I hope there will be many more posts like this. Over the past several years guitars and amplifiers have become a big part of my life and they bring me a lot of joy. 

The main goal of this guitar build was to have a Stratocaster for slide using my favorite neck. I have a real hate love relationship with this guitar shape. I grew up annoyed with their ubiquity thanks to Eric Clapton. Ironic I suppose because his signature neck is supposedly a soft V… You’ll see why in a bit.

I really love George Harrison’s slide solos. They sing with the most beautiful voice. This was my sonic motivation that led me on a deep dive for the known specifications on his Stratocasters. This guitar is inspired by them, not an attempt at a replica. In short his are ‘60s guitars. And mine is more 50’s style, like the neck.

It started with the Fender Ed O’Brien Stratocater I got. I fell in love with how it’s neck feels in my hand. It’s called the Fender EOB, 10/56 “V”. Guess you could call it a soft V shape. For years I thought about buying another. Just didn’t want to dissemble my EOB Stratocaster just to start over. The Fender manual specifications say its profile height is .895” at the first fret and 1” high at the 12th fret. The fret board has a common 9.5” radius. It’s made entirely of maple, both the neck and fretboard, with medium nickel frets, truss rod adjusted at the heel, and old style tuners.

Without realizing it I duplicated the colors from my modified EOB Strat. White body, black pickguard, maple neck, off white knobs, & silver hardware. This is my current favorite guitar color pallet. Is there another famous guitar of this style? Not sure what inspired my color choices.

Here are the main parts and the builders who made them.

The body is by BloomDoom Guitars. It’s swamp ash and has a thin aged blonde white nitrocellulose finish.

The neck is by Fender. (See above.) Apparently it’s not liked by some as they regularly come up for sale. Bonus for me! May need another. Really! I dream of an aluminum neck with this kind of profile.

The loaded pickguard was built by Brandonwound. The pickups are 50’s style and low output. It’s a historically accurate 8 hole guard with a distressed old look. Sounds amazing. All five positions have real character. Yes, I know Fender didn’t use black pickguards on Strats till the ‘70s.

The hardware is from Callaham Guitars and is made in the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA. It’s vintage Strat style that came with a tremolo bridge, jack, neck plate, saddles, strap buttons, etc. I ordered the hardware distressed and it looks great. Didn’t end up using their tuners on this guitar. Maybe the next build. (Thinking about a HSS strat.)

Right now the strap I’m using is a cheap white leather one from Levis. I had no idea it would feel so great.

Major thanks to Alex at Cosmic Sea Guitar Repair for assembling and setting up this guitar. His advice and support over the past few years has been amazing.