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Howdy, folks. WildcatOne here. I just made a deal with John Gordon, my son Kyle's buddy who just graduated from a guitar luthiery school in Arizona, to build me a custom guitar. It's going to be a Stratocaster-type guitar with several added features. It'll have Rio Grande pickups, which are according to John, the best Strat pickups that money can buy. I will have them wired "out of phase", which is a complicated procedure that produces an ethereal effect when the switch is on for that feature. It will also have a much thinner and faster neck than an off-the-shelf Fender Strat has. It'll be an Alder body with a fully laminated maple neck and fretboard, high gloss finish with Schaller tuners and graphite bridge saddles. I'm going to go with a standard Fender-type tremelo-arm bridge ("whammy bar"). The key ingredient on this guitar will be the finish...the color...so I have a question for Rapid here. What color did you paint your Vette? That is the color I want this guitar to be. I know it's purple, but it's a certain shade that I think is the best shade of purple I've ever seen...it almost looked like the Nitro Madness Fiat was also done in that same color. When ya get through watching the drags tonite, give me a PM or a reply here with that info if it's OK...Thanks, WC1

Sounds like a great guitar WC. But I have to admit, I didn't understand a word til' you got to the paint part. I better stick to door slammerz'.

WC, Here is the Dupont number so you can have the exact same color. It is BM204k in a basecoat clearcoat finish. This is a spectramaster book color. That means it is a formula that Dupont came up with, they liked but didn't actually use it on anything. I don't know how the guys paint them, but if they have a way of using auto paint, or mixing colors to match that is the number to use. That is a great color, it will be kinda like I am up there with you when you use that bad boy!!!

Paint code: BM204K

Dupont mixing colors in actual formula:

820J Violet 549.5 on the scale
814J Course Aluminum 754.3
1001S White Pearl 764.3
150K B/C Balancer 1611.7
175K Binder 1746.6

This is a 2-QT mix, you of course will need much less for your project. The reason the color is so pure looking is as you can see only 3-componets make the color keeping it from being muddied up by other tints.

Thanks for asking,

Rapid

That is precisely the idea, Rapid. Thank you. I will copy and paste your reply to an email to John. He'll do it. Life is good.

It's just guitar tech talk, ProZ...nothing you couldn't handle after an hour or so in the shop, I guarantee...there are many choices involved, lots of different brands that cater to individual tastes, especially pickups. The ones I'm getting will have wax-dipped coils (a pickup is essentially a magnet with copper wire wrapped around it, attached to 6 elevated pole pieces that attract the vibration of the strings and pass that sound along to a wire...it's not rocket surgery, but there are dozens and dozens of choices as to what kind of tone you're after. This will be clean sustain...)

This is going to be a one-of-a-kind guitar, definitely related to a Strat but with more power and tone than a stock item...the emphasis will be on playability and sound over looks, but it's going to look different than other Strats in a few ways. I'm going with the "70s" headstock, which is bigger and more streamlined-looking than the violin-profile standard Fender Strat model. The color will also be unique, and I'm going to design a logo for it that John said he'd put on for me. The serial number will probably be 000-000-001S. John is just now starting out, but he brought over a few guitars he's built, and they are gorgeous and built with love. You can feel it when you play 'em. I'm looking forward to having the guitar. I know John will build an excellent one for me.

Thanks again for that paint info, Rapid! Cheers, WC1

Sounds fantastic.... can't wait to see that Purple Monster! bp

Man a HOT ROD Guitar,,,now how bitchen is that!!!

I don't understand a word of what you said,,,,but I get it anyway from the way you put it.

I just wanted to keep it all in the family, ya know...
Here are the 2 different kinds of headstocks I talked about. I'm going with the bigger one, on the left, from the 70s...why be normal?

Look out, George Thorogood! WC1 is the new master of the Stratocaster! bp

Here are the pickups I'm getting...turns out they make 'em right down the street here in Houston:
http://www.riograndepickups.com/scart/P ... For+Strats

Yo Cat!!....If I may suggest....why not utilize your avatar from Mike's place for your logo.....THAT is just so....YOU!!