Strat me up…
No, that’s not a typo, honest.
There’s been quite a bit of discussion over on UKMG recently about building/assembling/customising Fender Stratocasters (or copies thereof), and it’s fired my enthusiasm for finishing something I started a while back - something like this:
The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot the striking similarity to David Gilmour’s “0001″ Strat (plenty more info via Google). Although I’d never dream of sticking a bootleg Fender decal on it, I’m sorely tempted to add one of my own:
(incidentally, if anyone wants these I still have the GIMP .xcf files to hand - drop me an email).
I’m still not convinced about going through the whole “relic-ing” process, but with aged plastic parts and the “vintage tinted” neck, the vibe will be there.
So, the spec will be:
- Alder/ash body (not sure what it is until I strip the old finish… think it’s ash), finished in a cream/off-white/ivory type colour (I think Vauxhall “Vintage White” may do the job).
- 22 fret Maple neck (no skunk stripe)
- Gold anodised scratchplate and hardware
- Fender Tex-Mex single-coil pickups (as fitted to the Jimmy Vaughan model)
- 5-way selector switch
- Volume and two tones (modified to enable tone on the bridge pickup)
- Push/pull pot for series/parallel switching of the middle pickup
- “Parchment” aged plastic parts
So, not a real “historically accurate” replica then!
I’m slowly building up the collection of parts (thanks eBay!) but still need to get the bridge, tuners, jack plate, neck plate and screws. I’m trying to fund this all from eBay sales, so it’s going to take some time!
Rest assured, once I’ve got all the bits, I’ll chronicle the whole assembly process right here.
