never experienced good sustain before because this guitar really has it and I didn't recognize it. Must be the stiff neck? A beautiful ringing that lasts 20 seconds.Again, very worthwhile project. Cost $950 (wood $120). It's the Fender components. They were fined for anti-trust price fixing in Great Britain recently and price their stuff in the US high and never discount. Brutal what the market can bear trying to make a buck can't blame them. And it was a gift.The stand is made from some old steam bent Red Oak crest rail blanks held together with friction lap joints. I used a glue gun to lay down some strips of purse leather where it touches the guitar.

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