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I'm having fun with this strat thing. I used to own one when i was a kid. Want to make my own. Where do you buy reliable blanks? I'm interested in high end woods. Coco, ziricote, quilted or birds eye maple, etc.

Mike

Are you talking about one piece solid body body blanks, drop tops? I think Ive reached a point where Ill be getting my ash and alder from a hardwood supplier. the price is down around $20-30 per blank. a lot of the big box luthier stores want $125+ for solid body blanks. If you open an all parts account you can get blanks for $50-60 per

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I'm getting some really nice one hundred year old pine from an old barn on a historic homestead



Have built four guitars out of it, all have been auctioned off as fund raisers for the conservation group that owns the barn



There is a great horned owl that lives in the barn so I have to pay tribute to her



The current one has been spoken for by a fellow in New Zealand which gives me an excuse to go there and deliver it (and do some hiking and kayaking)

Otherwise I buy wood from all the usual sources - StewMac, Gilmer, Notable....

No drop tops. Solid blanks. Freeman, wow, awesome barn pic

you want to make a strat body out of cocobolo?

I've got a FrankenStrat thing from the '80s with an unknown very heavy body...I know the neck is EIR, but nobody has ever been able to identify the wood of the body...point being, the thing weighs over 18 lbs...seriously...

sure, it has a rather unique tonality because of all that mass, never had it go insane with any sort of feedback, but it is REALLY heavy to have hanging from your shoulders

I'd limit myself to nice caps of such heavy woods as opposed to the body.

Ok, fair point. I'd be happy to find some black walnut like my current build

Who does drop tops on strats? That seems odd to me

Drop tops are fairly common on tele's - if you are going to build electric guitars you need a copy of Melvyn Hiscock's book and one of the ones he builds is a flamed maple tele with bound edges (and a sunburst). I don't build strats but I do put drop tops on Les Paul Jr's and similar guitars. This is sort of a cross between a LP and a Jr, it has a chambered (another reason to do drop tops) mahogany body with a Spanish cedar top. It has a bit of an arch so it really isn't a Lester but not as much as a Lester cause the hunk of wood wasn't thick enough. Just weird enough to really screw up the geometry LOL

It is actually done a fair amount. Go to Warmoth and you’ll see that 75% of the Strat bodies for sale have drop tops.

PS I seem to be making a lot of reference to Warmoth lately. To be clear I don’t buy from them and don’t endorse (or reject) them in any way. It’s just that they a a mammoth presence in the market, and I figure they both know and set tastes out there.


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Given the front bevel on a strat, does that not mean half the top thickness is a drop top?

a drop top is a specific type of cap...the typically 1/4" thick material is bent over the forearm bevel so that the thin (decorative) cap is fully seen to the edge of the body if you get my drift.

the issue I see with a "real" strat body is the radius of the roundover is bigger than 1/4", right? (I'm being lazy and don't want to go dig out my strat to verify this memory) which means either a thicker cap to compensate for this, reducing the radius of the roundover, or just dealing with the look.

Take a look at Guitar Fetish for Strat bodies. Good prices.
http://www.guitarfetish.com/BEST-VALUE-Guitarfetish-Necks-and-Bodies-at-WHOLESALE_c_518.html
From there I just ordered this prewired pick guard to upgrade my strat copy for 48:
http://www.guitarfetish.com/ALNICO-pickup-Pre-Wired-Guard-BLACK-MAJOR-UPGRADE_p_85.html

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Rick Hubka
Chemainus BC Canada