New free strat/modded strat day

So I was idly browsing guitar websites one day in work, when the girl beside me saw and started talking about guitars. She said she had a guitar that she bought to hang at home as a decoration (!), but she didn't want it anymore, and that I could have it if I wanted it. Free guitar? Yes please!

So here's what I got.



SSS Strat copy. "Commodore"? never heard of them. Don't like the shiny plastic blue, and the pickguard is thick 1 ply white.

Naturally, the first thing I did was take it home and rip it apart. Neck pocket is Fender spec, and pickguard is close enough to a US strat. Neck is satin and feels good in the hand. Nice start.

Pots are small and scratchy, tuners are cheap, frets are a bit sharp.

I don't want to spend too much on this, but I have a vision of what my strat should look like. Dark grey matt body and matching headstock. Black 3 ply pickguard, 3 Tele knobs, chrome covered humbuckers. I also had the old bridge and trem stuff from my Modern Player Marauder (that I replaced with a Mustang Bridge & Trem) that - while not high end - were better than what came with the guitar.

2 cans of Auto paint from Halfords (Volvo Dark Grey 228), new black pickguard, 3 Tele knobs and the cheapest chrome covered humbuckers I could find (from Custom World Guitar Parts. Got a custom decal done up by Rothko & Frost. And here's how it all came out:



The finish is matt, with no lacquer on it. I like it. I'll upgrade the tuners, pots and wiring at some point. But for now, average looking free strat becomes nice looking cheap strat. It was a lot of fun planning and doing. And it doesn't play or sound too bad either.