WANTED: How to Do Warmoth Strat Heel Contour

[torodurham]

I have a Strat body I made from scratch and want to do the same type heel contour that Warmoth offers on their guitars.
has any body done this or know of a site that offers a guide for it...looks pretty straight forward...just trying to get all the info I can before I just plow ahead.

 

[torodurham]

....hmmmm looks like no one has.

 

[Cagey]

I've never seen any tutorial or guide on doing it, but in looking at one of my Strats that has a contoured heel it seems pretty straightforward. I suspect you could do it with just a portable belt sander. There's no tricky curves or anything to it. Once you've got it angled off, you'd then break the sharp corners that would be left, and you're good to go.

 

[line6man]

I've never seen anyone do such a thing. Warmoth only does it the way they do, because they need to meet Fender pocket specs, use a standard neckplate, and appeal to traditionalists. Everyone else doing contoured heels has their own method. In any case, you either build a routing jig or use a belt sander. There is not much to show in a tutorial unless you want instructions for building a jig. That's pretty straightforward, however. You would build a router planing jig and then mount the body at an angle using a wedge of wood on one side. Then use a rasp or sanding stick or microplane tool to blend it in. The belt sander method may be the better option if you are careful not to take too much off. Use a finer grit belt and go slow.

 

[torodurham]

Did the contour using mainly a 3" X 8" sanding block with 80 grit glued to one side.
layed it out using 2 Warmoth photo's from the web site on their heel contour page.
A french square come's pretty close to what you need for the outside pattern..and just went for it.
Once I got close to the outside edge's I used finer grit and feathered it in and smoothed everything with 400/ 800 grits.
Very happy with result....pretty straight forward.

 

[Cagey]

Looks good! Although, it may be the picture but it looks like it might still be a tad thick. I measured mine, and it's ~.750" thick on the high side, and ~.625" on the low side. Also, you'll need to break those edges or they'll chip easily when finished.

 

[torodurham]

All I had to go by were the two pic's from Warmoth site...but thanks for the dimensions...I'll check.

 

[torodurham]

7/8" thick  3/4" thin

 

[stubhead]

Somewhere on the Ernie Ball website, there's an interview with Steve Morse and how he sort of pioneered Music Man's contoured heel. He had broken his hand and even though he had cut off some of the cast, he still couldn't hit the high notes - so he just stuck the heel of the guitar into his grinder, plate screws and all. Then Ernie Ball fixed the way it looked when he had a breather. I've seen this sort of approach at a few places lately:

Those are D'Pergos, but other people are doing it too. You really don't need too much there for strength, I don't believe.

 

[AutoBat]

I find the D'Pergo solution to be ugly. It's probably just the goofly neckplate (and trem cover).

 

[rapfohl09]

I think that looks damn good. Really slick...

 

[stubhead]

Then again, if squeaking around on the birdwhistle notes is so all-fired important to you for some reason, you could just try to get rational about it:

Especially since the National Board of Ugly has determined that a full 74.37% of the most hideous cases of Guitar Face occur above the 17th fret, you wouldn't be doing it for just you - you'd be doing it for AMERICA. :guitaristgif:

 

[torodurham]

here is the Strat body with heel contour and the finish started...

 

[Updown]

:blob7:  Nice work indeed  :icon_thumright:

Love that effect