Smashed AXL strat, customized with 2001 Standard Strat as donor vehicle

[jdean074]

Gonna start off by saying I have wanted to do a reverse head strat since I was a kid, because Jimi. The upside down headstock looks like a shark fin to me or something. That, and I'm always looking to flip twist & distort most of my guitars in some way -- I dig the "huh?!?" factor 😃

One time my buddy smashed a sunburst AXL Player Deluxe strat onstage at the end of a show. Few days later he offers me the bleeding carcass, in case I could use anything off of it. Stripped it down and the parts were mostly eh, save for the pickups. They say "AXL designed by EMG" on white solid covers and they sound like Lace Sensors!!! Made in Korea, super unique pickup set that I was going to use for this build, but ended up in another guitar. Neck was toast, split up the skunk stripe. Body split right in two and was hanging on by a couple fiber strands, but never quite broke off totally. I was looking at this one day last fall and figured I could probably just glue it back together, so I did. Tried a random Squier neck on it and played with no electronics for a couple days to see if intonation and tuning stability were ok, and it showed no issue even with trem use! So away we go!!!



I had this high-dea one day, something I've never seen before. Decided to tape off comp stripes in the sunburst body and paint over it, so the stripes show the burst!! Went with Gracey's Nitro in Sonic Blue. It was inspired by those wicked two-tone relic paint jobs.

Set out for a neck at this point. Found a two-fer deal a couple hours away in Pittsburgh and landed two lefty Squiers, a 2001 Standard and 2014 Affinity. I gave the Std some Dick Dale playing while in original left-handed configuration. Staggered pole alnico pups and 500 pots from the Standard sound juicy and amazing!!! So I just flopped the whole stock harness into a cheap mint green guard (it screams MIIINT) with Jimi-flipped bridge pickup slot. Decided against the sweet AXL pups, going full vintage on this one. Staggered pups seems to require some adjustment in the picking hand I'm learning. The switch is flipped the right way but I did not account for left-handed pots!! Makes me chuckle every time I turn the volume the wrong way. May change if I get sick of it but for now it just adds to the left-hand vibe. White graphtech string trees for the halibut.

Anyway, I'm extremely happy with how it came out. Hopefully this will be one of my lifetime ""keeper"" strats. It's all a left-handed '01 Standard, save for the body, pickguard and 6-screw bridge. There are a few buzzies to work out but after five patient months I am loving this thing, as you only can when you apply your own touch! Photos without further ado!!



Flash shows the grain in the 'burst a little better:



Wrapped the stripes around the sides & back too, why not!!


And no 'by Fender' on this Squier badge -- it's not ashamed of its identity!!

 

[DougMen]

I had the MIM Hendrix Strat in black, and the reverse stagger PV 65 pickups were some of the best ever, and the reverse angled bridge pickup was cool too. But, I couldn't get used to the reverse headstock, and everyone here knows I much prefer a RW or IL board to a maple neck. I sold it, but maybe I should have just put a RW board Mexican Standard neck on it. The RW board neck from my Fernandes LE2 was too wide to fit the neck pocket, but the neck from my Burgundy Mist CV 60s Strat fit perfectly, even the holes lined up just right. But, it had the BM painted headstock, and, surprisingly, I didn't like the way it sounded as much as the stock maple neck. That kinda gave me a bad taste in my mouth about putting a different neck on it, and I felt that it would be hit and miss as to whether I liked it or not.

 

[jdean074]

Right on! The Jimi sig is the guitar I was trying to emulate. Got to noticing that I stuck the bridge pickup in there backwards from the other two. But for now I don't care.

Didn't know they made a burg mist CV with matching headstock. Just looked it up, that is one choice colorway!!

I made a post in the Tech-talk section and it was recommended for this one to fill the holes w toothpicks & woodglue and re-drill. Holes were nowhere close. Was nervous to do so but it worked out fine.

