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I appreciate this may not be the best forum to pose this question but...

I've been attempting to model a copy of a Fender Telecaster electric guitar in SketchUp. I've been mainly working from a PDF document which provides the measurements for the hardware routing and the neck pocket but provides nothing regarding the measurements and radii of the actual body shape.
I've had a good look around online but am struggling to find anything.

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  • $\begingroup$ Does Fender have a website or even helpline? $\endgroup$
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 17:31
  • $\begingroup$ @SolarMike Yes, I've looked on the Fender website and have found some "service drawings" but these are very basic and relate more to maintenance of the hardware and electrics. $\endgroup$
    – Rich M
    Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 19:38
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    $\begingroup$ There are many companies which sell kits and tools to amateur guitar makers. These are usually based on well-known designs like the Telecaster, Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul. etc. They sell templates for cutting the bodies, which include the location of the pickup and control cavities, the bridge, etc. Try stewmac.com or google for alternatives. $\endgroup$
    – alephzero
    Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 20:57
  • $\begingroup$ It is quite possible there has never been an "engineering drawing" of the body shape. Master luthiers mark the center line on a piece of wood and then pretty much draw the body shape freehand. Of course the fretboard and bridge position are accurately measured to the correct length scale but the rest is "by eye". These classic designs predate personal computers and CNC machining, so "production line" instruments would have been made by copying a physical template using woodworking machinery. (The freehand drawing technique also bypasses any issues with copyright of the original design!) $\endgroup$
    – alephzero
    Commented Nov 22, 2020 at 2:48

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I have worked with Autocad and ACAD3DS, but I know SketchUp has the same capability.

In Autocad, you can import an image and scale it, then the program will turn it into a vector file that you can block and edit or add to your drawing. You can use a photo of the model you're interested in and turn it into a vector block.

There are online apps that convert JPG to DWG like this:

JPG to DWG

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm using Pro 2019 so it's not the modern web-based one. That sounds good though, I'll have to see if my version does that. Thanks for pointing it out! $\endgroup$
    – Rich M
    Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 19:41
  • $\begingroup$ I can find the import .dwg option but all the imports are failing. I've had some success with the .dxf format so I'm going to work with that for now and see how it goes. Thanks again! $\endgroup$
    – Rich M
    Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 19:49

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