Parts of this guitar are from the first one I built, which was made from a Warmoth neck and body. The body was the semi-hollow VIP model, configured for three strat single coil pickups and a vintage Strat tremelo. Even though I didn’t make the body or neck, putting that first guitar together and finishing it taught me a lot. I played that guitar for a couple of years and enjoyed it. However, in the mean time I had made a number of guitars from scratch which were superior, in my opinion, as well as being more unique. I decided to tear it apart and remake it.

popular, I don’t really care for it. It looks good on a round body like a Les Paul, but I don’t like it on something that is more strat-like, such as this guitar. I think the flat walnut cap is much more attractive than the original carved flamed maple.

I added a cocobolo pick guard with my standard JeSter inlay. I routed the body for a bridge humbucker and drilled it for a more functional, modern tremolo. The neck is pretty much as it was except for the quilted maple cap that I added.

With the semi-hollow thin body (after removing the carved top it went from 1.75” to 1.5”), this guitar is very light and resonant. The pickup combinations along with the switching configuration provide a wide and useful variety of sounds.

I never felt that the carved flamed maple top worked visually with the Srat setup. So I stripped the top off, as well as the finish (it had been solid black sides and back, with stained red top). I replaced the top with a nice piece of curly walnut. I then added cocobolo binding with a maple/rosewood/maple purfling. In my opinion, the wood binding gives it a very classy look. While the carved arch top style solid body seems to be quite