Since I’m not actually a guitarist (I play passable bass, and slightly better drums, but six strings has always felt like one too many for the number of fingers), I sometimes feel like a stranger in a strange land in guitarland.
Anyone who knows me personally will know that I quite enjoy annoying pompous people. and I’m pretty good at it too. Especially, I have recently discovered, a certain breed of guitar purist/afficionado. Like the almost-apoplectic guy who told me I couldn’t paint an Explorer/Firebird (“a Gibson shape”) in seafoam green (“a Fender colour”) and almost refused to sell me the desired paint.
Dovetailing with that, a friend asked me recently what my USP was as a guitar builder. Eventually the plan is to only build out of driftwood and bogwood, but for now, the main thing I try to do with every build or refit is to create some sort of concoction you wouldnn’t normally be able to buy off-the-shelf. Which is why I put triple humbuckers and a Bigsby tremolo system on Telecaster semi-hollows, quite like putting humbuckers in Telecaster neck positions and the like.
So anyway, I picked up this cheap red stratocaster copy (pictured) for peanuts as part of my recent charity shop haul. It wasn’t damaged at all, other than a snapped tremolo arm, just a bit naff. So I’ve started to Frankencaster it. I’m thinking a relic’d light pink paint job, “SSH” pickup configuration (using old Telecaster lipstick pickups for the single coils), and yes, why not, another Bigsby trem.
