Laminate Top Strat®
Guitar Replacement Bodies |
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Beautiful woods are the hallmark of custom guitars. Unfortunately, such woods are often expensive and
worse yet, their sonic properties may not be nearly as desireable as their appearance.
Many years ago we developed a process whereby a 1/8th inch thick exotic top could be formed over the face
and forearm contour of a guitar body. We refer to these bodies as "Lam-Top" bodies, also sometimes called a drop-top.
When using only an eighth-inch top, all of the tonal properties of the body will be derived from the base
wood, not the top. Therefore, you may have an Alder body that sounds like an Alder body, but appears like
a beautiful piece of Quilt Maple.
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Wild Flame on Mahogany
(Rear rout body shown)
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Making A Laminate Top
The tops are done in what is called a bookmatch. This is accomplished by resawing a plank and. . .
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opening the resulting 2 halves like a book.
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This yields a symmetrical pattern along the body centerline.
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Laminate Top Strat®
Guitar Replacement Bodies
Rear Rout Option
When beautiful woods are used on a body it is often desirable to cut the control cavity from the back. This way there is no
need to cover the beautiful face wood with a plastic pickguard. We call this "Rear Routing" and it allows maximum exposure of the face wood.
This cavity allows positioning of the 3-way switch and pot holes. Cavity depth is 1-1/2" leaving a face thickness of 1/4"
except in the area of the switch where the thickness is only .090".
There is no extra charge to have any or all the control holes cut in their standard positions. Also notice that there is a
recess for the pickup selector switch inside the control cavity in the back.
All rear routed bodies are supplied with a recessed cover plate and mounting screws.
 Quilted Maple Top
 Finished Koa
 Swamp Ash (Hardtail bridge string-thru holes)
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Control cavity features:
We will cut pot and switch holes in the shown locations if you desire, and we can omit any you don't want at no extra cost.
We will also drill for the side jack if you specify the size hole you want.
Supplied with control cavity cover plate and screws.
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| Top Rout | 
 |                 | | Alder | $250 | | Ash | $250 | | Basswood | $230 | | Black Korina | $320 | | Maple | $270 | | Mahogany | $270 | | Poplar | $220 | | Indian Rosewood | $575 | | Swamp Ash | $250 | | Walnut | $320 |
| Rear Rout w/ Cover |
| | | Alder | $270 | | Ash | $270 | | Basswood | $250 | | Black Korina | $340 | | Maple | $290 | | Mahogany | $290 | | Poplar | $240 | | Indian Rosewood | $595 | | Swamp Ash | $270 | | Walnut | $340 |
For the Ultimate in personal preference, our special Unique Choice option let’s you pick the actual laminate top we will
use for your body from below. Simply add its price to the table price table above.
Include the laminate top number with your order.
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