Stratocaster Build - From Scratch

[Julie Moriarty]

While I'm waiting for the parts to arrive for the Tele (delivery is slow during the gift giving season), I decided to get a start on the guitar that I've wanted for a VERY long time.

I went to Guitarre Plans and downloaded everything I could find on the Strat - .jpg, .pdf, .dwg & .dfx. AutoCAD is acting up so I relied mostly on the PDFs and had to make sure the scale was good. I found what was to scale and went to Staples and had them make up some full sized prints. But before I did that, I took the neck drawings (which were 6"-7" wide) and copied and pasted three of them on a 24x34 sheet so I could have extras in case, or should I say, when, I screwed up and had to make another.

I bought the body templates from Ron Kirn. I allowed myself that luxury in this build. I checked them against the to-scale drawings to make sure we're all on the same page.


Then I took the 1/4" RK templates and made some 3/4" templates from them. And then I rough cut some figured sapele.


Next up was getting the neck template made. RK doesn't sell them so I have to make them from to-scale drawings.

The drawing also had side views and neck curvature at the 1st and 12th frets. I made templates for the neck curvature but I'll probably leave the side views as is and just have them for easy reference.

During all the time I was shaping the neck template, I never thought to test the fit with the body template. Yes, I'm new to this.


Here's a close up of the fit:

Oops! Too much wiggle. Guess I'll have to make that one over.

Here's the rough cut body with a little mineral spirits applied


I'm sure this build will be interrupted many times between now and the end of the year. But I'll keep posting new pics until it's done or they drag me away to the Cuckoo Nest.

[Ted Calver]

Very nice Julie. Is that a single piece body...sure looks like it...and it's got some nice figure to it too.

[Julie Moriarty]

Yes, it's a single piece of sapele. It came from this piece (mineral spirits applied)


I have enough left to make another body and possibly a neck. If I can afford to, I'm thinking of making a jazz bass next. Even if I can't afford the hardware and electronics, I just may go ahead and do the woodwork.

[Julie Moriarty]

I just picked up a couple of compression router bits for the pattern cuts.

So far, so good. It left a really smooth finish.


This is where the problems started. The second bit didn't exactly follow the shape of the first. You can see where I started the cut just left of the horn. I checked for square and everything seemed to be good. I didn't check the first bit against the bearing though. I need to do that. I tried two other top bearing bits and neither of them cut to the first profile. So it's either the perpendicular is off (and I can't see it) or the bottom bearing bit cutters are larger than the bearing. That wouldn't be good.



I ended up taking the body to the spindle sander and gently removed the lip. Then I hand sanded the whole thing. I was wishing I had a hand sander that I could hook up to the dust vac.


I had one boo-boo near the neck as the router bit came around a sharp corner. I was able to fix most of it and I'm hoping the roundover bit will take care of the rest.

I'm going to go ahead and cut the electronics pockets in but I think I have to wait until I have the trem in hand before I cut that in. I'm not sure what trem to use. Some say Wilkinson, some say Fender and some say Floyd Rose, though that's a bit pricey. Last time I played regularly, Reagan was president. So I'm a little out of touch. Any suggestions welcome!

[Chris Fournier]

The neck and body pocket joint is a bit tricky on a bolt on neck guitar. As a woodworker you will want to make a piston fit, shows off your skills right? Well this is a bad idea unfortunately. Don't forget that you will be adding a film finish to both surfaces on a classically finished instrument, also a super tight neck pocke leaves no wiggle room if your neck centre doesn't perfectly match up with the body centre. The old Fenders had some pretty horrid looking neck to pocket fits and they can be improved upon but leave yourself some room. Ho much room? It depends on your finish film thickness but .020 to .030 wouldn't be out of the park once the finish dries. There is nothing worse than cracking or chipping the body finish when the neck is wrenched in the pocket, or forced during fitment etc.

[Julie Moriarty]

Good point Chris! I guess I can use that first template after all. I love it when a plan comes through.

Thanks for the advice!

[Chris Fournier]

You win! There is a trick I use when using my pin router to get a precise(ish) tolerance between parts or simply to properly size a tear out prone part and you can use it on your router table with bearing guided bits too. I use vinyl tape, the cheap thin red stuff that bulk stores often use to seal up bags (Uline sells it). You could use painters tape from an automotive store too but it is thicker. I wrap my pin router pin with the tape, you would wrap your guide bearing and the thickness of the tape offsets your bits cut. Use this technique to fine tune final dimensions and you will have a touch that nears a machinist's! You can peel off the tape to take 0.001"(ish) deep passes on tricky cuts, very incremental andvery effective!

[John Coloccia]

I do that too, actually. I often tape a pattern with several layers, and then remove the tape and do a cleanup pass to get a beautiful surface right off the router bit.

What did I tell you in the other thread, Julie? Builders either never finish the first one or they go on to build many It's a bit of a sickness, actually.

[Chris Fournier]

I do that too, actually. I often tape a pattern with several layers, and then remove the tape and do a cleanup pass to get a beautiful surface right off the router bit.

What did I tell you in the other thread, Julie? Builders either never finish the first one or they go on to build many It's a bit of a sickness, actually.

I never finished my first one AND I went on to build many. Fatally ill! The problem with guitar making is that they are typically objects that we desire, once we learn to make them we become the junkie and the dealer all wrapped into one self gratifying package. Player/collector heal thyself - build!

