Two Strat Builds

[BlueNote]

I finished these two builds this month.



Top is swamp ash body (satin finish) with modern flame maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. 9.5 to 14 compound radius. Standard thin. SS6150 frets
Seymour Duncan Dave Murray Prewired pick guard.
Gotoh 510 bridge with Schaller M6 locking tuners.

Bottom is alder body (gloss finish) with vintage/modern flame maple neck with ebony macassar fingerboard. 9.5 to 14 compound radius. Standard thin. SS6150 frets.
DiMarzio High Power Strat Replacement Pickguard
Gotoh 510 bridge with Gotoh Magnum Lock-Trad 6-In-Line Guitar Tuners

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

Both cool strats. Which one do you like better?

Was there some kind of Duncan -vs- Dimarzio battle?

 

[BlueNote]

Both cool strats. Which one do you like better?

Was there some kind of Duncan -vs- Dimarzio battle?

I like the top one better in terms of looks. I like the body and satin finish. Originally, I was only building one guitar. I initially selected the in stock bottom alder body with all the components of the top guitar. But when I looked at other in stock guitar bodies, I purchased the top satin body and decided to build with that.

After the build, I didn’t know what to do with the alder body.

So, instead of selling the alder body, I decided to build the second guitar with that body. But I wanted to do something a little different. I went with DiMarzio instead of Seymour Duncan. No one vs. the other. Just something different. Although, I kinda like the DiMarzio’s in that they were solderless to install. And the Seymour Duncan came with the wrong wiring diagram. I had to call them to understand how to wire them. I spent a little more money choosing an ebony macassar fretboard instead of rosewood. It looks awesome by the way. I chose a vintage/modern neck instead of modern. Truss rod adjustment at the headstock instead of base and side of neck on the modern. I saved like $100 choosing Gotoh tuners instead of the Schallers. To be honest, I think they are just as good. What is interesting is the Schaller tuners are less high than the Gotoh’s.

I put .010 strings on the top one and .009 strings on the bottom.

They both play equally well given the bodies have the same contour and the necks have the same profile, frets and radius.. To me, maybe the DiMarzio’s have a little more punch. But ever so slightly. I like the .009 strings better, so I’ll string the top guitar with those eventually.

In terms of looks, I like the top one better. The back of the top guitar has a nice finish while the back of the alder one is painted black. The only thing I would do different is always get the vintage/modern neck instead of modern. Maybe it’s me, but I think the neck feels a little heavier on the top guitar because of the two truss rods as opposed to the one truss rod on the vintage/modern.