I was contacted last year, as to whether left handed versions of the Tom Delonge signature Stratocaster were readily available. Which of course the answer, was sadly, no. Fender haven't put out a lefty version of this popular pop punk signature guitar, which is a shame really. Although I'm sure the LH guitar playing community is well used to this exclusion from popular RH production models.
I suggested to the inquiring customer the various ways you could capture the idea, through a mod project, refinishing and customising an existing guitar, via a luthier brand for a custom build or a partscaster too. After a bit of discussion, the customer asked if I could quote on a quality, as close to spec partscaster version and we went ahead with the project. My brief essentially was to capture absolutely as many details from the modern production of the Fender instrument, but of course, left handed.
I was really up for this project, as it reminded me of a stunning Custom Shop Strat for one of my LH customers, where they had asked me to carry out a cool TD inspired mod, whilst allowing it to be swapped back to the traditional Strat specs with ease too. I put a blog post together about that project if it's of interest to you (I suspect so if you're here reading!), which you can read HERE, but here's a pic of that project for good measure too -
Quality was the goal here too. No short cuts, no cheap parts, simply to create a guitar that would be a lifer! I've been lucky enough to work on many original and reproduction Fender signature models, as well as just being a fan of the iconic signature guitar to have a feel for the specs needed on this build. I have also been serving the left handed guitar community for a long time with dedicated pre-wired kit options for LH instruments too, so was really looking forward to making a dedicated LH version of this.
I really do love getting the router out and making a guitar body, like the much loved white custom hardtail Strat I made for myself, but realistically due to labour costs involved, it was more economical to source the body than make it in house. Especially when the end result would be the same, IE a quality UK made body. So I enlisted 'Guitar Build' to make the custom order, single bridge humbucker routed, hardtail LH strat body for me and this project. Per the original, it's an Alder body. Although I made some subtle, but in my opinion, improvement changes over the factory Fender production run TD bodies. On the Fender example, they are a standard fully routed hardtail Strat body. Routed for HSH, and ultimately used on a number of production models due to cost, understandbly. Below is a photo of a production run body, for example.
This project is a dedicated TD, single bridge humbucker build. So I opted to only have a bridge humbucker route from the get-go.
Overall the body was great, lovely materials, bridge spacing and alignment all spot on. But sadly the neck pocket was small, very small. So I did still need to get the router out, and get it corrected ready to accept a standard Fender spec Strat neck heel. My trusty templates came in handy here, as always!
With the neck pocket routed, it was time to apply the grain filler prior to paint. I applied, sanded back and reapplied the grain filler in a number of coats to ensure a nicely prepped surface which all ensures a quality paint finish.
For the neck, I knew this had to be a quality item. The modern production Fender example of course has the iconic big CBS era headstock, along with nice 'clay' style dots, an Indian rosewood fingerboard, and a nice satin finish lacquer. I opted to go for a very high quality, licensed Warmoth neck for this customer. It would be the best option ultimately, and decided to spec it as close to the '69 style neck found on many of Tom Delonge's old Custom Shop made guitars, like the 'Padre' for example. With a nice thinner C, akin to the '69 necks, the really nice clay style dots, a beautiful quality fingerboard, and the satin finish ready to go.
Warmoth didn't dissappoint. A beautifully made neck, clearly made with quality maple and rosewood here, well worth the investment and wait time to ensure this would be a guitar for life for it's owner and my customer. As with any neck though, they still need a nudge over the finish line to be the very best it can be. So I set to work rolling and shaping the fingerboard edges for the comfortable, custom made feel. Dressing and shaping the fret ends, carrying out a full level, crown and polish, installing the correct Fender branded Gotoh Japan left handed tuners, as well as hand making the bone top nut. Here are some photos from that process -
With the bulk of the neck prep done, I could do some final alignment checks and a hardware mock-up before the body heads off for paint.
Speaking of hardware, I'd be using the same USA Fender bridge that they use on the modern production run Fender signature model. Which is a nice, weighty feeling hardtail block saddle bridge. I custom cut a LH pickguard, and from my stock wired up a genuine Seymour Duncan Invader in white, alongside my own pre-wired Delonge spec volume pot kit, in true LH/Reverse audio taper spec too!
Then onto a quick mock-up with the pickguard and bridge baseplate mounted up too. Always nice to iron out any alignment queries at this stage before paint.
