Swirly Whirly ST-1

[B'Lark]

Heya guys!

I've just jumped in and ordered a kit, and I figure I'll start the build diary pre-emptively, and lay out the plans!

So the basic plan is a Black and White Swirled Strat, including wonderful stock image and bonus watermarking:



Of course just a mockup, and was working with what I could find as a paintjob for the body there. I'm also taking a couple of cues from this example in the alternating B/W pickups, and applying that to the knobs too:



And a couple more examples for eye-candy:





And as shown in the mockup, a Floyd is in the plans. Just a top-mounted one, and I'll more than likely add a D-Tuna on too. And fortunately, I don't have to swirl the pickguard as I can just buy one with the same material as the one in the mockup!!

Pickups also undecided, I'm tossing up between a set of Rails with splitting, and a set of Noiseless Singles with Clapton-style electrics in it. Could also go for some other sort of single-sized bucker set, a H/S/S arrangement (but I'm not so keen on that because I'm worried about balancing that sort of set properly), or full on EVH style with just bridge pickup. A single White Duncan Invader could look badass...

Anyways, the build's gonna be a bit of a slow starter, gonna have to wait and order the paints next week, then I'm gonna need some time to get some practice with the swirling too. But with a bit of luck it'll come out looking spiffing

[JohnH]

That's going to look great! Looking forward to watching it progress

[Chuck]

Looking good B'Lark! The pickguard choice will be interesting - in the example with the b/w pickups it's a busy swirl so I quite like the clean pearl pickguard. If the swirl is less complex maybe a patterned one works better - like in your mockup. I guess the fun part about a swirl is you won't know how it works out til you do it!! Just my 2c - really interested to follow the build!

[Kick]

I saw a lot of YT clips about that swirling and I saw the craziest things! Looking forward to see yours

[B'Lark]

Looking good B'Lark! The pickguard choice will be interesting - in the example with the b/w pickups it's a busy swirl so I quite like the clean pearl pickguard. If the swirl is less complex maybe a patterned one works better - like in your mockup. I guess the fun part about a swirl is you won't know how it works out til you do it!! Just my 2c - really interested to follow the build!

Yea that's all still a bit up for debate. I don't have any of the trimmings locked in, so bringing it up for discussion now's perfect!

I definitely see your point with the first example I linked. The pickguard breaks the busy-ness up and contrasts with the paintjob nicely.

I think I am hoping for a paintjob more like the second example. More of a "White WITH black swirls", rather than "White AND black swirl". I think that would give the pickguard some room to be a touch busier, and make it kind of look like it's a smaller version of the overall body swirl.

[Andy40]

Great idea B'Lark.

This should be a sinch compared to your scratch MB.

I love strats, good on you for ordering that kit.

[Dedman]

ooooooooooooh!

[B'Lark]

Great idea B'Lark.

This should be a sinch compared to your scratch MB.

I love strats, good on you for ordering that kit.

I'm hoping that's the case haha! At the very least it'll be a very different sort of challenge

Yea I've really come back around on Strats more recently. Probably because my first electric was a Strat, and I really miss that guitar, even if it was crap haha

[stan]

The black and white swirl looks great - complex pattern but simple shades instead of the usual rainbow of colours - cool plan

[Simon Barden]

I'd imagine that you'd be doing quite a few practice swirls on some scrap wood first, though there's always going to be that random element when doing it for real that's going to add a a certain nervousness to the process. Best of luck!