Hybrid Strat aka The Strelecaster

[kyldh]

Hey everyone. Just showing off my Warmoth body. The finish on this thing looks amazing. The neck is Fender. I really only went with a Fender neck because I love the look of the channel-bound fretboard and wanted to have that on one of my guitars. I also wanted to try compound-radius so this killed 2 birds with 1 stone. This is honestly one of the coolest guitars I've ever put together, and one of my all-time favorites. I'd say she's a keeper. The Warmoth body is absolutely gorgeous to my eye. I've already gotten a few reactions like "Wait... is that a Strat or a Tele?!" :laughing7:

I get questioned on the covered/uncovered humbuckers a lot too. The reason I did that was because I thought it'd help look more like the normal telecaster pickup scheme. Plus, having a chrome bridge with a chrome covered humbucker in it was just too much chrome for me, personally.

I set this guitar up with 9 strings originally, and really thought the strings felt a bit tighter than I'd prefer. For the first time in my life, I set this up with 8s and it plays fantastically. To be honest, the 8s are verging on a little too thin, so if I find a company that makes 8.5, I'll have to try those out. For now, the 8s will do just fine. I just have to remember not to accidentally over-bend. haha

The specs:

Body:

• Hybrid Strat Shape
• Swamp Ash
• Transparent Sunset Orange Gloss Finish
• Contoured Heel

Neck:

• Fender American
• Channel-bound Rosewood Fretboard
• 9.5"–14" Compound-radius
• 21 medium-jumbo frets
• Vintage ivory inlays
• Hand-rubbed polyurethane finish
• Synthetic bone nut

Hardware:

• Gotoh Humbucker Tele Bridge
• Fender Locking Tuning Machines

Pickups:

• Neck: DiMarzio PAF Master
• Bridge: DiMarzio PAF Master
• Both pickups are tapped with push-pull pots.

 

[kyldh]

Sorry for the upside-down images! This is my first time posting and I didn't realize the forum flipped them like that.

 

[Logrinn]

Great looking guitar. Love the neck.
Don’t worry about the images. Once you click on them they display as they should.

 

[fdesalvo]

Sorry for the upside-down images! This is my first time posting and I didn't realize the forum flipped them like that.

Our Australian brothers will appreciate!  Love that color!

 

[bagman67]

Beautiful guitar.  Wonderful choices to hybridize a lot of different ideas into a unique axe.  And to be honest, if I could lay my hands on one of those pseudo-bound necks Fender put out for a couple years, I'd grab it.  I think it's a classy look.

 

[kyldh]

Beautiful guitar.  Wonderful choices to hybridize a lot of different ideas into a unique axe.  And to be honest, if I could lay my hands on one of those pseudo-bound necks Fender put out for a couple years, I'd grab it.  I think it's a classy look.

Thanks a lot! And you can grab those necks brand new from places like Sweetwater when used aren't available. Unfortunately they do cost around $600-650 though I believe.

 

[rgand]

That's beautiful. In my eyes, that's a lot of the best of both Tele and Strat. Great color and neck combo. Very well done.

 

[exaN]

Awesome execution on this. My next Warmoth build I've been thinking about would be very similar to this, thanks for materializing my thoughts!

 

[kyldh]

Thanks everyone!

 

[BigSteve22]

Great looking guitar! Best of luck with it.

I set this guitar up with 9 strings originally, and really thought the strings felt a bit tighter than I'd prefer. For the first time in my life, I set this up with 8s and it plays fantastically. To be honest, the 8s are verging on a little too thin, so if I find a company that makes 8.5, I'll have to try those out. For now, the 8s will do just fine. I just have to remember not to accidentally over-bend. haha

I totally agree with your assessment. I tried 9s on my 25.5" Jazzmaster but they felt a little too stiff. Then I went with 8s, and they felt too loose. The 8.5s feel just stiff enough, without being too stiff.

I tried, and like, two different sets. First I tried ghs GB8-1/2,  (.0085, .0105, .014, .022, .032, .040). They are great strings, but I keep looking for more. Then I tried D'ddario EXL130+, (.0085, .0105, .015, .022, .032, .039). Also great strings. Still haven't made an actual hard decision yet, but I'm presently using, and leaning towards, the D'ddario's. I tried them using the provided .015", unwound G, but it sounds a little too jangly for my taste, so I swapped it for a wound .018" with better results. (But then again, I never did like plain G strings.) Anyway, I have several sets of each on hand, so I'll keep going back and forth until something clicks. Good luck with your quest.

 

[kyldh]

I totally agree with your assessment. I tried 9s on my 25.5" Jazzmaster but they felt a little too stiff. Then I went with 8s, and they felt too loose. The 8.5s feel just stiff enough, without being too stiff.

Thanks! I fell in love with D'Addario NYXL strings for all of the rest of my guitars. I just need them to start making 8.5. In the meantime, maybe I'll try out these other 8.5 sets you mentioned.