Hi again. Just wondering what you all think about this Strat Plus DX I just finished building for a friend in Prague, Czech Republic. He had certain requirements that he wanted me to do for him and it was a little different than some of the other creations I have showed on the Forum as well as on my website.

First he wanted a solid Ash body with a Maple neck. I found a good deal on a guitar on eBay, but it had a Rosewood neck. I swapped out a matching neck of about the same vintage with a Maple neck. He wanted me to use genuine Maple wood for the pickguard and back trem cover. Here she is. What do you thing, honestly.....


The configuration is a dual Ultra set-up with Blue/Gold Lace Sensors in the neck and Red/Red in the bridge (like on Fender's Ultra guitars) and a Sliver sandwiched in the middle. Both Lace Duallys have the 3-way mini-switch and this has the custom 5-way super switch to give the neck + bridge in the middle position. It really is quite a tone monster. You can get a host of tones. In the neck it can be quite fat or when just using the Gold, can be quite vintage sounding. Lot's of honk and quack to boot.....

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Very cool! Diggin the wood pickguard!

ice, man! the pickguard kinda reminds me of a Nils Lofgren type trip!

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Xhefri what else is there to say except that the CS would have some difficulty duplicating that ax.lol Just beautiful my friend as always, you are the king of that series by far.I was happy to see someone bought a stock Blue Burst Ultra on ebay for $2,500 as it is the same exact as mine and I have been waiting to see them start bringing in some higher prices as I feel they may be the best made Fenders ever outside of a Custom Shop model. The only thing was the buyer may have been a bit misled as it was sold as a 50th anniversery Ultra because it had the little sticker on the headstock which mine also has ,but we know all guitars that year had the sticker and I hope it fetched that price for the great ax it is and because it was a clean ax.

Thanks Straycat, BUT I am hoping for some criticisms! When I put this guard on the body before wiring it up I was like, ummmm. Seems maybe too pale or maybe there is something about wood that just does not seem right as a guard? When I finished it, it was an odd feeling to have my fingers brush the rough top of the wood. I guess not the whole scheme has grown on me, but I do like the chrome and black pearl better on some of the other builds.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

sweeet indeed nice job

Very Nice !

Xhefri,

Firstly, your website has a collection of the most drool worthy guitars I've come across and I'm a big fan of your work. If I had the money you'd be building my next Strat!

Your latest build is a real beaut IMO.

If you get time, check your inbox over the next few days as I have a few questions for you if thats ok.

Thanks

Andy

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Pending Greatness

in Box?????? Help me out here!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Sorry, my bad.

I'll contact you via the e-mail address thats on your website.

Thanks

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Very nice guitar, Jeff! The HSH setup on this baby is very flexible.

Feel free to post a picture of the same guitar with the Fender Deluxe Locking Tremolo Assembly. For much greater versatility, a three humbucker (HHH) configuration with three coil-tap switches, TBX and 25dB active mid-boost circuits is strongly recommended.

Jeff;

Nice axe as always. I purchased a Birdseye maple pickguard some time ago because I thought it was cool and different. I keep on placing it up to different bodies on the projects that I build and could never get that ah ha that I was looking for. (as it appears you are still looking for here) As cool as that natural wood guard is, I'm surprised how difficult it is to feel good about a cool combination using it.

My concern also was that the natural wood could get dirty with normal handling and then start to look opposite of what it was intended for. It's shelf life could be very short with active playing.

We have similar tastes in these projects although mine are not always Plus guitars and I love every one that you have built and the website is something to aspire to. That said, and since you want honest critique, I have to say that for a wood pickguard this is probably as nice a combo that I have seen considering I've placed up mine to about 20 different projects over the years and haven't used it yet. If I can be so bold to add, and this may not work for your buyer, but maybe a coat of Tung oil or even some brushable satin clear that may bring out that color just a tinge more. Plus it will protect that virgin wood. (I'm assuming though, that you haven't done that yet)

Overall I give it a big thumbs up and I can be hard to please. Of course I'm a big fan of the custom electronics too which makes this one unique bird. This is a similar wiring set up we did for that 60 CS with the chrome dually's and the chrome dome in the center. Aside from my Monty's, that one proved to be the most popular and most valuable resale wise, custom project. Excellent work and I am sure your buyer will love it.

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That guitar looks AWESOME!! Love the black on natural! Very cool!

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Ya you about pegged my feelings. The guy that makes these wood guards is really professional and just a nice person to deal with. Anyhow when I put it up against the Ash body, it really didn't do anything for me. But as the guitar started to come together, it grew on me.

I worried about oil off the hands getting it dirty over time. The guy who made it used some type of oil on it. I shot about 4 light coats of clear Nitro over it to seal it even more. But still, the roughness is there that bugged me. When I play rhythm as I place my pinky finger on the guard to guide me while I pick or strum. After a bit, I got use to it. The guitar is now on the way with the guy's bass player headed to Czech Republic!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Very nice job...