MIMF

Hi Guys
Just joined the forum.
I am starting to build my first solid body guitar in the Stratocaster shape.
This might sound like a real dumb question, but how do I find the dead centre of the body?
It's a bit difficult due to the outside shape of the body. I bought the body with the neck pocket
already routed out and the outside shaping done, but that's it.
I will need the centre line for the pickup routs etc.
Thanks for the help, great forum.
Roger

Roger,

If you have a neck already you can install it and then run a straightedge down each side of the fingerboard and mark that line as it extends back to the bridge. Measuring to the center between your two extended lines should give you a good approximation of the center line.
If you don't have a neck yet then just try to line up the straight edge along the edges of the neck rout as best you can. The should get you pretty close.

+1 to what David said, and I'll add using the neck pocket will get you close enough to do the pickup routes, but you should wait till you have the neck done and installed to locate the bridge.

If the body blank is a two-piece affair, the join line is likely (though not certainly) to be dead-centre. If not a two-piece, then extending the neck pocket rout lines as mentioned above is likely your best bet.

Adam

Personally, if I had cut the body out without preserving the centerline (the equivalent of your situation), I would install the neck in the neck pocket, then lay out continuation lines for both sides of the neck using straightedges flush against the sides of the neck. Draw the lines at least past where the bridge will go. Find the center between those two lines, and you've got a centerline that derives from where the strings will be.