It's the first time you're using an abalone dot-inlaid American Deluxe rosewood neck on an Plus/Ultra build?

I suggest you to pick another one with a maple fretboard for your next Ultra Flame Superstrat project and put it into a a nice ash body in Teal Green Transparent from Warmoth, with a "Mini" Floyd Rose bridge, an LSR nut and Fender locking tuners on it.

As for the pickups, you can try something different: Light Blue in the Neck, Burgundy in the Middle and Emerald/Purple Dually in the Bridge with a 3-way toggle switch for coil selection.

A nice nice nod to the very first American Deluxes from the 1998-2003 period.

OK, I spent part of the afternoon on the Firestorm Strat Plus and posted that on a different thread. I will see if I can get this Build #2 Mystic Black put together on Sunday.....if we do not get MORE SNOW!!! Now we are getting a Chinook. ( Does anyone know what that is??? See if you know our local vernacular!! ) Just snapped a pict with my iPhone of our front yard!!!!!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

i've never liked a single black guitar. ever. until now.

Nothing like warm moisture laden ocean winds moving over the mountains.....When I lived in Stowe Vt. we used to get a similar effect. Moisture was picked up from Lake Champlain, carried over the mountains and dumped on Stowe....( Of Course on a much smaller scale...)

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Ya, this happens a lot here in Idaho. We get 2 or 3 days of 20 degrees (-6 for some) and lots of snow. Then a strong, warm, south-westerly wind will pick up, as a low pressure front moves in, sometimes bringing rain with it. Everything melts fast and the snow is slush. If we have 3 feet of snow and it Chinooks for 2 or 3 days, the river and streams will flood. Now most people know a Chinook is a Salmon fish, but for some reason is is also a weather condition. Maybe it is an Native American term......

In the summer we get "Palousers". That comes from the word Palouse which is an American Indian people inhabiting the Palouse River valley in southeastern Washington not far from here. The famous Appaloosa horses are from this area. But on a hot day in summer, after the wheat, lentil and pea harvest in the Palouse valley is finished and everything is dirty and dry, a very strong storm will move in from the South-west picking up the farmland dirt, mixing it with rain. Then here in the mountains (the beginning of the Rocky Mountains) it will hail & rain mud, the sky will turn dark red/orange. I have seen it get dark like the sun was setting, at 1 pm! The trees bend way over and some even snap off. Wicked - cool storms! These are trigger by washing the windows on your house...

Meanwhile, I hope to get this together tomorrow!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Xhefri, I absolutely love that black on black with the red underply pickguard. Very classy. It looks like a strat with a tuxedo on. Hey... good name maybe. "The Tuxedo"

LOL, but a Tuxedo should be black and white.... I have actually build about 5 or 6 of these Black Strat Plus' using the Black/Red/Black pickguards. I do love black but it is a very fussy color when it comes to playing, and then keeping it clean! Here are a few samples:



This one was almost the same. I really like the looks of Back on Black with the red outlines. This guitar I build about 3 years ago. Lighter rosewood on the neck.



Here is another varation of the same idea:



here is one in a Standard Strat Plus setup:



When I think "The Tuxedo" I think of the 1962 Tele Deluxe Custom I had had in Black!



Or even the rare Jerry Donahue in Back fits the bill! (Oh this is the Strat side of the Fender Forum! Sorry!!! )

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Wasn't this the one where we debated using a rosewood vs maple board?

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"Another day in paradise!"

It looks like he went with rosewood.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I know he did. I was just trying to affirm that we were looking at the same project. That guitar ultimately was purchased by a friend of his if I recollect correctly.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I wish I had your skill and patience. The flame is fantastic, the black is unbelievably cool...

From what I can see Fender Custom Shop can't hold a candle to you... well done!

Yeppers, I think this was the one. Hard to remember sometimes as i have done quite a few in black. Umm, now that I think about it it might have been this guitar on another thread:




Or this one????





Or one of these????

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Jeff...it was all black with the red band on the pickguard, because I asked you directly where you acquired that and you referred me to Warmoth.

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"Another day in paradise!"

So it must have been the one on the blue rug.... Gets kind of confusing as i also do a lot of Tele mods as well. After so much time "old timers disease" sets in i imagine. Dr. ZZ, just came back from ER a few minutes ago. My son just had a CAT Scan after a snowboarding face-plant on ice. Bruised his stomach's wall and it was quite swollen. My Dr friend was on shift doing a 36 hr shift....

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Hope that's the extent of it. No facial injuries then. Hope he mends well and quickly.
In the matter of the guitar, very definitely the blue rug, and, I can see from some of the others, how a solid maple neck might have looked. For me, that would have been my choice.

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"Another day in paradise!"