Kavanagh Customs

We now also offer this body in a left-handed version. If you are after a left-handed vintage Candy Apple Red replacement stratocaster body (exactly the same specifications as this body but the other way around!), please click here.

Up until 1960, Fender offered customers the option to have their new instrument (at the time these were: the Telecaster, the Precision Bass and the Stratocaster) finished in any colour of their choosing. In 1960 Fender introduced their very own selection of 'custom' paint options.

Candy Apple Red was one of these custom colours - offered between 1963 and 1973, it was alleged to be Leo's favourite of the custom colours and thus was very popular. It was not simply just a 1960s automotive colour put onto a guitar either (as was common practice at the time), but was in fact a true custom colour concocted by Leo Fender himself and custom paint shops. It was also the most difficult to apply as it required three steps (as compared to the usual two):

• metallic base coat (silver was used until 1965)
• translucent red colour coat
• clear coat

All other metallic Fender colours had (and still have) the metallic and colour mixed together before application. The advantage of this separate base coat on the candy apple red finish is that it gives the colour a much deeper metallic look, allowing the metallic particles to shine through the colour coat rather than being surrounded and stifled by the colour.

Fender used a silver base coat on their candy apple red finish up until partway through 1965/'66 when they then switched to a golden base coat (and ended again in 1973). The golden base coat gave the colour a much more 'maroon' shade which turned brown with time whilst the silver base coat meant the colour was much more red and vivid and aged better.

What we have for offer here is our own faithful reproduction of those early '60s candy apple red bodies - templated from an original 1964 Fender Stratocaster and hand-carved to ensure that the contours are as vintage-accurate as possible. The off-centre joint alder body is also finished in the same laborious and time-consuming vintage manner, using genuine nitrocellulose so that it is literally as close as any guitar workshop anywhere can achieve to the genuine vintage article.

For us, this body is rare (and not something you'll find anyone else offering) - we only have a very limited supply of this particular colour so we only produce it in very limited quantaties and this colour always sells out again extremely quickly. As with all our work, this has been totally hand-built, the wood used in our work is always carefully hand-selected for it's individual tonal properties and always comes from sustainable sources.

This would be the ideal starting point for that guitar project you've been promising yourself since last summer - all you need to do is relic it! The addition of the silver undercoat not only makes the colour more authentic but also means it's brilliant for true-to-life relicing.

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.