THE RED RACER

Vintage Racer Partscaster.

Here is my 60s-inspired, hardtail Strat built from parts. It is as light as a feather and plays really nice. The neck is a bit of an oddity for a Strat-style guitar. It is constructed like an early 60s slab-board, rosewood neck with a typically Fender-esque profile of the 60s era, except it has a 12" radius fretboard and is a little wider at the nut by about 1mm. That doesn't sound like much, but it makes a big difference to how this neck feels compared to my other Strats.

The electronics are pretty standard: 250k pots all round, a 5-way switch and a set of Tonerider Alnico II Blues (TRS4). The pickups are great, but not the most typically-Strat-sounding. They are a fair bit more midrangey, than 60s Strat pickups to my ears. However they still have a nice, open, chimey-enough sound.

I am deliberating whether to keep this guitar as it is or to put in a single P90 instead and really make a racer of this guitar. If I put in the P90 then I'll have to decide whether I should put these Tonerider pickups in one of my other Strats or whether I will be forced to get or build another cheap Strat so I have a home for all my sets of pickups!

​Watch this space to see what happens...

The finish is candy apple red with some added gold sparkle from a tin of paint I had called "Candy Gold". The finish has some flaws, like the area around the bottom edge that I missed when spraying the candy red coat. 

​It doesn't show too much, so it doesn't bother me.

Some days I pick up this beauty and it feels like the best guitar I have. Other days I put it down after a minute or two as it does nothing for me. It's very much a mood guitar for me. I think it has to do with the neck. Some days I'm just not in the mood for how it feels, but some days I don't want to play anything else.

I also love the way it looks. The colour really shines in certain light. It has a real vibrance to it that gives it some life of its own.