strat contours

[vtpcnk]

leo fender apparently varied the extent of contours on the strats over time. for example 50s strats are supposed to have "deep" contours while ones from the 70s are supposedly "lightly" contoured in contrast. any more specifics/information on this?

and any idea which model/year are warmoth strat bodies more aligned to - in terms of contours.

i have always wondered if i imagined it - eric clapton's (black) strats always seemed more angular/flatter (and better looking for me) than many other strats i have seen. and robert cray's strat (from the crossroads festival dvds) the body seems smaller!

any views?

 

[Tonar8352]

Although the early Fender Strats vary because the amount of handwork that went into them they tend to have much deeper belly and arm cuts.  

I think the out of the box Warmoth Strats are not as sleek as the early Strats so I redo them. I always re-profile Warmoth Strats to have a much sleeker feel to them, which is more like the early 50’s Strats. Check my posts on how I do it.  They do not match a 50’s Fender Strat exactly because there are some slight differences to start with but they feel way better after they are done.

Here is a side view of one after it is redone. It is more apparent in person than in the picture but this has a deeper and longer belly cut and the arm rest is rolled over more that an out of the box body.

 

[vtpcnk]

>Warmoth Strats are not as sleek as the early Strats

are you talking about the belly/forearm contours here?

 

[vtpcnk]

btw how did you manage to get the body to float? must be really feather light!

 

[Mor Paul]

He does mean the contours, and he also loves his extra light swamp ash.

 

[simple]

Back in the "days" at Fender, contours would change with the seasons. During the busy season bodies would be sanded less to pump them through the production faster while during the slow season they were sanded more. After much research, Ken Warmoth settled on an amalgamation of the best feeling and atheistically pleasing contours and stuck with that same spec for all these years.

 

[TBurst Std]

btw how did you manage to get the body to float? must be really feather light!

LOL through a 90* counter-clockwise rotation in a edit program

 

[vtpcnk]

Back in the "days" at Fender, contours would change with the seasons. During the busy season bodies would be sanded less to pump them through the production faster while during the slow season they were sanded more. After much research, Ken Warmoth settled on an amalgamation of the best feeling and atheistically pleasing contours and stuck with that same spec for all these years.

will warmoth make strat bodies with specific contours (50s, 60s etc) on request?

 

[Mor Paul]

I doubt it, because of the inconsistency of the early contours. Go ahead and ask, though.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

Just modify it yourself till it's where you like it.

 

[vtpcnk]

>I always re-profile Warmoth Strats to have a much sleeker feel to them, which is more like the early 50’s Strats.

btw is this about the tummy contour or the forearm contour or both?

 

[Mor Paul]

>I always re-profile Warmoth Strats to have a much sleeker feel to them, which is more like the early 50’s Strats.

btw is this about the tummy contour or the forearm contour or both?

He does both.

 

[jackthehack]

Back in the "days" at Fender, contours would change with the seasons. During the busy season bodies would be sanded less to pump them through the production faster while during the slow season they were sanded more. After much research, Ken Warmoth settled on an amalgamation of the best feeling and atheistically pleasing contours and stuck with that same spec for all these years.

will warmoth make strat bodies with specific contours (50s, 60s etc) on request?

There's not really anyway to do that, because as mentioned in the thread, particularly in the '50s/early 60's they were all over the place.

As Tonar said, it's really pretty easy to mod a stock Warmoth body, just a matter of sandpaper and elbow grease to get it done, and you can mod it till it feels exactly right for you. To speed up the process, I use a very rough sandpaper, like #80/#100 to get the shape right, then clean that back smooth with #120/#180, then #220 then #320/400 and you're ready to finish.

Another tip, drill the pilot holes and install the strap holders and hang it over your shoulder while you're roughing it out to make sure it feels right to yourself.

Due to the fact that you're working on a rounded rather than a flat surface, the 3M sanding sponges/pads (or store brand equivalent) lend themselves to this particular job.