The StratoPaul

Custom-built Cherry Burst “StratoPaul”

I designed this one from a desire to combine the best features of a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Les Paul in one guitar.

• Cherry Burst Stratocaster body, alder.
• Gibson-style bolt on neck, rosewood on mahogany, wine red finish.
• Aged white pearloid pickguard custom cut for my own switching scheme/design/setup.
• Bridge Pickup: DiMarzio Fast Track II
• Middle Pickup: DiMarzio Cruiser
• Neck Pickup: GFS Hotrails

The Pickups are all single-coil sized humbuckers.

• Independent three way Toggle switches for each pickup instead of the standard 5-way Strat blade switch, allowing more than 20 different pickup combinations. The switch settings are: Up — Humbucker (like a Les Paul), Middle — Off, Down — Single coil (Like a Stratocaster).
• Arcade-style momentary kill switch.
• Gold Wilkinson 5+1 hole trem with full-sized brass block
• Gold hardware
• Custom etched gold neckplate

The pickups are fantastic. The DiMarzio Fast Track II is a growling rock machine. Clean or dirty, the Cruiser is such a smooth musical pickup. They both split very nicely (humbuckers have two coils, so splitting them turns one coil off to sound like a Strat-style single-coil pickup).

The big surprise, for me, is GFS Hotrails in the neck. It sounds as beautiful as a boutique pickup, very mellow and sweet sounding, matching really well with the DiMarzios. It also splits great.