Ash Translucent White Hawrdtail Strat!!! Build pics too!

[RockStarNick]

Hey guys. My father and I completed another Warmoth guitar this past weekend.  He was so happy with the results of the Tele that we built, that he wanted a Strat to go along with it. So after a few months of deciding on specs, we got the parts and started construction.

The Specs are as follows:

BODY:
Warmoth Strat Hardtail
Ash - very light
Translucent White Finish
Warmoth Factory Finished

NECK:
Warmoth 59 Radius
Quartersawn maple
Ziricote Fingerboard
Mother of pearl dot inlays AND side dots
Hand-Finished with 10 coats Minwax wipe on satin poly for back of neck
10 coats of Gloss wipe on poly on headstock, polished to glass finish.

ELECTRONICS:
Acme CTS 250K Pots
Seymour Duncan Twangbanger Alnico II Bridge and Alnico II Pro Neck and Mid Single Coils
Orange Drop tone Cap, CRL Switch and Switchcraft Jack.

HARDWARE:
Schaller M6 Mini Tuners
Fender American Standard Hardtail Bridge

TOTAL WEIGHT: 7 pounds on the nose

RESULTS: This guitar is an absolute tone machine. The ash body is lively and resonant, and the pickups are jangly, rich, crisp, but with ZERO harsh treble spikes. Just an incredible Stratocaster in every way.

Here are some build pics, and then final assembled pics.

Here's the body. the back looks almost as good as the front!

Here's the neck. My dad spotted this one in the showcase, and snagged it quick. Very cool feature, to have the MOP dots on the side, too. You don't see that often.

The ziricote fingerboard is a stunning piece of wood. Cool figuring, very rosewood-esque, but with cooler brown tones. Not reddish at all, which is good. It matches the cool-tones of the white body.

Great grain in this quartersawn neck.

 

[RockStarNick]

We bought this body RIGHT before Warmoth started offering factory routing for the Am. Standard Fender bridge. So to do it yourself, you can get the hardtail option, plug the two outer holes, and then re-drill. Which is what we did.

As usual, we used custom chrome decals with our last name on it. A graphics-sign-decal maker, or any Fast Signs, can do this for you, if you provide them with an EPS file. Under 10 coats of nicely polished gloss poly, it looks like a Fender American Deluxe chrome logo.

As you coat the neck, it gets a nice dark hue.

Gotta make sure those tuners are on STRAIGHT - unlike almost every factory made Gibson... hahaha

That's what I'm talkin about. Pierro Custom, baby!!!!!!!!

 

[RockStarNick]

Tried to be as meticulous as possible with the electronics. Nice and neat. No extra wires dangling. Everything cut to length.

Ferrules installed. We FORGOT to order these from Warmoth... luckily, we found a pair on eBay for $6 bucks, and they arrived on the day of construction.

Carefully tapping them in with a wood block.

The body of the potentiometer was a little snug in this corner of the control cavity, causing the pickguard to be crooked. Took a dremel to it and widened it up.  It's little stuff like this that can really make or break an instrument. Those little details that result in perfection.

Sheilded up. I know most people use copper, but the aluminum tape is cheap, and does a great job too. Besides - Fender uses aluminum on the backs of the pickguards anyway!!!

 

[RockStarNick]

Pickguard almost in place...'

It's shaping up to be a beauty....

Just needs knobs and some strings now...

 

[RockStarNick]

And she's DONE!!!!

Indoor pics first:

Now some outdoor glamour shots:

We just love the overall look of this guitar. It's kinda 50's ish, kinda 60's ish, kinda modern, kinda vintage. But still looks like a cohesive guitar, not a schizophrenic mess.  The subtle contrast of the parchment plastic against the white pickguard, the cool tones of the white and ziricote, the chrome logo against the chrome hardware. Just a great looking, modern playing, classic sounding strat.

Hope you guys enjoyed another Pierro Custom guitar making thread!!!!

 

[mmarino92]

Wow, beautiful guitar! :hello2:

MM

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Kinda cool I say!  :icon_thumright:

 

[AutoBat]

I'm not a fan of the translucent "mary kay" finishes, but as a whole this guitar looks lovely.
Great job!

 

[Superbeast520]

That is one of the nicest looking strats on these pages....bravo for a job well done!  .... Warmoth really shines on that there paint job, Quartersawn neck....Sweet! ...I like the hardtail, and the dark fret board is classic.....its so nice to see you kept a strat that nice still looking like a strat, I have no doubt that thing smokes.  :icon_thumright:

 

[tfarny]

Woot woot! Love everything about this one.  :icon_thumright:

 

[lafromla1]

Very, very nice...... :kewlpics:

 

[Steve_Karl]

Beautiful guitar and great presentation!

Thanks for posting.

Steve

 

[Strat Avenger]

'Nice-looking guitar. That neck would be way too thick for my small hands.

 

[JaySwear]

damn! look at that thing. i don't know if i really like the dark fingerboard on the light body, but there's no doubt that thing looks good. nice build!

 

[bagman67]

That's one of the nicest looking strats I've seen in a long time.  Excellent work.

 

[kboman]

Beautifully clean concept. Nice work!

 

[RockStarNick]

Thanks for all the positive responses guys!  Me and my dad love posting our finished work here on the Warmoth forum and sharing with all you guys! 

With every Warmoth that we make, we always ask ourselves "How the heck did we ever buy an off the rack guitar before????"  :headbang:

 

[warcripp]

GORGEOUS!!! definitely a "guitar of the month!!!"

 

[Loobs]

Stunning, as usual!