Keeper #1: My Gold Strat

ruscio

Junior Member
Messages
135
I got bit by the partscaster bug in 2015. It started when I needed a new neck and discovered Warmoth. Then I had to have a new body, then another new guitar, and you all know how it goes. I went through a lot of Warmoth bodies + necks, and many hardware + electronics configurations, discovering I had preferences when I hadn't even known for my first 20+ years of playing that there were options!

I finally stabilized the strat-style part of my guitar stable with two keepers. One stays upstairs, where I play at home each day, and one stays downstairs, where I usually pick it up any time I'm hanging around in the living room. So these aren't new builds, but I thought I'd post them here b/c they are Warmoth builds that I'm extremely happy with.

First up is one designed to be as light as possible, with no gloss finish anyplace b/c it gets a bit sticky upstairs in the summertime. Here are some specs, then pics.

Body
Warmoth strat style
Chambered (alder on alder)
Painted Aztec gold with satin clear (third party, Warmoth doesn't offer this color, I tried their metallic gold once but didn't care for it)
Contoured heel (I shaped that myself before sending it out for painting)
Gotoh 510 tremolo bridge (so glad Warmoth will route for this, it's my favorite strat bridge)
DiMarzio Injector pickup set

Neck
Vintage/modern construction
Canary with rosewood fretboard
Scalloped myself, graduated pattern (Blackmore style; Warmoth doesn't offer scallops on vintage/modern construction, which I wanted for lowest weight)
10"-16" compound radius
SS6100 frets (which I lovingly leveled, crowned, and polished)
TUSQ nut (I used a precut nut, but shaped + installed it myself)
Fender locking tuners
* I know the fake Fender decals are not cool with everyone, but for some reason I feel compelled to do that anyway

Feels amazing with the satin finish on the body, no finish on the (burnished) neck, and weighing in at just 6.51 lbs. I love everything about the playability of the neck, and it's my best-sounding strat (though I've come to like humbuckers and spend more time playing my Ibanez PIA nowadays).

Gold_Strat_2023-03-09_1_50.jpeg
Gold_Strat_2023-03-09_2_50.jpeg
 
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