Vaneer on a standard strat

[DaveK]

I just got a solid alder Strat body on e-bay for $30

I was going to try to put a quilted maple vaneer on it

Has anyone has done a veneer on a Standard strat body?

My question is, will the round edges of the body keep me from doing a good veneer?

Thanks

Dave

[BeAR]

I did this myself a few years ago.

The place where I was working had a huge wood shop with some great machinery. This one particular machine had a conveyor belt that pulled timber into it where a belt sander ran over the timber. You could basically dial in how much timber you wanted removed as accurate as 1/64th of an inch. I got a 1/8 maple bookmatched cap, and machined the body to suit.

Once the top was fitted, just run around the new top with a router fitted with the right radius bit. Sounds simpler that it really was, but it worked and looked fantastic with a black burst to cover up the joint.

Id prolly use a thinner veneer and follow the tutorial for the bookmatched top. Any decent machine shop should be able to skim a couple of mm from the face of the body in a couple of minutes. Beauty of this is that you wont have to be as accurate with the pickup and cavity holes as they get covered by the pickguard.

There might be an easier way, hopefully if there is someone here will let you know.