A dream come true: 1972 Fender Strat ala Joe Holmes

EddyLenz

Well-known member
Finally got this thing up and running smoothly!

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Ever since I learned about Joe Holmes, I've wanted a Strat similar to one of his.
I had my 2010 Custom Shop Strat modded with a Floyd Rose a few years ago because of it, and enjoyed that guitar a lot.
Despite that, a real 70s Strat was still constantly on my mind.

A few months ago, I finally decided to try and make it happen. I sold two of my amps and was extremely lucky to find this beauty online from Kitarakuu in Finland.
It was exactly what I was looking for. A heavily worn early 70s alder Strat in sunburst with a maple neck.

Then it took a while to get it modded to the right specs.

- Now it has a compound radius with 6000 fret wire and an added 22nd fret
- Removed lacquer on the back of the neck
- Floyd Rose original
- An old Jackson J-80 (which a super nice guy from the US sent me after I was looking for one for a long time lol)
- DiMarzio Virtual Solo in the neck
- The 3 bolt neck was modded with a 4 bolt plate
- Only a single volume control straight to the jack

I played it through my current Joe Holmes rig (which will hopefully get an upgrade around Christmas as well) and a 87 JCM800 2204 rebuild that I finished this week (might tweak it some more though...)
Hope you enjoy!
 
Awesome.

I have a 73 Strat back in the 80's and it was cool. The neck is super small for my hands though. Ended up selling it in 1989 to a buyer for Yngwie at the NY Guitar show.
 
Awesome.

I have a 73 Strat back in the 80's and it was cool. The neck is super small for my hands though. Ended up selling it in 1989 to a buyer for Yngwie at the NY Guitar show.
Nice!
This one has a pretty thick neck which I love. When I go from it to the CS one it feels really weird haha
 
I’m so used to the relics that the forearm wear looks like it was created, which is weird. Not that it looks weird, very much the opposite. Such a great project and well executed - how do you even go about adding a 22nd fret?. There’s enough space,
presumably. Sounds stellar btw.
 
Nice find; congrats! It's great to see a REAL relic; not the faked/contrived 'new' relics....to each their own but genuine relic is much cooler. I recently found an 83 Schecter Van Nuys made super strat with some sweet au natural relic. Got nice finish checking and flaking.
 
Nice!
This one has a pretty thick neck which I love. When I go from it to the CS one it feels really weird haha
Back in the &0’s I actually got another neck for mine… it was super thick. So much so that I had to use 11’s to get it to set right. I got rid of it fast.

Anyway, your guitar is really badass. Glad to see you enjoying it. Post more pics of it. 👍
 
I’m so used to the relics that the forearm wear looks like it was created, which is weird. Not that it looks weird, very much the opposite. Such a great project and well executed - how do you even go about adding a 22nd fret?. There’s enough space,
presumably. Sounds stellar btw.
Thanks! Yeah, it's crazy how much this thing must have been played. I asked the store if they knew if it was genuine wear and they said yes. Seeing it in person also confirms that haha. Even the poly lacquer on the neck was worn off on the edges and some places on the fretboard.
I think he carved out the part upward of the 21st fret and then glued on a piece of wood.
 
Nice find; congrats! It's great to see a REAL relic; not the faked/contrived 'new' relics....to each their own but genuine relic is much cooler. I recently found an 83 Schecter Van Nuys made super strat with some sweet au natural relic. Got nice finish checking and flaking.
Thanks! Yeah, natural relic really is something else... The finish checking on this one is also insane when you see it upclose
 
Back in the &0’s I actually got another neck for mine… it was super thick. So much so that I had to use 11’s to get it to set right. I got rid of it fast.

Anyway, your guitar is really badass. Glad to see you enjoying it. Post more pics of it. 👍
I'll make some more pics today!
Damn, I would've gotten rid of it was well.
 
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