DG016: “Holmes Under The Hammer” (relic’d SSH Stratocaster-style)

My first ever super-strat, built to order. I know, I know, I said “I don’t do strats”, but I’m warming to them. In fact I’ve warmed to this build so much that I’ve decided to build one for myself eventually. This is a SSH (single coil/single coil/humbucker) “super strat”. Ordered on a bit of a budget, so I haven’t loaded in the high-spec hardware, but it’s still considerably better than high-street. The neck and middle pickups are Tonerider ‘vintage strat’, and the bridge is a Wikinson ‘Zebra’ overwound humbucker.

It is relic’d – that is, a brand new guitar that has been deliberately aged (to look like a relic). In this case, that involved spraying a partial three-colour tobacco sunburst onto part of the guitar, before adding top coats of a matt white paint that would be stripped, chipped, and sanded away in places to reveal the sunburst colours beneath. So much extra work to make something new look old! The scratchplate is a lovely piece of brushed aluminium, and it’s got a genuine Fender USA 5-way switch and pots, and a Wilkinson tremolo and locking tuners.