Stratocaster Compatible Body Hardtail - Daphne Blue

Stratocaster Compatible Body Hardtail - 2 Color Sunburst

The Strat Compatible Hardtail Body is one of the most popular guitar bodies here at Northwest Guitars. The increased sustain offered by the fixed bridge type is a major drawing point for guitarists, preventing the need for locking tuners that a tremolo-equipped guitar will so often benefit from. A hardtail bridge is also considerably easier to install than a Tremolo bridge.

Alder Guitar Body

The majority of our guitar bodies are made from 2-piece American Alder, as predominantly used by the big F. It’s classed as a light to medium weight wood, and grows in the northern hemisphere of the world in various genera, including red alder, black alder, and European Alder. Preferred by a lot of guitar manufacturers thanks to its ease of use, you’ll find Alder glues easily and takes finishes very well thanks to its light colour and close grain making it great for solid finishes.

Alder has many sonic advantages thanks to its closed-pore design which delivers a resonant and balanced tone. Often referred to as ‘full bodied’ it has a great sound across the entire spectrum range, delivering excellent sustain and attack. It’s balanced tonal nature and easy to use construction is all what makes it one of the most popular woods for guitar bodies.

Neck Pocket

All of our guitar bodies are designed with complete compatibility in mind, so our neck pockets are perfectly sized to fit the vast majority of guitar necks. The neck pocket offers a snug fit with pre-drilled holes for easy installation, making them perfect for matching with genuine Fender necks, or other aftermarket guitar necks.

Routing

We also rout all of our guitar bodies for all your electronics, with pickups, control cavities, and some hardware mounts already pre-drilled so you can get up and running quicker. Depending on the model we may not necessarily drill tremolo or bridge mounting holes, and this is because there is so much variety between different bridge types that we would end up limiting what you can install.

String Spacing/Bridge Compatibility

We've designed our bodies to feature a string spacing of 10.8mm, translating to 54mm from E to E. This design enables us to provide a variety of bridge options, accommodating both contemporary and classic saddle styles.

BN005 Bridge with Vintage Saddles

BN015 Bridge with Modern Saddles

Poly Finish

All of our guitar bodies carry Polyurethane finishes, which is the most popular material for finishing modern guitar bodies. There are a variety of reasons for the switch from Nitrocellulose to Polyurethane but, one of the main factors is that Poly requires far less coats to finish the guitar resulting in a quicker overall build process. It’s also far more durable than Nitrocellulose and will stay shiny for longer, being incredibly resistant to scratches and dings as anyone who's ever tried to sand it can attest to.

We've been making bodies and necks for many years now, and we have achieved a reputation among builders and luthiers for producing wood products of the highest quality. Our Stratocaster Hardtail Compatible Body is the perfect guitar body for your next build project.