About
This project took place a couple years after the KitCaster. The KitCaster was a massive success and filled a need for a bit of a ‘beater’ guitar – but it created a bit of an itch for something more polished. So, I decided to look into some custom guitar part manufacturers across the internet. Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be any shortage for custom-made guitar parts. I set a reasonable budget, and started to look around. I figured if there was anything worth spending money on, it would be a custom guitar neck. I’ve always wanted to order something from Warmoth, so I took this as my opportunity to do so.
I went with a Wenge neck, standard 22 stainless steel jumbo frets with an ebony fingerboard. For the body, I used the body of the KitCaster to take measurements of all of its features and to add some custom ones. Once I had measurements, I created a 3D CAD file for the new body. I sent the file off to a local CNC company that specialized in custom millwork to be cut from some mahogany. I also pulled some strings with a local autoshop that specializes in automotive refinishing. I got them to paint this instrument with some special ceramic coating that finished in a pretty high-end, super-durable, matte white finish.
For the pickguard, I wanted some slight placement modifications for some of the controls. So I took it upon myself to make this custom part with the working spaces and tools I had available to me at the time. Everything came together quite nicely and I couldn’t be happier.
This instrument ended up with a bit of a meaner look to it, and as such, I wired it up with a gnarly full set of Seymour Duncan Invader pickups. These needed some custom treatement in order to fit the Stratocaster HSS layout. A heavier set of strings and a lower tuning permanently sit on this guitar. This could easily pass as a very expensive custom build, but with a bit of elbow grease I was able to prevent it from being too impractical on myself financially.
Features:
Pickups: Seymour Duncan Invader Pickups
1 Volume Control
2 Tone Controls
5-Way Pickup Selector
Bridge: Floyd Rose Tremolo
Nut: Floyd Rose R3 Locking Nut
Tuning Machines: Schaller M-6 3+3 Black
Neck: Warmoth Custom-Spec
Process Documentation
