Project "Black Strat" : Step 1 - The Body

After my recent new Telecaster body acquisition the guitar-bug got me good (it was so bad I even started venturing over to the dark-side and was contemplating buying some kind of Les Paul..... but I snapped myself out of it ) and I wanted MORE.. so why not go for on my projects I had been putting off for ages:

I currently only have 1 Stratocaster and I always figured at one point I'd at least add another Black on Black one with a maple neck - much like my original Squier guitar which was blacked out with a nice maple neck much like this one:

Obviously this would require some modding to whatever guitar I'd get since I'd want:

• Single Ply Beveled Black Pickguard with Black Pickguard Screws
• Black Pickup Covers
• Black Knobs / Switch Tips / Tremolo Arm Tip
• Black Tremolo cover
• Maple Neck.
• Pick-ups I wasn't sure one.. maybe stock if they're decent, or maybe some Lace Sensors..

I figured I'd start out a basic Black/White Pickguard Stratocaster and swap out all the plastic stuff and then take it from there or perhaps start with just a bare body and buy everything separately. Though I had fond memories of my original Squier, I just couldn't bring myself to use one (or a body of one) for this new build. I figured an American Strat would be too much for something like this so I had resigned myself to a MIM Stratocaster guitar or body.


Having had some good luck with the Telecaster Blacktop , I head back to Ebay to see what's being offered there as far as bodies goes, since new MIM Strats are right around $500 nowadays which was more than I was willing to pay when I would effectively just be using the body & electronics.(and I didn't fee like getting a scratched up one 2nd hand).

At first I actually was surprised to find some decent auctions on a normal Black USA Strat Body. Similar buy-me-now items were priced much higher at around 300. While in my experience the Mexican made Fenders are EXCELLENT (and would by another MIM tele/strat in a heartbeat if I could) I figured I might as well spring for a US Made as a nice upgrade to begin with. After looking some more though I found a Nitro body from a Highway One Stratocaster as well and the Matte Black looked really sharp so I figured I Might as well bid on those as well.  I Started to recall that my pickguard on my old Squier actually was a matte black as well instead of gloss , which looked amazing, so I thought: Why not make a whole 'matte' guitar?

I needed to find out more about these Highway One Stratocasters with their Nitro matte Black bodies so I spend a good amount of time reading online. It turned out that these were the cheapest American made strats nowadays but overall it really sounded like a nice 'starting platform' for a build. I didn't care much for the original Highway 1 necks since they looked too plasticy & a weird dull color and the black tuners just didn't do it for me either. (I Like a 'classy' black guitar - not a goth black ). I decided the Highway One Body was the way to go for me.

As I was outbid on all the empty bodies I was bidding on (all three of them - I started at a low max bid) I started to look for what a 'loaded' Highway 1 body would run. I needed all the internals etc anyway, and this way it would save me having to solder everything, buy individual pickups (and figure out which ones I want) Again pricing out what individual parts would run me it seemed obvious that It would basically be cheaper to get the whole loaded body and deal with the small cosmetic changes. (3x single pickups can easily run 250 bucks alone - and empty bodies with 'Buy it now' prices were already over that as well.)

I found several in the Matte black and was just ready to pull the trigger on one that was listed for a 'buy it now' when I read in the fine print that while the body was 'brand new' it didn't even include the Tremolo arm.. What the heck?? oh there's an Upcharge for THAT? and HOW MUCH did you say wanted for that??? Seriously?? A quick search found another one this time WITH the tremolo, and listed for LESS with a 'Make me an offer' price. I had never used this feature before &I don't like to haggle, but I'm also fair in my pricing so I entered what I felt was a solid price. The Seller agreed because within an hour I had gotten confirmation I had 'won' the item. A quick payment and the waiting begun for the Fedex truck to get here from across the country with this beauty: