Reworked my Warmoth/Fender “FrankenStrat”

[SalsaNChips]

I got impatient waiting on my Warmoth Tele build to arrive (still about 4 weeks away) so I decided to rework my “FrankenStrat”. This is a 1987 Fender AS Stratocaster neck and a Warmoth chambered swamp-ash body with Walnut top which I mated to the neck about 12 years ago. I installed Onyx Forge neck inserts/screws on the neck, re-did the neck shim “properly” (~ 1 degree, with a beveled piece of credit card cut to fit the neck pocket), added a neck plate pad, replaced the tuners with new Gotoh SG38’s, installed new roller string trees,  changed the blade switch and pickup screws for counter-sunk Phillips heads, replaced the pick-guard screws, lowered the volume knob 2mm, 800-grit light sanded the fingerboard sides to remove overspray from a lacquer refinish I had applied to the neck a couple months ago (to make it match the walnut top), lightly smoothed off the fret tops, cleaned & oiled the Wilkinson tremolo, reset the bridge height/action (yes, I like my bridge and strings HIGH) and put a Warmoth decal on the back next to the Fender neck plate. Oh yeah, and strung it with those disco-ball but otherwise interesting DR Extra Life Cool Blue Lites. First time I have ever used color coated strings; they sound fine, maybe a tad less bright than I'm used to. And they feel good. OK, bling-bling, state your opinions (they are kinda cool tho...).

Anyway, overall, good investment of a few bucks and about 6 hours of my time. Even if I nicked a string tree with the pliers and slipped with the dremel when adjusting the interior of the volume knob (black paint fix). Good enough. At least I got my guitar hacking fix resolved for while -- until the Warmoth Tele build shows up.

Time to go play  :guitaristgif:

 

[Updown]

No No No ..... You got it all wrong.  :icon_jokercolor:

Here's how you do a Frankenstrat  :laughing7:

 

[ZionWarmoth]

Yes, that's the way to do it!

 

[SalsaNChips]

well, I call it a "frankenstrat" because it started out as a normal Fender American Standard and now is a mixture of parts bearing no resemblence to the original guitar. But I guess that applies to pretty much any custom built guitar.