Here comes Guitar 9

Very nice, love the blue colour and it goes well with the scratchplate.

There we go - 

Finished ! ;-)

After Considerable Cursing and Sailor Language, I installed a "Dave Gilmour switch mod". It's an extra on / off switch which works on the neck pickup.

Selector switch in position one, normally just bridge selected : switch on, bridge and neck selected, like a Telecaster. Selector switch in position two, normally bridge and middle pickup selected : switch on, all pickups selected. 

HOW MUCH for a RW/RP middle pickup ? 

Robbery. 

tremolos are just there to detune your guitar, anyway. The first thing you should do with a tremolo Strat is lock the trem block down.

Hardtail vs tremolo: tremolos are just there to detune your guitar, anyway. The first thing you should do with a tremolo Strat is lock the trem block down. 

On the blue Strat - 

Neck relief done
String height set
Intonation done. 

Oh, the joys of working from home. ;-) 

Work so far !

Fender American Standard tuners. 

Twin string trees added. I know most modern Strats only have one, I went for two to improve tuning stability.

The neck is perfectly aligned after some twiddling, I'm going to have to be ultra careful cutting the nut, though. Yes, Fender necks (this being a roasted maple with jumbo frets) come without the nut being cut, you just get guide markers. Nut files are incredibly expensive and not something you use every day, so I'm going to borrow a set from my brother. Next time I see him. 

11.2mm brass saddles to replace the vintage style ones. 

The neck relief isn't set up yet, I thought it'd have a 1/8" truss rod, but, Made in Mexico necks need a 3/16" Allen key. The longest one in the world arrived yesterday, it's about a foot long. However, even with the neck relief not done, the bridge not set up, the nut not cut and the intonation not set, it plays wonderfully. Really impressed with it so far. 

All that's left to do is choose some pickups. They'll probably come next month, and then it's a case of wiring it up internally, connecting the bridge earth wire and output jack and setting the pickup height. I'm going for expensive pickups, 60's style to contrast with the 50's ones in my other Partscaster. No point putting cheap pickups in an expensive custom guitar. ;-) 

Hopefully a sound demo to follow. 

And a Telecaster build next year, if my wife doesn't kill me first. ;-) The next album is going to be more guitar based, by the way. 

Just dug out an old 90's Tele copy I have somewhere. It's completely shot, but I've got some bits lying around and it may be a fixer upper. We shall see. Strat to do first.