Return of the Olympic White Strat - Build

Lerxst

Lerxst

spaghetti and blankets
Back when, I had a killer MIJ HRR Strat with factory Dimarzios & OFR that I foolishly sold off a bunch of years ago. It haunted me enough that I decided that once I had some spare cash, I'd build a replacement. When Warmoth had their anniversary sale on showcase parts, I figured that the time was right. Here's the pictorial on the build in case you didn't see it elsewhere:

1st I did a few Kiske mockups to figure out what direction I was going to go. I knew I wanted to try a Wilkinson VS style trem rather than a FR. The original guitar was oly white with a three ply white/black/white guard, a Dimarzio super distortion w/ 2 singles & maple board. This is what I decided on:

white.jpg



All the basic parts in one place after a few months.
Showcase Swamp Ash body w/ contour heel & a maple neck
Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAF bridge w/ 2 Area 58s
GFS tort guitar and back plate
GFS staggered locking tuners
250K pots/.022 cap
misc hardware from GFS and Warmoth
missing from pic is the Wilkinson bridge from StewMac
stratproject001-1.jpg
 
primed:

stratproject030.jpg



Neck tinted w/ Transtint Honey Amber, drying with the body after a couple color passes:
neckandbody.jpg
 
Color prep'd and a couple clear passes:
wetsand2.jpg


After the clear coats had a chance to cure a bit, here it is after some wet sanding and polishing:
moneyshot.jpg



moneyshot2.jpg
 
Finished guitar more than exceeds my expectations from a playing and tone perspective. It's ridiculously loud unplugged and resonates like it's alive. The pickup combo sounds fantastic.


finish1.jpg



HPIM2163.jpg
 
Stays in tune great unless you bottom out the trem...otherwise, it's pretty solid. I have the wilky setup for a smidge of travel in the up pitch direction too.

I'm still debating on if I should throw the back plate on. I kinda like fine with it off.
 
Thanks for the compliments! Hopefully when my usb interface gets here tonight I'll be able to get some decent clips
 
You didnt do any type of electronic sheilding on the inside of the cavities? None of the copper tape stuff?
 
As a fan of Olympic White Strats..:wink:...that is beautiful! :love:..great job!...does that Dimarzio PAF clean up well?
 
mosiddiqi said:
As a fan of Olympic White Strats..:wink:...that is beautiful! :love:..great job!...does that Dimarzio PAF clean up well?
Click to expand...

It sounds pretty dam good clean and really has excellent dynamics with gain. Though, when I'm playing clean I generally like the tones from the neck and middle pickups a bit more on strats.
 
Eff me, that paint job is outstanding. Do you have 20 years experience spray painting or something?
 
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