Often times when you are building, there’s something that sparks your inspiration. It’s the catalyst that sets you off in a direction with a goal, a shining “north star” for your building aspirations. Sometimes, it comes to you. But sometimes you need a little nudge.
I’m starting out a new series here called “Build an Iconic Guitar“. In every installment, I’ll be supplying the blueprint for building the guitar of your dreams, but on a budget that most can afford. I’ll be linking directly to the parts and pieces that you’ll need to build each guitar across many sites including eBay, Amazon, Reverb, and Guitar Center.
Let’s build a guitar!
For this first post, it’s only fitting that I walk you through how to build Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Number One” Stratocaster.
My own personal guitar playing journey exploded when I saw a recording of SRV’s second visit to Austin City Limits. Picture a young (me, awkward, pale, a bit on the thick side) glued to the 19″ TV in the living room, completely entranced entranced throughout the entirety of the show. Every string bend, tremolo, lick, and riff. I had never heard guitar playing quite like it before. In case you haven’t yet seen this historic performance, here’s a sneak peek of one of my favorite songs from it, “Cold Shot”:
Amazing, I know!
Anyhow, back to the story. While SRV had many different guitars, his favorite was the Fender Stratocaster. And of all his Strats, his favorite was the one he is shown playing above. He named it “Number One” and referred to it as “The Wife”.
And he played the snot out of it. Literally, beat it to shreds. His aggressive playing style required that he have a guitar tech make repairs regularly. He had frets and tremolo bars replaced. He had the bridge replaced with a left-handed one (to more closely emulate they playing of his idol: Jimi Hendrix).
Stevie got “Number One” second hand, it was already worn to an extent (though most of that damage was inflicted by SRV himself). He acquired it from Ray Henning’s Heart of Texas Music. A little known fact is that this guitar’s first owner was also a famous musician – Christopher Cross, who traded it into the shop in favor of a Les Paul.
So, what is Number One?
She is an old parted-together Fender American Stratocaster made from a ’63 body, ’62 neck, and ’59 pickups. The original is now part of rock and roll history, it sits in a museum and is priceless.
We’re going to piece one together here for right around $1,000.
And here’s all the parts you need to do that.
The Body
The start to most of my builds is the body. From what I know, Fender used Alder as the wood for most solid body guitars in the early 60’s (with the exception of lighter colored guitars, it’s said they used Swamp Ash for those). Finding an Alder body isn’t hard, that wood is still frequently used in guitar making today.
Fender actually still makes these bodies to spec. To get one at a reasonable price, I’d recommend going with a Mexican-made body – $249.99 on eBay:
Fender Classic Series 60’s Stratocaster® SSS Alder Body Vintage Bridge Mount, 3-Color Sunburst
The Neck
For this one, you’ll want a that classic 60’s headstock and a nice C-shaped neck.
Again, Fender does continue to manufacture these to this day. And again, going with a Mexican-made option will help you on the price point. $299.99 on eBay. The only thing I’d recommend here is swapping the synthetic nut out for a bone nut:
Fender Classic Series 60’s Stratocaster Neck
(Note – this neck has a Pao Ferro fingerboard. SRV’s has a Rosewood fingerboard. To get that as an option you’ll need to shell out a few *a lot of* extra bucks. Remember, we’re building this one on a budget ;))
The Pickups
To get that classic blues crunch that Stevie Ray Vaughan was so famous for, you’ll want to get as close to original 1959’s as you can get.
Fender makes “Pure Vintage” series pickups that are built the same way, with the same materials as they were back in the day. I’d pick up a set of these in a flash for $199.99 on Amazon:
Fender Pure Vintage 59 Stratocaster Pickup Set
The Bridge
Like I mentioned earlier, SRV swapped out the bridge on his guitar. He actually swapped out all the hardware opting for gold over nickel. But the bridge swap was particularly interesting given he (or probably his tech) had to re-route the tremolo block opening so that a left-handed bridge would fit there. If you look closely at pictures of “Number One”, you can see the wood plug covering up the space left from the right-handed route. In any case, we’re not going to be that ambitious for this build. Let’s just pop in a right-handed bridge to fit in the slot. This Fender Pure Vintage Gold Block Tremolo System is perfect for the job. It even includes a gold string tree to match what Stevie has on his! $127 on Amazon:
Genuine Fender Pure Vintage Gold Block Stratocaster Tremolo Bridge
Tuning Machines
Keeping with the golden vibe here, now’s the time to grab yourself some quality gold tuning machines. The tuners on SRV’s axe were gold with pearl knobs. Here is a great Fender-made replica set for a steal at $57 on Amazon:
Fender 0990846200 DLX CAST/SEALED GTR TUNING MACHINES W/PEARL BUTTONS
The Volume/Tone Pots and Selector Switch
I’m going to say something here that could send some folks flying off the deep end *cue ominous dramatic music*: New pots are fine.
There, I said it.
Now that that’s out of the way, there’s probably a good argument for the quality of the old pots as it relates to the taper and timbre, but vintage pre-CBS Fender pots will likely be upwards of $1,200 for a matched pair. That is ridiculous to me. Especially for a build on a budget. For the money, dust off your soldering iron and grab this wiring kit off of Amazon for $37:
Deluxe Wiring Kit for Fender Strat – .047 Cap – Stratocaster
The Pickguard
Nothing fancy here, just a bonafide 3-ply black Stratocaster Pickguard. Get one with shielding on the back of it to minimize buzz. This one here is a great option for $12 on Amazon:
KAISH 11 Hole ST/Strat Style Pickguard SSS Pick Guard for USA/Mexico Stratocaster/Strat Black 3 Ply
OR… You could pickup a replica with the “SRV” initials already engraved for $29 on Amazon.
The Rest of the Hardware
To complete this build, you’ll need to grab a few extra, small pieces of hardware:
- Pickguard screws – $4.99 on Amazon (Go with Fender brand, they last longer than the no-names)
- Gold jack plate – $9.89 on Amazon
- Gold output jack – $7.99 on Amazon (DEFINITELY get the multi-contact option it has much better connection with your cable and eliminates buzz caused by loose connections)
- Gold strap buttons – $8.79 on Amazon
There you have it, your shiny, brand new SRV “Number One” replica. This build clocked in at $1,014.63 and we used mostly Fender branded parts. You’ll be able to find parts out there that are cheaper at places like GuitarFetish.com, but I’ve found that the pieces don’t fit together as well if they are all mix-matched.
The next step is to really give it that aged look by relic-ing the heck out of it. Although, once you have this together, you’re probably not going to want to do anything but play it.
Happy building!
