The finished guitar... why not make yours? and cheaper than you think.
Review of 'Blue' Fender Strat below
Please note this review is VERY long...
Wow, what a fantastic looking fender (surely not?) body - and on the guitar - it's even better.
You know, when I had finished making 'Brown' (my previous fender strat) I thought that for the money there is no way that I could ever improve on that guitar (check it out here) - the sound was awesome, the feel of the guitar was great and the playability - well you could play it (it felt like) forever. And that guitar was light... which for an older guy like me matters. Picking up a Gibson Les Paul these days is hard, but having around your neck for hours is nigh on impossible.
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Specifications of 'Blue' Stratocaster
Once I had decided to make another guitar (this is my last for a while) I put down on paper every single thing I wanted to include and/or make this guitar be that I could think of or afford to put the money up for.
Heres the specs:
- Fender Jeff Beck neck
- Roller Nut
- Warmoth Custom body from top to bottom
- Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups 53 HOT (review coming soon)
- Gold Bladerunner Tremolo system (review coming soon)
- Gold Locking Tuners
- Fully Screened Body
- All Fender pots etc.
- Original 'pull back' waxed wire throughout
- Special pickup surrounds to 'show off' the guitar body
- Fender Strap Locks
- Recessed neck - .720 modification (see review below)
- Angled Neck Pocket for easier top fretting
- Custom Gold Fender neck Plate from 50 year celebration model
- Original Fender Case
- Lots of time....
I was determined to make the best strat in the world - yes really. I have had many Fender guitars over the years - and indeed have a Fender Olympic white USA strat as I write which I customised a little for the look with 'Fatboy' parts from the Isle of Wight (remember Jimi playing there?) and that guy really is fantastic - check him out sometime...
In any case as you can see from the specifications above I did not set out to play around building the 'best' strat in the world - I think some will disagree - there's always a few, right? But for the rest of us I suspect most guys will like this guitar.
Let's run through those parts above in a little more details and the reasons for choosing them.
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Fender Jeff Beck Neck:
The Fender Jeff Beck neck has a reputation that precedes it. As I write, just yesterday I was in my local guitar hangout, (Hi Scott, Chris and the others) and discussed this guitar. As soon as I mentioned the Jeff Beck neck - Scott chirped in 'Oh so you want a tree for a neck then?'Well, if you are not absolutely up to speed then that's the assumption.
But those are the 'old' Jeff Beck necks. The one I chose here is from a Jeff Beck 2011 (or late 2010) model and I can tell you this neck is awesome... perfect slim(ish) feel and does not 'choke off' anywhere on the neck - not even at the top. The neck I bought looks like rosewood on maple. It also has a roller nut which helps with tuning.you will need lots of money - no one sells these cheap - that is, if you can even find one for sale.
This neck, with shipping and the money we here in the UK have to pay some greedy bas****s in London totaled £450.00 (US$ 700.00). Now I know you USA boys might say that's expensive, but where I come from it's expensive too... no only joking, actually for the UK its cheap(ish).
This neck was bought off eBay from the guy who always breaks down new strats and sells the bits.
You will find him if you look. He's not cheap, but his parts are perfect.
The Jeff Beck neck has the roller not fitted as standard so that's one of the things I wanted because of lack of stability of tuning on strats from my experience and I really do want the best guitar in the world, right?
The Fender Roller Nut as fitted to the Jeff Beck neck. I never found a gold one!
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Warmoth Custom Stratocaster Body
Warmoth is a well known Fender authorised manufacturer of custom and not so custom bodies for many guitars. I had gained much experience from Warmoth over the years and have bought at least four previous bodies for Fender Strats that I have made. Even the 'orange flamed' strat you see in my pictures has a Warmoth body.So I felt that Warmoth could be trusted to make a body like no other - in fact the best Fender Strat body in the world. Price would not be important - but the body would.
So I set out to buy the body from them.
Warmoth have two ways of buying bodies from them - either premade 'off the shelf' bodies, or completely custom - with a massive hike in price for the privilege of having them make it.
I chose the custom choice because I wanted what was never off the shelf - I looked for months.
So I expected to get a body to my EXACT specifications - and costing over £700.00 (that's US$1200.00) I really should get what I order, but more of that later.
So what specifications did I put forward - here they are:
- Ultra light swamp ash (not hollowed) for the main body wood
- My choice of quilted maple for the top (it was extremely expensive)
- Rear routing of the wiring and control cavity
- A modification called the .720 that sinks the neck further in to the body
- A neck joint the same as Jeff Becks Stratocaster - angled and rounded
- A rear dual battery compartment in case I ever wanted to go EMG or similar
- Fender 'original' shaping on the body in other respects such as belly carve etc.
- A Blue burst finish with 'PRS' style masking off.
- Overall body weight of three pounds
Well that's a fine specification for any guitar. Lets take a closer look at what happened from Warmoth.
Ultra Light Swamp ash: They got this spot on - eventually making a body (non hollowed) of just 3.1 Lbs. in weight.
Quilted Maple Top: They got this right - they could not really get it wrong. I personally chose this top wood from about nine or ten 'top woods' in the quilted maple section of the custom build area of their web. It increased the body cost dramatically - but I'm pleased to say (and I hope you agree) that this top really is one of the best in the world you have ever seen... check those images at the top of this page.
Rear Routing of the Body: Warmoth got this exactly right - and the controls eventually fitted perfectly. You will notice (if you watch my video build on this guitar) that I had to 'file out' the pot holes (no, not those on the highway) to make the pots fit. Pots were genuine Fender - so should have fitted, but Warmoth left the over spray in the holes making them unable to take the pot. That's nothing new really so get your file out - but be careful!
The .720 Modification: This modification is usually used if you have a rear routed control compartment. The reason is, that if you do not do this, then the neck sits a little higher in the body (to facilitate the scratch plate). Of course, with a rear routed body there is no pick guard so you can 'afford' to drop the neck by .720. This makes the neck sit right in this body. and Warmoth got this one right too. And so they should.
To continue reading this review please visit www.tonymckenzie.com
