Mythology and Wood

Rat Bait Guitars: Two Telecaster‑Style Bodies Born from Salvage and Spirit

Bodies in the North Devon workshop, waiting for their final touch. Soon they’ll be finished off, waxed, and dropped onto eBay—two Telecaster‑style bodies are more than wood, they bring history to the party. These aren’t factory‑fresh slabs of tonewood; they’re fragments of forgotten lives, reshaped and reimagined into instruments with battle scars, and soul.

Each body is a genuine Rat Bait Guitar Body, built in October 2025 from salvaged materials and shaped in a rat‑infested shed in North Devon. They’re not showroom pieces—they’re artefacts of survival and reinvention. Their silhouette nods to the quirky Woolworths guitars of the 1960s and ’70s: Japanese‑made, budget‑friendly instruments that were once dismissed as cheap knock‑offs, only to become cult classics decades later.

This is the same spirit—taking what the world throws away and turning it into something that screams.


Materials & Origin

Every body carries its own layered history:

  • 1970s Austrian dining table – once a place of family meals, now a resonant slab of tone.
  • Old roofing timber – beams that sheltered lives, now reborn as the backbone of sound.
  • Exmoor Spruce – local wood with a wild edge, grounding the build in Devon’s landscape.
  • Sections of an Ikea bookcase – mass‑produced flatpack, now carved into something utterly unique.

All reclaimed. All reimagined. All finished in natural beeswax, giving the wood a warm, tactile glow that honours its scars rather than hiding them.


What Is Exmoor Spruce?

Exmoor Spruce is a native softwood found in the rugged uplands of Exmoor National Park, known for its resilience and character. Grown in harsh, wind‑beaten conditions, it develops tight grain patterns and a distinctive tonal quality that makes it ideal for musical instruments. Unlike commercial spruce varieties, Exmoor Spruce carries the imprint of its wild environment—each piece tells a story of survival, shaped by the moor’s unpredictable weather and ancient soil. It’s wood with attitude, and it fits the Rat Bait ethos perfectly.

More than just a local material, Exmoor Spruce is a statement. It’s the sound of wind through trees, the weight of rain on gorse, the echo of hooves and history. When carved into a guitar body, it doesn’t just resonate—it growls. It’s not about purity or polish; it’s about presence. And in the hands of a player, it becomes a voice for the untamed.

The mythology of Exmoor runs deep—feral, windswept, and defiant. These bodies channel that outsider energy: rough silhouettes, raw finishes, and a stance that feels more like a weathered figure on a moor than a polished showroom piece. They wear the look of the land—scarred, elemental, and proud of it. The guitars don’t just echo the landscape; they embody its folklore.


The Beast of Exmoor

Lurking in the shadows of local legend, the Beast of Exmoor is said to roam the hills—a phantom predator with glowing eyes and a taste for livestock. Descriptions vary: a black panther, a spectral hound, a creature born of fog and fear. Whether myth or misidentification, its presence haunts the moor’s psyche. These guitar bodies carry a whisper of that gothic energy—feral outlines, claw‑like grain, and a sense that something untamed lives within the wood. They’re not just shaped by tools, but by stories. By the idea that even in the age of algorithms, something wild still watches from the bracken.


 

Specifications:

  • Style: Telecaster Type
  • Routing: Standard Tele neck pickup + Tele bridge pickup
  • Finish: Hand‑waxed, raw, and ready for players who want character over perfection

Why Rat Bait?

Because these guitars aren’t about sterile precision. They’re about defiance. About taking discarded scraps and proving they still have a purpose. About building in a shed where the rats scuttle in the corners, and still managing to carve something that can make you look good on stage.

Each body is a reminder that music has always thrived on the margins—punk, blues, garage rock, DIY scenes. These guitars belong there too.


Two bodies. Two chances to own a piece of reclaimed chaos. They’ll be up on eBay soon—raw, handmade, and unapologetically imperfect.

 

Barnwood Hardtail Stratocaster Style Body

 

This Strat body is a genuine Rat Bait Guitar construction, which was made in September 2025. This guitar body is made from salvaged material and a broken Stratocaster type guitar constructed and shaped in a rat infested shed in North Devon. The design and shape is reminiscent of ‘Woolworths’ guitars from the 1960s / 70s – Japanese, retro homage. Please see photographs to view the rugged finish and texture of the body.

This body is part loaded with a white scratchplate from a new guitar, new electrics and new pickups.

 
Stratocaster Body made from recycled materials – body weight 1.85kg (unloaded).
Materials:  Old roofing timber, bits from an old bookcase and a broken Stratocaster body.
This body is routed to take standard single coil pickups. This handmade body has dents, scratches and old paint in places. You might have to fettle this body to suit your needs.
 Hardtail Stratocaster body SSS routed – UK Made
  • Body made from a salvaged material
  • Approx. Thickness: 42mm
  • Approx. Neck Pocket Width: 55mm
  • Approx. Weight: 1.85kg

The Hardtail Strat Barnwood Guitar Body by Rat Bait guitars is a unique and eco-friendly choice for electric guitar enthusiasts. Made from recycled material in the United Kingdom, this body features a natural, red, and black colour scheme that adds a touch of character to any guitar. With a weight of 1.85kg, this UK-made body is designed to fit most electric guitars seamlessly, making it an ideal choice for customising and creating a one-of-a-kind instrument.

