Free Stratocaster!Which would you choose?

[octagon]

Wow!That's pretty cool.Concerning the trem bar,I'm not sure.Here is what Kid said about the mods:

"Originally Posted by Kid Klash
I was amazed with how nice this little Bullet Strat was stock, but being the adventurous type, I decided to take it apart, and make kind of a 1960 Strat replica out of it.

After dissassembling the guitar, I stripped the satin finish from the maple part of the neck, filled the stock tuner mounting screw holes and the D-G string tree screw hole, drilled out the tuner shaft holes to 11/32" so that a set of Wilkinson "Kluson" style tuners and press-in sleeves would fit, sanded everything smooth, then tinted it with Fender amber from Reranch. Then I applied probably in the neighborhood of 40-50 coats of clear gloss lacquer, followed by wet-sanding, more wet-sanding, then hand polishing the maple parts of the neck to get it up to the final gloss. When that was done, I installed a set of Wikinson "Kluson" style tuners and sleeves that I got from GFS.

When that was done, I replaced the original white plastic nut with a pre-slotted GraphTech Strat nut, shimming the "fat string" end .020 with a piece of rosewood veneer to match the string height of my other Strats.

I tried several different pickguard colors... the tortoise shell PG looked nice, but my local GC only had two of them, and they were both so warped that they were unusable. So next I tried a white pearl PG from the same GC, but they looked too yellow. Next I tried a mint green PG, but it really clashed with the Daphne Blue body, so I wound up using the stock white single ply PG. It actually looks the best, and I believe is what a 1960 Strat originally came with. The added bonus was that the stock trem cover matches the pickguard, and because the Bullet trem cover is a slightly different size and has a different screw hole layout compared to my MIA and MIM Strats, I didn't need to make a new one.

Although the stock pups sound good (especially the neck pup), I decided to try a set of the GFS closeout cream color overwound single coil Strat pups and went with an AllParts cream knob set. I like the sound of these inexpensive pups too - hotter than vintage, but they still have the "quack" and "chime" character of regular Strat pups through my Tremolux, and they really scream through my Marshall half stack.

The stock six screw vintage trem is actually very good, so I kept it, but swapped out the original saddles for a set of GraphTech Stringsavers... I use the trems on my Strats, so the GraphTech nut and saddles help keep it in tune, and also keep me from breaking so many strings.

I replaced the neck plate with a blank chrome replacement, and had the serial number stamped into the replacement by a local metal fabricator.

Then I went to the local craft store and bought a roll of copper foil to shield the body cavity. The shielding turned out great, resulting in the quietest Strat I own. As a side note, it looked like the body cavity was shielded with a carbon-based conductive paint, but decided to use copper anyway.

As you can see, it's reassembled now, and restrung, intonated, dialed in, and sounds great! It took longer than I thought it would (dinking around with different pickguards!), but I wasn't in a hurry, and wanted it to come out really well."

[winston]

The Daphne (Sonic) Blue Strat is the nicest looking of that group of Strats. I am partial to Sunburst but not so much the two color Sunburst. So there it is, I am in agreement with those who recommended the Blue one Mitch.

[longhouse]

WHITE WHITE WHITE

[kenposurf]

Daphne Blue...

[paologregorio]

It looks like the votes are for Daphne Blue!

Hmm, I wonder what I could order that they're going to be out of long enough to give me a free Strat...

[qwezirider]

pink.

[hjarnett]

i have one of them daphne blue bullets and it looks sounds and plays great for what it is

[wj350]

Surf Green or Sonic Blue.

+1.

[octagon]

Thanks for all the posts.I wish I could have them all.Right now I am leaning towards the pink one because I have found that pink Fender strats are always in short supply.I have a feeling that the pink ones will not be available for long.I used to have a Custom Shop Strat that I bought used at Music-Go-round for $900 and I regret selling it,so I guess that is why I am partial to the pink one.Below is a pic of a Squier Bullet and below that a pic of the Custom Shop Strat I used to have.

[scotty]

Congrats Mitch

[paologregorio]

Whoa! That pink is cool!



I must be colorblind; in the initial photo, I thought the pink Strat was surf green. Uh oh...

[octagon]

Congrats Mitch

Oh,I don't have either of those guitars.The Custom Shop I sold and the Squier belongs to a friend on the Harmony Central Forum.I would order the pink one but they don't have any(yet).

[chuck_king]

I think you're right on in your analysis regarding the pink finish. It probably won't be available indefinitely, and it's definitely a color that grabs the eye.

One of these days one of those pink "Hello Kitty" Strats is going to show up on craigslist or something, and I may have to grab it.

If the pink's not available, I'd also go with the Daphne blue.

[octagon]

Thanks Chuck, I went to Guitar Center today to see if they had any.They had the Arctic White,Fiesta Red,Black and Brown Sunburst.All looked really nice.I can't believe the quality for a $99 guitar.The fit and finish on the neck of the Brown Sunburst(The only one I tried) was as good or better than the higher priced Squires.I think it felt even better than the standard Fenders because the Bullets have "rolled edges" on the fingerboard like the American Strats.I just played it a little unplugged so I cant compare the sounds,but geez for I gotta say,I've never seen a better Strat for $99!Actually I was so impressed by the Brown Sunburst,I ordered one from MF when I got home.Right now MF only has The Brown Sunburst and Arctic White in stock.The won't have the Dauphne Blue or the Pink until April but I may order I may order one or both then.