Some may be surprised to learn that I completely eyeballed the process of drilling the neck. I was feeling froggy and figured worst case Ontario, I'll just do the picks & glue and drill again. Situated the neck in the cavity flush as I could with the body, said a lil prayer to Jimi Kurt & Dick, hoping that they would smile on me and my humble tribute offering to them. Well, it worked out just fine I'm pleased to report. Ended up using a couple picks as shims in there. I dunno, tell me if I'm off my rocker here, but I think since the neck screws aren't in there perfectly straight (it's pretty good though, screw heads sit flush) it seems like there is this 'pulling' effect going on between the neck/body, that joint is SOLID. Neck loose in pocket with screws taken out, but hopefully that makes up for it.

Here's the only bit that was missing from the smash event. As mentioned, the body split in half almost right up the middle. Cmon man, Kurt knew how to do it right -- Gotta slack the strings and neck screws first!!! The dude said the venue was pissed at him too, because he put a crack in the floor of the stage with this showing. 😆😆😆 Anyone got an idea for how to fill this? Take neck off, tape w masking tape, fill w baking soda and super glue??? Wish I'da thought of that before painting!

 

[DougMen]

Right on! The Jimi sig is the guitar I was trying to emulate. Got to noticing that I stuck the bridge pickup in there backwards from the other two. But for now I don't care.

Didn't know they made a burg mist CV with matching headstock. Just looked it up, that is one choice colorway!!

I made a post in the Tech-talk section and it was recommended for this one to fill the holes w toothpicks & woodglue and re-drill. Holes were nowhere close. Was nervous to do so but it worked out fine.

Some may be surprised to learn that I completely eyeballed the process of drilling the neck. I was feeling froggy and figured worst case Ontario, I'll just do the picks & glue and drill again. Situated the neck in the cavity flush as I could with the body, said a lil prayer to Jimi Kurt & Dick, hoping that they would smile on me and my humble tribute offering to them. Well, it worked out just fine I'm pleased to report. Ended up using a couple picks as shims in there. I dunno, tell me if I'm off my rocker here, but I think since the neck screws aren't in there perfectly straight (it's pretty good though, screw heads sit flush) it seems like there is this 'pulling' effect going on between the neck/body, that joint is SOLID. Neck loose in pocket with screws taken out, but hopefully that makes up for it.

Here's the only bit that was missing from the smash event. As mentioned, the body split in half almost right up the middle. Cmon man, Kurt knew how to do it right -- Gotta slack the strings and neck screws first!!! The dude said the venue was pissed at him too, because he put a crack in the floor of the stage with this showing. 😆😆😆

When smashing guitars at the end of every gig became Pete Townsend's signature move, he had to switch to SGs, because he said he could cut a Marshall 412 cab in half with a Strat and it wouldn't even go out of tune. You can see from Jimi at Monterey that about all you can do to a Strat is tear the neck off, unless you set it on fire! Jim Marshall had to cut Pete off when he kept coming back all the time for more amps and cabs, and he told Pete he wouldn't let him have any more until he paid for the ones he'd already destroyed, lol.

 

[jdean074]

Hahahahhaha that is amazing!!! Great account that I haven't heard, thank you DM

 

[DougMen]

Right on! The Jimi sig is the guitar I was trying to emulate. Got to noticing that I stuck the bridge pickup in there backwards from the other two. But for now I don't care.

Didn't know they made a burg mist CV with matching headstock. Just looked it up, that is one choice colorway!!

I made a post in the Tech-talk section and it was recommended for this one to fill the holes w toothpicks & woodglue and re-drill. Holes were nowhere close. Was nervous to do so but it worked out fine.

Some may be surprised to learn that I completely eyeballed the process of drilling the neck. I was feeling froggy and figured worst case Ontario, I'll just do the picks & glue and drill again. Situated the neck in the cavity flush as I could with the body, said a lil prayer to Jimi Kurt & Dick, hoping that they would smile on me and my humble tribute offering to them. Well, it worked out just fine I'm pleased to report. Ended up using a couple picks as shims in there. I dunno, tell me if I'm off my rocker here, but I think since the neck screws aren't in there perfectly straight (it's pretty good though, screw heads sit flush) it seems like there is this 'pulling' effect going on between the neck/body, that joint is SOLID. Neck loose in pocket with screws taken out, but hopefully that makes up for it.

