Red Ensign Stratocaster Build Diary

[DrNomis_44]

I'll switch to the neck to answer the good Dr.'s question. After dealing with a crappy neck on my previous Les Paul kit build, I decided to order a Warmoth neck for this project. I found a good one in their in stock section that fit the bill: maple, Floyd Rose nut shelf, vintage tint nitro satin finish, gold fret wire to match the hardware.

The gold Floyd Rose trem I bought came with the nut, so I was ready to go when the neck arrived. It was a top mount nut so I pre-drilled the mounting holes and fastened it on.



Next step was to install the tuners. I really liked the locking tuners from Guitarfetish that I used on my spalted maple tele project so I went with those again. They have staggered height posts and claim to not need string trees, so I'll try that and see if I have any problems.


Unless I decide to add a logo, the neck is ready to go. I just need to finish painting the body, which was rudely interrupted by winter. I need to find a good indoor painting location so I can do finishing year-round.

Have you figured out what pickups you'll put in the guitar?, if not, you could consider a set of three Kent Armstrong Dual Blades, they are Humbucking pickups that are single-coil sized, I've got two installed in my Hot Rod Strat and they actually sound pretty good, considering that they only cost me about Au$55.00 each, but the really cool thing about them is that you get the Single-Coil sound without the hum.

You can order the Kent Armstrong Dual Blades online from Realtone Music, they offer them in White and Black.


Feel free to check out my HotRod Strat build thread.