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.