Deciding what kind of neck to go with is obviously problematic enough (Radius, Back Contour, Tuners etc) - on top of that I knew I couldn't splurge like I had on my previous items. This would have to be a bit more of a budget build. I DID know I wanted a 'thick' neck e.g. a 'FatBack' or 'Thick C' or whatever they're called. I started looking at an All-Parts SRO-FAT. Reason I was interested in this one was because I had gotten the V-Shaped Telecaster neck before and love the oil finish on it. However, I don't think Brian from Mason Guitars, who did my neck, does any more guitar work lately, so I would have to learn to do it.. Doesn't sound hard, but it was more than I was willing to take on at this time.
American Fender necks were out because of the cost, so that basically left basic 3rd Party Necks like Warmoth, MIM (Made in Mexico) Fender Necks, or other 'finished' Japanese etc clones.Also for a body I REALLY wanted a hardtail if I could help it.
Looking on the Warmoth site I quickly found a decent neck that I really liked with a Pau Ferro Fretboard. They also had some decent bodies in stock. They did however not accept paypal which unfortunately meant I had to look elsewhere. So off to the old standby: Ebay.
After doing some digging around I figured that both the Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Robert Cray Signature Models (MIM) had 'thicker' necks. After a lot of reading I decided on a KWS neck. I missed the tail end of 1 auction, but luckily a second posting was listed a few days later which IMHO looked even better so I was able to pick that one up.
For the body I looked for a decent hard-tail that didn't cost a lot, and could simply NOT find one. Since I wanted to get going on this project I finally gave in and started to look at standard Stratocaster bodies. I always liked the Ocean Blue, but for some reason it didn't click with me with the white pickguard/rosewood neck. It IS VERY striking though and I would love to someday do a build with it with maybe some black DiMarzio Injectors and a nice maple neck.
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| Ocean Blue Body |
After a couple of days of digging around on EBay I came across a fairly 'fresh' listing for a MIM 'plus' top which means it has a Maple Flame Top. I went onto the Fender site to see a bit more and there they actually had a nice image of the stock guitar which is basically what mine would look like all put together.
I thought that it looked really sharp, so I didn't hesitate any longer and ordered the body
For the misc. parts and bridge etc, I toyed with the idea of getting the KWS GraphTech Bridge, but looking at my budget I realized that wasn't in the cards and went with the Stock Mexican Bridge. Maybe on the next build I'll get fancier.
Now it's just a matter of it all getting here and putting it together - I Can't wait!
