Best Of Both Worlds?

Turns out that Warmoth makes pickguards for their products -- and the price ain't bad -- so I had them make one to go with the doubleneck body, which I found online in what used to be called their "Thrift Shop" section (now more honestly called the "Showcase") of extant bodies and necks.

Projects like this one are indeed expensive -- often more so than planned -- in both money and time. But what I got was an instrument with four voices, unique capabilities, and one helluva stage presence -- for roughly the cost of a higher-end Strat with case.

It helps to do the homework and put some time into working out exactly what you want the instrument to be and do before you get intocreating it, and to exercise patience while it emerges from the "dream" realm. After cooking this idea (and gathering components) for about a year, I bought the body in early 2003. When it became clear that the project was beyond my abilities to do correctly by myself, I took it to a pro for finishing, wiring, assembly, and setup. The instrument took until March 2004 to realize fully, partly because circumstances cropped up (some tragic) that were outside my luthier's control. But we kept up a careful exchange of ideas throughout, and it paid off. Aside from the guitar necks and hardware (which came from recent Mex Standard Fender models), the project did include some special expenses:
- hard-gloss natural finish
- installation of the Baggs X-Bridge piezo trem I'd bought for this project (it fit the American-spec trem rout and added a wanted capability)
- purchase, installation, and wiring of the stacked pots (outer rings are bass volume and tone, inner knobs are Strat volume and tone, rear knob is X-Bridge volume)
- purchase and wiring of switches (rear mini-switch is a 3-way selector for bass pickups; front mini-switch chooses either the Strat neck or the bass neck)
- conversion of the Standard Jazz Bass neck to fretless with maple fretlines (the Standard Fretless I bought from you won me over)
- installation and wiring of Duncan Basslines and American Standard Strat pickups provided by my luthier
- semipermanent installation of the Roland GK-2a synth pickup I already had
- fine-tuning and balancing of the assembled instrument
- (yet to come, from an online source) a custom-built Anvil-type case
Thanks to all that work by Tom's Guitar Repair in Indianapolis, the results are exactly what I had in mind, and then some. Although the double-size solid body naturally darkens the overall sound a little (not a problem for the bass), I can use the piezo to dial in exactly as much guitar brightness as I need. The American Strat pickups balance electrically with the X-Bridge -- you just tweak their respective volume knobs -- so well that it doesn't need a preamp (that's a capability often advertised for the X-Bridge, and it delivers on this instrument). By itself, the piezo gives me a very Ovation-esque acoustic sound, and if I add a little clean bass response from the Strat magnetic pickups in Selector Position 4 (neck and middle), it'll do anything from folk to jazz with clarity and balance.

Crank the Strat, and it will rock out with no effort. Mainly to control resonance, we used a 2-way neck-selector switch (either bass or guitar), but it doesn't affect the independent GK2a circuit. With that unit set on guitar-and-synth and the neck selector set on Bass, I can alternate phrases on bass and guitar-synth. Even so, no human creation is perfect: When I broke one guitar string (the G) on this lovely critter at a Wild Mercy gig in October, the ball end lodged in the trem and could not be easily replaced during our set. No matter how wonderful the instrument, ya gotta take a backup axe when you play out. This creature (which I call "2Gee" for "Two Giraffes," which is what I look like when I play it standing up -- I'm 6'9") is probably still evolving, but its present capabilities will keep me busy for years to come (even with the time saved when you can practice guitar or bass at the flick of a switch).

Shucks, I just wanted an unusual Strat. This one qualifies. Glad to share the enjoyment with those who share my irrational enthusiasm <grin>.