Don't say, "I could never build a custom Strat"

I would really like to communicate this one thing, if you take away nothing else from this site. You absolutely can build a custom Strat.

I will also add that most of us are lacking in the skills and experiences to do this well right from the start. The Strat you see pictured above (daphne blue) was my first project. It was incredibly cheap, and I made mistakes (almost catastrophic ones) along the way.

I acquired all of the parts to build my first (proof of concept) custom Stratocaster for around $250. This was really cheap stuff. You can tell by looking at the body that the contour for the arm relief was not as smooth and subtle as it is on a genuine Strat. I bought the body including the bridge/tremolo and neck plate (with screws, more on that in a moment) for $109. I bought the pickguard with switches and pickups, complete, for $25, I found the neck for $69., and got a steal on the tuners - 3 sets for $40.

The parts were all import and non standard, so I was lucky to buy the body, body hardware and loaded pickgaurd from the same guy on eBay. The neck was my first attempt at a vintage nitro finish with a waterslide decal and it came out pretty good. When I went to attach the neck, however, the screws that came with the body were little larger than standard and when I screwed on the neck, it cracked, all the way through to the fretboard. I took it apart, squirted superglue in the hole, the measure the screw shaft and depth so I could redo the holes in the neck. I also respray the neck fretboard, and then did my fret cleaning and polishing. It looked good and the crack was almost invisible, though I did declare it when I sold it on eBay.

My point is that there will likely be mistakes. Don't worry about it though. Most of them will be recoverable, and there will be lessons learned from each mistake. I have had tons (mistakes and lessons learned). My favorite was when I tried to move a freshly sprayed body, actually, the very last clear coat, and had it slip off the hanger I was using to suspend it. The body crashed to floor, bouncing all over the place, pickup up all sorts of disgusting bits of debris along the way. I had to completely sand it back down to bare wood, fill in the little dents and scratches, then paint all over again. However, I must admit that my second paint job was even better than the first.

So please don't limit yourself. You can do this. Start out small, make some mistakes, but of course, learn from my mistakes first (please). Many of my little tricks listed in this site are my resolutions to prior issues. I would be truly honored if my site could help you be more successful in building your own custom Strat.