Stratocaster Style Guitars

Things You've Made
1

Wanted to make a couple of stratocaster style guitars. I love to play, but I just don’t want to spend $1000 on a nice Fender Strat. I will eventually, but I have kids, and they knock over my beater guitars all the time. I thought this might be a great project to spend some time in the shop and have something useful and worthwhile to show for it.

Results:

20210520_004427
20210520_0044273024×4032 1.97 MB

I still haven’t sprayed finish on the Walnut Strat.

Bought a 10 dollar 60s model strat plan from ElectricHerald.com. Great folks over there. Good customer support when I came across a few issues with the drawing. Quick feedback and solutions.

Setup my CAD files and proceeded to the trusty ol’ LowRider!

Did a miniature test with all cuts in plywood to make sure the dimensions were accurate.

PXL_20210410_212603085
PXL_20210410_2126030853024×4032 3.67 MB
!
After a good checkout, we went ahead with cutting the templates for the build.

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PXL_20210415_200828874
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PXL_20210417_233849236
PXL_20210417_2338492361512×2016 1.27 MB
PXL_20210426_185221911.MP
PXL_20210426_185221911.MP3024×4032 2.33 MB

After that, the build was straight forward. With a little bit of woodworking, and just a couple specialized tools, building the guitars was a pleasure.

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PXL_20210426_175657703
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Uploading: PXL_20210427_201103555.jpg…
The necks were built from some reclaimed maple and walnut
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PXL_20210501_0057430383024×4032 3.71 MB

Aniline dye is beautiful even on pine, but be very careful as it is toxic.
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PXL_20210501_2353149354032×3024 2.27 MB
PXL_20210430_000406631
PXL_20210430_0004066313024×4032 3.74 MB
20210511_204623
20210511_2046233024×4032 2.52 MB
20210505_133214
20210505_1332143024×4032 1.7 MB
20210506_104113
20210506_1041134032×3024 2.46 MB
20210510_210211
20210510_2102113024×4032 1.95 MB
20210511_204432
20210511_2044323024×4032 2.04 MB

Very happy with the results. They play perfectly and they look great hanging on the wall in my living room.

20210520_003608
20210520_0036083024×4032 2.23 MB
20210516_192640
20210516_1926403024×4032 1.99 MB

27 Likes
2

Well Done! Let there always be music!

3

Bravo! That is just a fantastic build.

You cut templates so I assume there will be more!?!

1 Like
4

Nice
Do you mind if I ask how much all the hardware (e.g pickups, frets, etc cost) to build a guitar like that?

2 Likes
5

Yeah, there are more plans too. I’m probably doing a Tele next.

1 Like
6

It ranges. Mine is all genuine fender so like 240, but you could do it for 50 with chair parts

3 Likes
7

$50 is very inexpensive. $250 isn’t bad for high end parts.

2 Likes
8

Very nicely done. Not sure how all this works. You say you made templates but then do you trace them out on the wood and cut them with a bandsaw or use the lowrider to machine them to final spec.
Thanks,
Dave

9

I cut the templates completely on the lowrider, then route the guitars using the templates after bandsawing them to approximate size.

10

Why not cut them directly on lowrider? Does it take too long because it would take a lot of passes, endmills not long enough, or something else?

11

To be honest, I’m not set up for two sided milling. I haven’t put in the time to figure out flipping to get the back side cut. My one try resulted in a misalignment that cost me about $30 in materials. Templates are usually the standard in hobby guitar making, so I was just happy not to pay $100 for a full set.

1 Like
12

It was also thinking about making a guitar, but since I only can do 3cm depth (went for the shortest feet) I thought about doing two pieces, front and back, each 3cm and glue them together. is that in any way feasible?

13

Absolutely. It’s done all the time. Mostly painted guitars are laminated. Some are even plywood.

14

Cool, thanks. I am a drummer myself and would build it for our guitar player. So I have got no fucking clue about guitars. :slight_smile:
If you want to have a good video on two sided cutting: DIY High-End Jazz-Bass-Guitar produced with the CNC machine HNC 47.82 from Hammer® | Felder Group - YouTube I really like their video. It gave me a few good ideas. :slight_smile: They drill holes for pegs that are then fixed to the spoilboard, so you can just turn it around.

15

Awesome!! Rock on !