D30Man
Senior Member
So for Christmas my wife bought be a used lake placid blue MIM strat body from 2010 for about $125. It has a few bumps and bruises which bothered me none. I went on to reverb and found a neck maker out of Michigan - Howell Guitar - who makes what I now know are killer strat and tele necks for an excellent price. I went with the roasted maple. Ordered some gold tuners, bridge, screw, trees, input plate, neck plate, etc. I dropped in an Alnico 5 pre-wired guard I bought off of Amazon for $35. Was leery at first, but was pleasantly surprised.
Being home with COVID gave me some time earlier this week to get it built out. I am NOT a luthier and adjustments, tweaks, etc. are still being made, but my goodness this thing is a looker. The beefy neck profile makes this possibly the best strat neck I have ever felt in my hands - super reasonable - finished for $110 - better than any mighty mite I have owned / held. Not to mention the roasted maple and gold against what I would say is a warmer more electric LP blue, it just really pops. The MIC Alnico 5 pickups on this one are actually warmer than the US pickups I have in my Daredevil strat. As I did with the Daredevil strat, I will spend an extra $50 and have my guy through it and set it up perfectly.
All in all I had been hankerin' for an LPB strat and I am pleased with both the final look and the playability of this one. The neck is out of this world - especially for the money. All in I paid about $375 for this guitar. A classic vibe LPB ( with Indian Laurel - not a fan ) runs about $450 and LPB MIM's are upwards $600 - $800.. And truthfully, though there is a ton of Fender made DNA in both of my partscasters, and I am a fender dude, I like that they are both unbranded.
Here are some pics!
Being home with COVID gave me some time earlier this week to get it built out. I am NOT a luthier and adjustments, tweaks, etc. are still being made, but my goodness this thing is a looker. The beefy neck profile makes this possibly the best strat neck I have ever felt in my hands - super reasonable - finished for $110 - better than any mighty mite I have owned / held. Not to mention the roasted maple and gold against what I would say is a warmer more electric LP blue, it just really pops. The MIC Alnico 5 pickups on this one are actually warmer than the US pickups I have in my Daredevil strat. As I did with the Daredevil strat, I will spend an extra $50 and have my guy through it and set it up perfectly.
All in all I had been hankerin' for an LPB strat and I am pleased with both the final look and the playability of this one. The neck is out of this world - especially for the money. All in I paid about $375 for this guitar. A classic vibe LPB ( with Indian Laurel - not a fan ) runs about $450 and LPB MIM's are upwards $600 - $800.. And truthfully, though there is a ton of Fender made DNA in both of my partscasters, and I am a fender dude, I like that they are both unbranded.
Here are some pics!
