Daphe Blue Stratocaster  (sold 20-01-2011)

After building a few nice Telecasters I thought it would be a good idea to built a Stratocaster.

I already have a Fender Highway One Strat, and a Vintage V6 Icon Worn Strat. Both pretty good Strats. So it would be a challenge to try and built one of at least equal quality.

In a previous stage I had already ordered a set of GFS "Texas" Alnico Strat pickups. These are quite similar to the more expensive Fender Texas Specials. The pickups looked great.

At Customworld Guitarparts I bought a set of 'ages' knobs and switch tips.

At Marktplaats.nl I found a real nice '90s Korean made maple Squier neck.

In search of a body I bought a complete secondhand black Richwood strat. The body looked and felt real nice and was made out of Solid wood!

Now I had the basic materials to start building.

The color was going to be Daphne Blue. I saw pictures of other Daphne Blue Strats in combination with a white pickguard and a maple neck and I find this a real beautiful combination.

At Guitarsupplies.nl I found the real nitro celluloid Daphne Blue laquer and finish. I also orderd a set of CTS pots and a CRL 5-way switch. To make it complete I bought 'vintage' cloth wire.

First I completely stripped the Richwood body and started fitting the Squier neck. To do this properly I filled the old screw-holes in the neck, and later re-drilled 4 new holes. The neck then fitted perfectly! The neck seemed to need no tilting. I had the bridge fitted to test this.

All this gave the project a promising start.

I had the bridge fitted with original 'vintage' Fender bridge saddles. Looks and sounds better than the Richwood saddles I think.

Having all the electronics complete I could also start to assemble the electrical circuit. Always a nice job to do. Starting with proper new pots, switches, wires and pickups it is a challenge to do a nice soldering job. With copper shielding tape I shielded the back side of the pickguard. I then mounted the set of GFS "Texas" Alnico Strat pickups and the CTS pots and switch. All high quality material!

For the soldering I used 'vintage' cloth wire. Which is also used in vintage Fender guitars. For the tone pots I used an 0.47 capacitor. I wired up the tone pots so that also the bridge pickup can be adjusted. Something original Fenders often don't have. All in all it ended up in a nice piece of quality electronics as you can see below.

Then it was time to work on the body, as his was still black.

Daphne blue was the color of my choice. Daphne blue is an old 'vintage' Fender color, and I managed to find the real nitro-celluloid laquer that was also used on Fender guitars.

Before applying the blue color I had to ground the body with a special grey grounding spray. After giving that a few layers I began applying the Daphne Blue color. I gave it about three layers of that.

To finish it of I used a nitro-celluloid satin clear finish. Also at least two layers.

After drying and hardening for at least two days I polished the entire body to give it a nice satin shine.

Then I completely shielded the electronics cavities in the body to avoid any electric interference from the outside world into the system.

After that, the assembling of the guitar could begin.

I mounted the vibrato bridge first.

After that I placed the pickguard with the already completed electronics.

Then it was a question of mounting the neck, the strings, and all the last bits and pieces.

The guitar turned out to look great!

I took some time to adjust the neck and the bridge. A very very important part in the building process because here you determine how the guitar feels and sounds for a great deal. Because of the quality of all the parts I managed to dot this very good.

The guitar plays nice, sounds nice, and looks really great!

See for yourself in the pictures below.