Kavanagh Customs

Very few people who were a fan of popular music in the era forget the iconic images of Clapton on stage with his faithful "Blackie" guitar. Tempted away from Gibson guitars in 1970 by the influences of Jimi Hendrix and Steve Winwood, Clapton built the black Stratocaster he can still be seen playing live today some thirty-five years later from all the best bits from three seperate Stratocasters (1956 and 1957 models).

What we are offering here is what we affectionately refer to as our 'Clapton' or 'Gilmour' model body: built as a tribute to both the famous black Fender Stratocaster players.

Totally hand-built, this body is designed to be as similar as possible to that of Eric Clapton's famous 'Blackie' Strat as it would have appeared new, and with no expense spared on making this one of the best light-weight tone-monster bodies available on the market today.

As a lot of the very earliest Stratocaster bodies were very square-edged, less easy to handle and a little rough around the edges, we opted to template this tribute from an original 1962 Fender Stratocaster ('The original contour body') was used as a template to ensure a close-to-perfect reproduction, with all the curves in the right places, the right thickness, even the correct weight. The routing is the classic three single-coils, keeping as much wood as possible present to ensure the very best possible resonance. The finish is nitrocellulose (a rare thing to find on guitars today: we're one of very few workshops still shooting genuine cellulose) which really allows the sound to ring out rather than being trapped under the thick layers of polyurethane that other manufacturers seem to prefer and the wood used in all our work is very carefully hand-selected for it's individual tonal properties and always comes from sustainable sources.

This would look fantastic with a 3-ply black scratchplate and maple neck for a David Gilmour look or with white plastics for your very own Clapton project. Of course, the combination of nitrocellulose and alder is the ideal base for those stinging lead tonal properties and also allows for a very accurate-looking relic were you so inclined.

Please note that with all our black nitrocellulose finishes, this body will require a final polish upon arrival to get the finish to it's full glass-like potential.

We can also additionally provide a relicing service for this item if you aren't happy doing such things yourself yet still want a true used vintage appearance, just contact us to find out more!

Please note that this is not a Fender product, nor is it made in a sweatshop in the Far East by children getting paid 10p a day - it's much, much better than that. Like all our items, it has been carefully hand built to exacting standards and dimensions to ensure the highest possible quality, and the perfect fit for Fender, Squier and 98% of the Fender-copy market. We comply directly with Fender's own neck pocket dimensions (see the diagram on the left), although there may still be a small amount of work necessary to ensure a perfect fit.

If you have any doubt over whether any of our work is suitable or not for you, drop us a line, we're always happy to help.

This body has been left completely undrilled to ensure that it is suitable for anyone and everyone's needs - you can fit any type of scratchplate you like without having empty holes left under the scratchplate, you can fit a three or four-bolt neck, you can fit the tremolo system of your choice without the need to worry if the screw and string spacing is compatible with your body, or if the holes in your neck and body will line up. The advantages are endless and most importantly: it guarentees compatibility with the rest of your guitar. Please note that our Telecaster bodies do not come with the string holes pre-drills as standard - making them ideal for top-loading bridges, or else a very easy task to modify in your own home to accomodate a through-body stringing bridge.

Don't see exactly the part you're after?

We can build it for you to your exact specifications - nothing is too weird or whacky!

Contact us for a totally free quote and a chat about your requirements, and click here to see our price lists for custom-builds.

We can also supply all the parts you need to complete your guitar project, from fretwire and string trees to custom-wound pickups and polishing cloths! We will be expanding our shop in the near future so that you can conveniently purchase all these items at once but for the moment, contact us and tell us what it is you're after and we will happily arrange or source the parts you need for you.