I was happy with everything, so it was time to send the body off for paint. I am lucky to have developed a list of people I admire and trust to work with for this kind of thing. So opted to send the body off to Thomas Giles of 'Regent Guitars' in Wales, who was kind enough to take the job on for me. I opted for Thomas as he's familiar with the TD signature model, so getting the right shade of Surf Green wasn't a worry, and doing a really nice modern finish would be a breeze.
Thomas did, as expected, a truly lovely job. Really pleased with the colour, and of course the overall finish quality. A perfect addition to this quality based build!
So it was time for me to get stuck into the assembly process.
First up, applying the copper foil shielding to the control cavities. Although a humbucker equipped guitar, so in theory should run pretty quiet in regards to 60 cycle hum. Seeing as it's a from scratch project, I'd rather do this kind of thing now, whilst it's easier.
With the cavities done, it was time to prep for the pickguard. Here I mount up the bridge plate, and adjust the pickguard position until I'm happy with alignment around the outer edges of the contours and the bridge cutout.
I always opt to countersink any wood screw holes on a painted finish. This really helps reduce the risk of chip out when installing wood screws, and also helps prevent any lacquer checking lines coming from stress points like these. All well worth doing in my opinion to end up with a quality end result.
Same process again with the neck bolt holes, which are particularly common stress points under screw tension.
Then onto strap button alignment. Here I ultilise my body templates for a reliable centre line.
It was then time to install the string ferrules. Due to the painting process, there is a build up of finish and polish inside these holes, so it's worth taking the time to clean these out and ensure a consistent hole size for when you press in the ferrules, to reduce stress on the finish and wood too.
Now time to prep for the bridge ground and continuity between the cavity sections
To ensure good contact against the bridge plate, I apply a small square of copper shielding to where the bridge baseplate will sit, then feed through a length of 22awg tinned copper wire to sandwich against that and the bridge once mounted.
I must say, after multiple alignment checks etc, it felt nice to finally mount the saddles up to the bridge baseplate once and for all!
The other end of the bridge ground wire could simply be soldered to the main control cavity copper foil, as in turn, that will come into contact with the volume pot via the continuity provided throughout.
But still worth ensuring it is working as intended via the multi-meter.
Time for the pickguard final mounting!
Then onto soldering the jack and mounting the jack plate
Last step for me prior to mounting the neck to the body was doing a little final clean up of the painted/finished edge. It is completely enevitable that there will be a little build up on the painted edge on neck pockets. Leaving this as is, could mean that once tightening the neck up into the pocket, it is a stress point and could crack, split or chip the paint around it. Definitely not worth that at the final stages of assembly! So a careful clean up with a blade and flat edge sanding sheet for a smooth, clean edge.
With that all done, it was time to mount the neck and get stuck into setup! Firstly, I just strung it up, gradually brought it up to tension and left it there for a few days before making any adjustments. It needs to be at tension comfortably before making setup adjustments really, but it was truly lovely to see it all together for the first time.
Voila! A seriously nicely spec'd and put together left handed TD strat build! Here's some more detailed photos for you to hopefully enjoy -
Final build specs -
Body
- Custom 'Guitar Build' UK made left handed Stratocaster body.
3 piece Alder, traditional 6mm roundover route with arm and belly contours. Single bridge humbucker body route, hardtail bridge string through.
- Finished in Surf Green by Regent Guitars
Neck
- Custom Warmoth USA made licensed large Pre-CBS headstock left handed neck.
Maple with Indian Rosewood fingerboard, ‘clay’ style off-white dot markers. 6105 fretwire, 21 frets. 10”-16” compound radius fingerboard. Finished in clear satin nitro lacquer. Rolled fingerboard edges, fret end dress. Fingerboard conditioned with MusicNomad F-One oil and Monty’s ‘Instrument Food’ wax.
- Custom laser etched ‘TOM’ alien neckplate w/Gotoh neck plate screws
- Fender (manufactured by Gotoh) left handed traditional 6 in line tuners
- Fender American Standard hardtail strat bridge
- Gotoh chrome string ferrules
- Fender string tree
- Hand made bone top nut
- Gotoh traditional strap buttons
- Fender jack-plate
- Home of Tone Signature series pre-wired ‘Delonge’ spec CTS left handed audio taper 500k volume pot w/treble bleed mod. Wired with Gavitt 22awg USA cloth wire and a Pure Tone multi contact jack socket
- UK custom made left handed white pearloid pickguard
- Seymour Duncan Invader pickup
- Control cavity lined with copper foil shielding
- Chrome flat top knurled control knob
- Rotosound 10-52 strings
A fun project all in all! Really pleased with how it turned out.
James