This is long and indulgent and mostly for me-

I’ve had more guitars than I can remember, beginning in the late 60s. It’s a lot of guitars to love or hate, some stick with you, most don’t. I slowly gained ideas about what might be more or less ideal for me. I’d fantasize about it never thinking I’d ever have it. I had a blank of mahogany that managed to follow me around from decade to decade, I was reluctant to discard it, especially the older it got. I also had an old bottle of pearlescent paint additive, made for cars in the candy apple and metallic hot rod years. I used it on 2 bodies long ago. Back then you could make toxic stuff, and I knew I’d never get more, so it also stuck with me from abode to abode. It’s quite fascinating, made from fish scales, link below*. As space became more of a premium than stuff, I contemplated what to do with any of this. Before getting really serious, I started sketching bodies, based on strats, my favorite guitars. I’ve been following gear reviews long before there was the internet, with magazines etc. so I had formed some decisions about pickups and trems, two critical factors, and woods. I went through dozens of each over the years, and watched a lot of youtubes.

I love the look of a flipped over strat, and Moserites. No coincidence, it turns out Semie Moseley flipped over a strat and traced around it when he design his most popular models in the 60s. So there was enough momentum at this point to go the rest of the way. A guitar maker was recommended, Ryan Higgins, RTH Guitars, gave him the wood, went over my ideas with him, ordered parts, found the jar of pearl in a box in the basement, and we got started, November 2024.

rthguitars.com

The body is mahogany, and the neck, wenge**, I knew both would contribute more thickness to the sound than a normal strat. I had planned on getting the neck from Warmoth, but Ryan talked me into letting him make it, which allowed him to use his own headstock design, and go for a fixed, instead of bolt-on, neck. I’ve had a Lull made strat for decades, I’ll never get rid of it, and Ryan matched that profile on this neck. The fingerboard is rosewood. He also made the pick-guard, back plate (not installed, impedes Vega-trem), and the inlays.

I like the idea of a slightly transparent black. My Lull is barely transparent black over metallic silver, only visible in strong light. I have a Dean Soltero with a gorgeous transparent black, through which the wood grain is visible. Not knowing exactly how it would look, I wanted a transparent black, over the mahogany grain, made iridescent by some clear pearl. Ryan made several tests on small blocks of mahogany, how much black to allow seeing some grain underneath, yet be black. Then, how much pearl over that? Then the CNC carves, final finishing, curing, polishing, fretting, assembly, etc etc..

This finish is impossible to describe, even properly photograph, which is why I put so many pics here. In flat light, it’s a very dark brown, occasional green/blue pearl hints on curves. Under hard light, sunlight better, some angles show the mahogany color and grain clearly, other angles the pearl takes over, changing around the curves. There are hints of mostly cyan, blue, red, and purple depending on the light. The sunlight is dappled here, and I didn’t polish it 1st, the finish is not splotchy.

I love the old Gibson barrel knobs, the oldest rarest are quite tall, I found some replicas. I went for a Vega-trem. I’ve been through many, this one is amazing. I’d have preferred all nickel hardware, but not available for the vega-trem, so all “gold”.

I’m a single coil pickup guy, love P-90s. I have them in 2 guitars, but they are noisy. I’ve been following the info about, and reviews of, Kinman pickups for years and they have a unique noiseless system for single coils. I always wanted to try their strat pups, the demos for their P-90s sounded great so I took that plunge for these. I ordered a set of the hot version, and they replied I’d probably love a better blend with a less hot neck position, they were right. What else- just 3 position switch, only volume and tone, “50s” wiring.

It was a long process, despite some setbacks, we’re finally done, it exists in the world. Ryan did great work all over, and though he may disagree with me, the best example of his craftsmanship is the neck joint. The sound is unique, very aggressive. It’s big, has a lot of “girth”, and honk, but sparkle as well, I have a lot of tonal exploring to do with this. Love the boat neck, right at home like my Lull. The trem is amazing, can bottom out, and still pull up 3rds and 4ths, and comes back to in tune (usually).

* the development of this interesting paint and for fans of 50s-60s custom cars- Golden Sahara II Pearl Paint

** a wenge neck has a unique sound characterized by a pronounced low-end, well defined fundamentals, a present mid-range, and bright, articulate highs, creating a clear and deep tone similar to rosewood but with a firmer, more responsive feel.

Click on these, some were kindly supplied by Ryan…

Ok, enough, here’s an example of it’s sound-