Heavy...Duty

[NovasScootYa]

This build is based on an original finish 1977 Fender Hardtail Ash Body weighing 7.2 lbs. stripped and 10.5 lbs. fully assembled. It's called Heavy Duty because when my mother picked up the body she said, That's Heavy Duty and the name stuck.
If you're not making a living standing up weight is a non-issue providing an instrument plays exceptionally well and thankfully this one does that far beyond expectations.
The neck is a 21 Fret Warmoth Pro Construction CBS Fatback Birdseye Maple with 6105 SS frets, Indian Rosewood Board with edges and fret ends rolled to around the 14th fret to conserve board width for vintage string spacing, Tusq nut, vintage Kluson Tuners and finished with a light nitro amber and clear. The Pro Construction Neck is attached to the 3-Bolt body with a rock solid ProAttach.com Kit. Inserts and 8-32 stainless machine screws replaced the two upper 1 3/4" wood screws.

Pickguard is a Fender Engine Turned Aluminum, pickups are Van Zandt blues wound neck, middle and rock bridge, 5 way switch, CTS pots, cloth wiring, .047 cap, Guenther jack plate, strings are GHS Nickel Rockers .010s, the original Fender bridge in photo was replaced with a steel saddle Fender USA '62 hardtail bridge, the Fender strap buttons were drilled for beefier #8 screws.

The squared neck pocket found on CBS Strats after 1975 1/2 underwent tightening* improvements which did not hide inspector stamps. A gouged opening in the body for a battery was filled, leveled and routed to accept the original pick-guard horn section with the Fender serial number sticker; org. pick-guard had a butchered battery access and was beyond repair.
Bottom photo shows squared neck pocket before tightening and the gouge for a battery compartment and a wire channel.  Small body photo shows the filled in gouge repair.
Although serial numbered neck plates are not correct for 1977 a custom neck plate with the original serial number completed the project. IMO...When beginning a project with a stripped Fender Body anything but trying to restore it and sell it is as an original is fair game.

* http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=15732.0

More Strats from days gone by...

Canary and Banana Pudding
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=8511.0

Winter Wonderland…
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=12367.0

1975 Rowing a Boatneck…
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=8586.0

Warner Hardtail…
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=13632.0

Happy Hardtail…
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=11574.0

Strat Makeover…
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=18544.0

Pro Contour Heel In Progress...
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=16118.0

Pro Contour Heel Completed...
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=18052.0

 

[Jet-Jaguar]

Wow, there's extra hollows in it, yet it still weighs that much?  Still, it looks sweet.

 

[NovasScootYa]

Yes some of the '70s bodies are notoriously heavy and this is the heaviest one I've encountered. One fellow reported an 8 pounder which made me feel around 14 ounces better.

 

[Cagey]

Wow, there's extra hollows in it, yet it still weighs that much?  Still, it looks sweet.

That looks like swamp ash, and the weight says it's from too far up the trunk. Only the lower section (below 8' or so) are really light. One of my brothers has some swamp ash G&Ls that are heavy like that. In the 70s is when Fender switched to alder to save money, because the reduced supply of premium swamp ash made it too expensive for the production levels they were at. Alder is a good compromise for weight and tone, is much more plentiful and therefore much less expensive. Poplar is popular in Asian countries for the same reasons.