There are a lot of resources and templates freely available in many dedicated internet sites, but my goal was not to build a simple replica: copying is for the machines; human beings can use their imagination.

On the onther side, my knowledge is nothing, and around there are many good producers, models and shapes. So I made a selection between different guitars, overlapping different bodies, and using a 2D CAD software to draw the outline of my guitar.

The neck was simpler to design, given the standard scale lenght of 25-1/2", you can change a bit the curvature radius, use a zero-fret or not, but just because it's where you play the notes, you can't twist it out.

So this is the final shape of my guitar, on the paper it seems easy to do...

Once the design was ready, I had to check the list of materials and the tools:

• Wood: ash or maple are too expensive for my budget. I hope that the cheapest planks that I found at the carpenter's shop will satisfy my needs - 15 €.
• Tuners: 24 €
• Bridge: traditional Strat tremolo - 40 €
• Pickups: 2 humbuckers - 20 € (the original design was for 3 single coil, but I changed idea while I was building the body, I don't remember the reason)
• Strings: 1 extra light set, for testing - 5 €
• Screws: for the neck joint, the pickguard, the back cover - 5 €
• Varnish, paint - 10 €

Over this list add the tools such drills, mills, files, saws, cutters, sandpaper, glue, that luckily I already had on the shelfs in my workroom.

One last thing: the time, at the end of the job, about 40 hours

Where is the truss rod? Nowhere! 5 aluminium rods have been inserted and glued inside the neck, to reinforce the structure and the density, without adding too much weight, and without cavities.

Checking if everything fits ok before continuing, is always a good practice

The neck is done. The fretboard is easy to do, but 23 slots take a lot of time and patience because if you make a mistake you must throw everything away.

The body is made up of 3 slices, 18mm each one, to get a "fat" body that will be thinner after the rasp and sandpaper cures.

The joint between the neck and the body must fit perfectly. The 4 black screws pull the neck to the body, the 2 inner screws push the neck to set the inclination, and so the action for the strings.

The 3 parts are glued and slowly all the sharp edges are rounded

[full size]

[full size]

j [full size]

There are many things that I made wrong in this guitar, maybe too many:

	A single coat of varnish is not enough to protect the fretboard; expecially if the wood is so white. Next time I'll use a dark paint.
	I did not spent too much time for the finishing touches, and when the paint is dry, the defects are so evident! Next time I'll use more extra and super fine sandpaper.
	Ok, the wood is cheap and I can't complain, but this sweating resin is really bad and sticky. Next time I'll use only seasoned wood.
	This tuner is too close to the fretboard thus the string has a wrong breaking angle. Next time I must remember that the real world is not a flat plane.