I had been looking for a strat for years. (I admit to currently being a strat guy
, keep reading...) About a year ago I came some conclusions: 1. Unless I win the lotto, i will probably
never own a pre CBS strat, 2. The "custom shop" style guitars I had played didn't do it for me (I even ordered a '62 Reissue reissue strat from Fender in '90 or '91, and since I wanted Daphne Blue, I had to go custom) 3. There are several companies out there making replacement woods and hardware. So for about $750 bucks grand total, I built my own "strat". That $750 included a Brazillian rosewood fingerboard, quatersawn maple neck, 3 1/2 lb. swamp ash body with nitro finish, Fralin pickups, and all Callaham hardware. I had to scour ebay and the rest of the web for deals, but I basicaly got the highest quality parts available and built it myself. I did have the neck drilled and setup professionaly, but did the finish myself with aerosol cans from the Reranch. The finished product is
sweeeet. Plays, looks, and sounds better to me than just about anything I've seen in a big music store, and the satisfaction of knowing I brought this beatiful instument to life is something everyone should feel.
I'm currently working on a tele (I just finised spraying some laquer), so I've been lurking around for a while. I'll post some pics when I have them, maybe I'll start documenting the whole process (?). All I'm saying is: If you even have an incling of a desire to build a guitar, don't be afraid. The quality of products out there these days is incredible, and any and all headaches aquired thriugh the building process will all be worth it. (Well maybe not if they're really bad migrane style headaches....)