Barnwood Nashville Style Body

Hybrid Stratocaster body routed to take Nashville Telecaster hardware

This Nashville Tele / Strat body is a genuine Rat Bait Guitar construction, which was made in September 2025. This guitar body is made from salvaged material and a broken Stratocaster type guitar constructed and shaped in a rat infested shed in North Devon. The design and shape is reminiscent of ‘Woolworths’ guitars from the 1960s / 70s – Japanese, retro homage. Please see photographs to view the rugged finish and texture of the body. 

Telecaster / Stratocaster Body made from recycled timber – body weight 1.99kg.
Materials: Part of a 1970s Austrian table, old roofing timber, bits from an old bookcase and a broken Stratocaster body.
This Nashville style body is routed to take a standard neck pickup, single coil middle pickup and standard Telecaster bridge pickup. This handmade body has dents, scratches and old paint in places. You might have to fettle this body to suit your needs.

 

  • Body made from a salvaged material
  • Approx. Thickness: 43mm
  • Approx. Neck Pocket Width: 56mm
  • Approx. Weight: 1.99kg
  • Light Nitro Cellulose tint coat in places
This guitar body blank is made from reclaimed wood in the United Kingdom, ready to be crafted into a unique and environmentally-friendly electric guitar. The natural and black colour offers a rugged looking, versatile, barnwood choice for a contemporary unique Partscaster, perfect for customising your instrument to suit your style. Designed to fit standard electric guitars, this body blank is a great choice for luthiers and musicians looking for a sustainable and distinctive sound.

Telecaster String Through Guitar Body – 1.99kg

Excellent 1.99kg Telecaster string through body

The body is dense and heavy. Finished in a battle scared high gloss black finish, a fantastic base for a relic DIY Telecaster. Body and string ferules only.

  • Approx. Neck Pocket Width: 56mm
  • Approx. Weight: 1.99kg (unloaded weight)
  • Black
  • Gloss Finish
  • String Ferules 

Weight 1.99kg. For Scale Length: 25.5″

This Tele style body is routed to take a Humbucker neck pickup and standard Telecaster bridge pickup. This body has been through the wars and has several deep scratches on the rear and a few minor ones on the front. This quality body is perfect to turn into a rugged relic. The wood is described (when purchased by me) as Poplar however it weighs nearly 2kg and therefore could be another denser type.

Road worn  and rugged

This gloss black Telecaster type guitar body is perfect for a partscaster build. Made of high-quality wood, it weighs 1.99kg, ideal for any guitar enthusiast or DIY guitar builder. This body is perfect for those who want to upgrade their light bodied guitar or convert their beast into a more reliable string through body instrument. With its sturdy construction and high-quality wood, this Telecaster body is sure to last for years and years to come.

Relic Stratocaster Style Guitar, Vintage Look, Nitro Neck, UK Made

Relic Vintage Stratocaster Style Guitar.

The neck is a new old stock replacement, finished with a light nitro coat with the headstock painted to match the imperfect look of the body. New machine heads have been fitted. The pickups are probably from an early 2000’s Squier fitted onto a reclaimed triple-ply scratchplate.  A new complete tremolo bridge has been fitted.

A homage to 1960s and 1970s guitars

  • 21-fret maple and rosewood neck
  • 3 single pole pickups
  • 5 position pickup up switch
  • New 10mm Machine Heads
  • Nut Width: 1.656 In. (42 mm)
  • Scale Length: 25.5″
  • Reliced Stratocaster body
  • Strap buttons
  • New strap
  • New tremolo unit with tremolo arm

Handcrafted in the UK.

This unique electric guitar is a must-have for any music enthusiast, very easy to play and looks good hanging on a wall. The Relic Strat Guitar has an adaptable HSH layout (fitted with SSS scratchplate and pickups) and is made with new and recycled parts, making it a sustainable choice for any player. The guitar is handcrafted and finished in the UK and is of a solid body type construction, 4/4 size and in a blue, black and red reliced body colour, lightly sealed with Nitrocellulose. The set includes a strap and the guitar has 21 frets, with a rosewood type fretboard. The body material is basswood and the guitar is right-handed. This is a great choice for anyone looking for a high-quality, UK assembled electric guitar at a price that won’t break the bank.

This body was manufactured in the 2000s and is compatible with Stratocaster electric guitar fittings. The brand of this body is unknown, but has character and personality. Here are some more body details:

  • Will fit HSH – Single coils, humbuckers, or a mix of both
  • Approx. Thickness: 43mm
  • Approx. Neck Pocket Width: 56.5mm
  • Light nitro finish over relic paintwork
  • Relic finish
  • Basswood 

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