The making of a Fender guitar on the Contex HD iFLEX flatbed scanner.

We love our loyal customers! Thanks, Kyle Hodder, of Fender Musical Instruments for sending in photos of the beautiful Fender guitars being crafted using the HD iFLEX. As essential as any office staple, the Contex flatbed scanner is simply a must-have for manufacturers like Fender.

For more than 60 years, Fender has been one of the world’s leading manufacturers of solid-body electric and bass guitars. The iconic Fender Telecaster (or “Tele&rdquo and Fender Stratocaster (or “Strat&rdquo guitars are used by musicians everywhere — from country and rock, to blues and pop performers.

Kyle Hodder, design drafter at Fender, tells us that the solid wooden body of the guitar is scanned on the HD iFLEX to capture all its contours and details. 3D models are then created with the scanned image using SOLIDWORKS software.

Thanks to the HD iFLEX’s deep focal length, the flatbed scanner is able to capture details of a thick or three-dimensional original that aren’t pressed up against the glass. For Fender guitars, that means capturing each curve and groove to ensure that the production models are exact.

Natural Light for Scanning Shapes

The  HD iFLEX scanner has ultra-bright LED light that best emulates natural light in a flatbed design and eliminates unwanted shadows in originals. When scanning shapes, like a guitar, the light source is carefully designed to capture the shadows that make up the shapes of the objects. Contex calls this Natural Light.

A view of the guitar body in SOLIDWORKS

The large flatbed surface provides flexibility like never before. Users can scan up to A2/C-size originals of any size or shape – or scan documents up to A1/D-size. The flatbed surface is unrestricting and supports originals in unlimited thickness. Click here for more information about the HD iFLEX.

More details about Fender’s use of the HD iFLEX to come. In the meantime, if you have any questions, contact Contex at 877-2-CONTEX or send email to SalesAmericas@contex.com.