The Driftwood Strat Project.....I hate waiting

[JaySwear]

JaySwear........if you get time post a pic, I havent been able to find a picture of a strat with a warmoth headstock.

sorry, didn't see this before! anyway this guitar isn't very "strat-like" considering it's a strat body, but here it is! it's got an all maple neck now, which i swore i thought i had pictures of but apparently i've deleted all of them off of my computer. the maple neck is a warmoth headstock, too. i really like the 3 by 3 tuner look

and "GOTY" is guitar of the year. we have a monthly contest and at the end of the year all winning guitars get thrown into a big battle royal.

 

[scartozi]

Marko: I used a minwax transparent Ebony, would have to look to see the exact color code. They recommend applying the stain and let it sit for 5-10 minutes and then wipe off. I did it differently. Take the back of the body for instance and cut it into 3rds length wise. I used a sponge brush and applied the stain, let it sit for maybe a minute and wipped it off with a cloth until it was essentially dry. Then repeated for the next two areas. You can always add more stain and I didn't want to get it to dark right of the get go and have to sand it....again. I did two coats following the technique above.

The guitar started it life as a 2007 USA Fender Eric Clapton "Blackie" Artist Series. Was it my plan to buy this guitar for this project....no. Since I couldn't get use to the 1 11/16" neck and vintage frets I knew I wanted to get a new neck. I knew what I wanted in a neck and it would look a little odd on a black strat with white pickguard/pickup covers. Plus....I had an idea of what I wanted MY strat to look like....and so the project began.

 

[scartozi]

Jay....Looks Great!! I like the 3x3 and makes me want mine even more. Oh well, I'll stay busy at work and the time will fly buy and I'll get this guitar built and playin in no time.

GOTY......That may be a stretch but I will take the compliment. I'll do some glamour shots when its complete and see what happens.....we'll see :laughing7:

 

[scartozi]

Jay: is that bridge on your guitar flat black? I won't know until I have mine totally finished but I may switch to a flat black bridge and jackplate. If so, where did you get it?

 

[JaySwear]

it's the warmoth bridge (i think it's the vintage flatmount). i've got some graphtech string saver saddles on there now though. much more comfortable than the sharp screws poking you in the hand on the vintage saddles i think! plus i haven't broken a string since i changed the saddles :icon_biggrin:

 

[scartozi]

I'm going to be making the switch to the Graph Tech saddles myself.....down the road a bit. The only bad (if you want to call it that) part of switching to a flat black bridge and jackplate is it's going to take a little away from my "old" theme. I guess it all depends on how it all comes together in the end.

 

[JaySwear]

well if you mean vintage i agree, but if you mean worn i think you'd like the flat black. paint is chipping off the flat black bridge like there's no tomorrow! i guess i've been using it for about a year now so it's time for a little wear. i really like the worn look, and since the saddles aren't the same painted material they still look new so it's really not that obvious

 

[scartozi]

It may not look bad with my current bridge and the black saddles. If I just half to have the flat black I'll take the bridge plate and jackplate to my friends shop, have them sand blasted (walnut shells) and powder coated flat black. The only thing that won't be "relic'd" are my Cosmo Black Gotoh 510's.....cant bring myself to do that to those tuners.

 

[rapfohl09]

This is just awesome. I LOVE the weathered look on this. You captured "driftwood" perfectly.  :icon_thumright:

Are all of those extra cavities for batteries or something? theres on under the PG and one in the tremolo cavity... :icon_scratch:

 

[scartozi]

Thank you for the compliment! The cut out on the back is for a battery and the cut-out next to the pickups is for the mid boost circuitry.....standard for the clapton series.

 

[scartozi]

Just got word my pickguard will arrive saturday or monday.....wew whooo! Now I can get the body complete and ready for the neck! Will post pics of the completed body as soon as I can. Haven't ordered the wenge tone knobs yet....gotta wait and see how the body looks first.

 

[da shrop]

totally cool project man - bet it will look and feel great once you're done!

 

[scartozi]

Thank you.....I have pretty high hopes for the completed project. Just looked up the tracking number and the pickguard should be in today!! Pics of the completed body tomorrow (minus tone knobs)

 

[scartozi]

New pickguard installed, pickups.....etc. The wooden pickguard matches the body almost perfectly! Converted to an 11 hold pickguard since it's wood I wanted as many anchoring points as possible. Since everything is back together I've made up my mind to go with ebony bell shaped knobs....not wenge. The fretboard is ebony and the pickup covers are black it will "flow" better with ebony......I think the wenge knobs would be to much "wood."

I tried to take pictures this evening but I'm not liking the lighting and the flash doesn't look good with this finish...sooooo, I'll take some in the morning and post them. Other than knobs and selector switch knob...I'M DONE WITH THE BODY!!! :icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin: