The Tru Oil has set. Before and after polishing pics.

Before polishing, the surface has some waiver to it, kind of like skin.


After polishing.


After polishing … no obvious colour differences noticeable underneath the decal.


Filing the nut was NOT fun. Glad I had 2 nuts, because I made a rookie error on the first attempt. All good now.

Set-up is done to standard-ish factory settings, which I would like to be a bit lower in time. I will play it for a while, and then make minor adjustments to the set-up as I get more of a feel for it.

Weight comparison.
- My JV Strat = 3.4kg / 7.5lbs
- This guitar = 4.45kg / 9.8lbs … it’s a beefcake!

Ready to take home. I will do a sound comparison with my Strats and Silvertones. If I get a good little video of it, I will post a YouTube clip.

Sound comparison today with the Strat: the Strat is surprisingly sharper, albeit, this Strat has the Japanese pickups, but I thought the Tonerider pickups would be ‘bitier’.