I hope to make periodic posts through this build, the Day designations will, I expect refer to days of posts rather than day of build, perhaps like some people interpret biblical "days" of creation. Too many other projects happening at the same time! I built a bass with my son most of a decade ago, now he'd like a guitar. He's providing all the hardware, the wood bits are up to me.

Anyway, the first step is to lay up a blank for the neck. Bookmatched hard curly maple with plies of cherry, maple veneer, and a stripe of redheart. The redheart won't retain the bright color, but will still have contrast and look nice as it ages. I know I'm a glutton for punishment with carving and shaping the curly maple, but it looks so nice when it's done!

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It's going to be built to basic Strat dimensions and scale, with Strat style pickups. It is a through-neck design though, and the peghead will be angled, so definitely not a straight Strat copy. I've got a nice piece of cocobolo for the front and back that is thick enough to allow me to resaw it into two bookmatched sets, so both front and back will be bookmatched from the same piece of wood. Body shape, peghead shape, and inlay designs are still to be designed, that's probably the next order of business before I get too far ahead of myself!