Meet My Bench Guitar:

Inspector #20

Ambassador of Tone
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Sometimes, the company allows guitars that are "killed off" to be retained for in-house use as a demo. They can never be sold as they would have been eventually destroyed and parts gleaned for stock.

I was given custody of this MIJ Stratocaster by my predecessor.

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It had a hump in the fretboard and was slated for write-off. I pulled all the frets, planed the board to 12" and bought a set of fets from John at Bitterroot Guitars and installed them over several lunch breaks.

It is strung with .050" / .040" / .030" / .016" / .013" / .010" and is tuned to standard pitch

I set neck relief to .009" and 12th fret action is .060" as is my personal SOP on 25.5" guitars.

The bridge is level and the nut received my SOP 7 angle profile.

This is the guitar I frequently play during my lunch break.

I'm loving the heavy E/A/D strings...
 
Just a friendly reminder if you are swapping around string gauges.

Be sure to file the nut slots +.004 above string gauge to prevent binding in the nut.

Also, if stepping up from a .046/.036/.026 to a .050/.040/.030 you will need to tighten the truss rod slightly to maintain your neck relief.

These strings sound absolutely HUGE on rhythm passages, yet afford the g/b/e bendability of a regular set of .010's.

The attack at standard pitch is immediate, no matter how hard you hit them.
 
I put the new DiMarzio Super Distortion in this guitar last week. I got a couple of necks that I can swap around.

I've found the flatter 16" radius is far better for the sustain and clarity of bent notes - even better than the 12" radii.
 
Do you know what year that thing is? I had a MIJ Tele that had the same type of black neck and humbuckers, with a pearl white finish. I'm not a Tele fan but it was by far the best of the handful I have owned over the years. Mine was an '86 I think.
 
Do you know what year that thing is? I had a MIJ Tele that had the same type of black neck and humbuckers, with a pearl white finish. I'm not a Tele fan but it was by far the best of the handful I have owned over the years. Mine was an '86 I think.

This one is a 2021...


 
OK, that's cool. I didn't even know they re-released them. This looks like the Tele I had, but as I mentioned mine was pearl white not silver...

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