[Julie Moriarty]

What did I tell you in the other thread, Julie? Builders either never finish the first one or they go on to build many It's a bit of a sickness, actually.

Spoken with a haughty attitude "Well, John, I have a good excuse! I'm waiting for parts for the other guitar!" Harrumph!

Okay, I confess. I know I have contracted the disease. But I learned from all my years playing golf, the best thing to have is a bag full of excuses.

What I have that many may not is a 21 year old who keeps looking longingly at that piece of wood that is so close to being finished. Today his trem and pickguard material are supposed to arrive. So my Strat has to be put aside if there's any hope of getting the Tele finished by Christmas. And I was having so much fun imagining being Chrissie Hynde.

[Julie Moriarty]

Yesterday I decided to make my first attempt at making a guitar neck. I used some construction pine, rough cut it on the bandsaw then used a template I made to shape it on the router table. Then came the part about which I was pretty clueless, shaping the neck and fretboard. I decided to cut out what I could on the bandsaw and started with a spokeshave.



After a while it looked like Santa's workshop


I screwed up on a few things, like making the cuts on the bandsaw too deep and not shaping the head and neck transitions before taking the spokeshave to it. Then I called it a night

Today I took out the rasps and finished shaping it using templates for the back of the neck shaped to the 1st and 12th frets to see where I am. Then I sanded it and laid a shellac washcoat on it.

Yeah, I know, the headstock is reversed. Another boo-boo.

When I got up this morning I was wondering if I bit off more than I could chew trying to make a neck from scratch. I know there's a lot I didn't do like cut in the frets wire slots and truss rod but those shouldn't present a problem if I have the right tools and templates. The hand work was what concerned me. But it wasn't that bad once I did some research on making a neck and applied what I learned. So I'm still in the game!

[Chris Fournier]

Order of operations is everything. I would be cutting the truss rod slot and perhaps even the tuning machine holes when you had a rectalinear blank. If it is to be a one piece maple neck then the fret slots too. Don't forget that you have to have registration points to line everything up, rectalinear time as well. Then you would start shaping.

Please don't take this the wrong way but your final picture is a club, way too chunky. You can get drawings that give you cross sections of the neck at fret intervals. Get a drawing like this and make templates that you can carve to. As for carving I like to draw the heel and headstock to neck areas with some simple lines on the back and on the "side" of the neck, 2D. Then I roughly carve these areas far from finished dimension. Next take the neck and remove material in facets that approximate the neck contour. Now you are ready to carve go slowly and concentrate on symmetry. Use your templates to refine. Try another pine blank like this and you'll be ready to go. I would strongly suggest a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard for your fisrt neck rather than one piece maple.

You can do it!

[Steve Milito]

Yeah, I know, the headstock is reversed. Another boo-boo.

or . . . It's a left handed strat.

[Julie Moriarty]

Order of operations is everything. I would be cutting the truss rod slot and perhaps even the tuning machine holes when you had a rectalinear blank. If it is to be a one piece maple neck then the fret slots too. Don't forget that you have to have registration points to line everything up, rectalinear time as well. Then you would start shaping.

Thanks Chris. Had this been a serious piece (it was just for shaping practice), I probably would have missed some of that. I knew about cutting the truss rod slot and frets first but I probably would have drilled the peg holes after.

Please don't take this the wrong way but your final picture is a club, way too chunky. You can get drawings that give you cross sections of the neck at fret intervals. Get a drawing like this and make templates that you can carve to. As for carving I like to draw the heel and headstock to neck areas with some simple lines on the back and on the "side" of the neck, 2D. Then I roughly carve these areas far from finished dimension. Next take the neck and remove material in facets that approximate the neck contour. Now you are ready to carve go slowly and concentrate on symmetry. Use your templates to refine. Try another pine blank like this and you'll be ready to go. I would strongly suggest a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard for your fisrt neck rather than one piece maple.

After reading your comment, I went back to the shop and checked the neck against the drawings I used as guidelines.

The template on the bottom is for the 1st & 12th frets.


I don't know if you can see it but I cut the foot way too deep. The rest seems to line up against the drawing. The picture is distorting it but when looking straight down, both top and bottom fall inside the lines. The drawing is to scale, I checked it at several points before using it.

This is at the first fret:


This is at the 12th fret:


As for the overall thickness, it's actually less than the dimensions on the fret templates. I did notice a slight bulge between the 1st and 12th frets, which I'll fix, but other than that I can't see what I might have missed. I know it's not perfect but I was really only trying to see if I could actually shape the fretboard and back of the neck to anything close to what it should be before committing to actually building a neck from scratch. But any further help is always appreciated.

You can do it!

Thanks, I'm starting to believe that!

[Rick Markham]

I do that too, actually. I often tape a pattern with several layers, and then remove the tape and do a cleanup pass to get a beautiful surface right off the router bit.

What did I tell you in the other thread, Julie? Builders either never finish the first one or they go on to build many It's a bit of a sickness, actually.

I'm afraid I am in the same boat as Julie, I've got a telecaster build (my first) nearing completion, a 69 strat closely behind, followed by a Gibson SG. There are multiple body blanks laying around the shop, as well as a plethora of neck blanks I've been making. I'm off to go work on shaping necks, and the body/ neck pocket fitment... Keep up the good workJulie, some of us are learning with you! (It helps not being alone in this... illness)

Thanks for the Tip about the tape and the router pin Chris, you just saved me a headache! John, as always, tape on the template is a beautiful idea as well. Thanks y'all!