Re: Which sellers offer hardtail Strat-style bodies in mahogany?
To add to the other good suggestions above, you might give Marc Rutters a call too. He is a bit spotty with e-mail, so call him if he doesn't answer your e-mail within a week. He's got the "guy in a garage" vibe, more so than most of these companies...but that comes with advantages as well as drawbacks. His prices are super fair, and he will basically do anything you want without any trouble IME. On the down side, you have to nail him down, which can be hard sometimes.
For the setup you're talking about, you'll want a neck angle. Probably 2 degrees would give you enough angle to work with the T.O.M., without going too crazy. I know for a fact that Rutters and Guitar Mill will rout in a neck angle for you. I don't know if those other places will. Every time I ask Warmoth for something outside of the box, it's a clear NO from them. They are very cookie cutter these days, heavily locked in to pre-programmed/standard options, not like they used to be. Rutters probably won't charge extra for doing so. Guitar Mill will. But I don't know if Rutters routinely stocks mahogany, while Guitar Mill definitely does.
I also might suggest a Gibson-Style wraparound, as opposed to a T.O.M.+tailpiece. It will be easier on a Strat IMO...plus I just love wraparound bridges, like on Juniors, etc. Great feel, great look, great tone.
Here's what a 2 degree neck angle looks like on a Jaguar, in terms of bridge height. This is done via a wedged shim in a standard depth pocket. If you have the angle routed into the pocket, as opposed to using a shim on top of a standard depth pocket, the neck and bridge will be about 3/32" lower than this. Which route you use depends on how far off the body you want the neck/strings/bridge to sit. If you want an archtop feel, with everything sitting a bit high off the body (like this Jag in these pix), then go with the wedged shim on a stock pocket. If you want more of a Les Paul/SG feel, with everything a little lower to the body, then have the angle routed into the pocket by whoever makes the body. Either that, or have them rout a flat neck pocket a little deeper than normal, and then you shim to taste yourself.