Here's the only bit that was missing from the smash event. As mentioned, the body split in half almost right up the middle. Cmon man, Kurt knew how to do it right -- Gotta slack the strings and neck screws first!!! The dude said the venue was pissed at him too, because he put a crack in the floor of the stage with this showing. 😆😆😆 Anyone got an idea for how to fill this? Take neck off, tape w masking tape, fill w baking soda and super glue??? Wish I'da thought of that before painting!
View attachment 257598

Don't worry about it, 'cause it's not going anywhere. I'd just paint over it with some fingernail polish the same color, or closest you can find. That's how I make dings less noticeable. It's not perfect, and you still see the blob of nail polish, but whenever I do it, it looks good enough to not bother me anymore.

 

[Higgins1980]

The sunburst racing stripes with the blue looks really sharp.

 

[AxelMorisson]

Gonna start off by saying I have wanted to do a reverse head strat since I was a kid, because Jimi. The upside down headstock looks like a shark fin to me or something. That, and I'm always looking to flip twist & distort most of my guitars in some way -- I dig the "huh?!?" factor 😃

One time my buddy smashed a sunburst AXL Player Deluxe strat onstage at the end of a show. Few days later he offers me the bleeding carcass, in case I could use anything off of it. Stripped it down and the parts were mostly eh, save for the pickups. They say "AXL designed by EMG" on white solid covers and they sound like Lace Sensors!!! Made in Korea, super unique pickup set that I was going to use for this build, but ended up in another guitar. Neck was toast, split up the skunk stripe. Body split right in two and was hanging on by a couple fiber strands, but never quite broke off totally. I was looking at this one day last fall and figured I could probably just glue it back together, so I did. Tried a random Squier neck on it and played with no electronics for a couple days to see if intonation and tuning stability were ok, and it showed no issue even with trem use! So away we go!!!

View attachment 257578

I had this high-dea one day, something I've never seen before. Decided to tape off comp stripes in the sunburst body and paint over it, so the stripes show the burst!! Went with Gracey's Nitro in Sonic Blue. It was inspired by those wicked two-tone relic paint jobs.

Set out for a neck at this point. Found a two-fer deal a couple hours away in Pittsburgh and landed two lefty Squiers, a 2001 Standard and 2014 Affinity. I gave the Std some Dick Dale playing while in original left-handed configuration. Staggered pole alnico pups and 500 pots from the Standard sound juicy and amazing!!! So I just flopped the whole stock harness into a cheap mint green guard (it screams MIIINT) with Jimi-flipped bridge pickup slot. Decided against the sweet AXL pups, going full vintage on this one. Staggered pups seems to require some adjustment in the picking hand I'm learning. The switch is flipped the right way but I did not account for left-handed pots!! Makes me chuckle every time I turn the volume the wrong way. May change if I get sick of it but for now it just adds to the left-hand vibe. White graphtech string trees for the halibut.

Anyway, I'm extremely happy with how it came out. Hopefully this will be one of my lifetime ""keeper"" strats. It's all a left-handed '01 Standard, save for the body, pickguard and 6-screw bridge. There are a few buzzies to work out but after five patient months I am loving this thing, as you only can when you apply your own touch! Photos without further ado!!

View attachment 257579

Flash shows the grain in the 'burst a little better:
View attachment 257580

View attachment 257581
Wrapped the stripes around the sides & back too, why not!!

View attachment 257583
And no 'by Fender' on this Squier badge -- it's not ashamed of its identity!!

Nice save! And for the missing bit. How about a bit of carving? Real wood or plywood ... and then a lot of filing and some white wood glue , then give it the same treatment as the rest of the body- would be fine and you can't see what's under the paint anyway...
PS : be creative- start with a Popsicle stick or some ice cream stick.... cut it in half and then stack the pieces ,glue and clamp them, then carve. Any pocket knife would do. That is a good hardwood that works well- usually some sort of bamboo but can be ash or birch...

 

[jdean074]

Thanx @Higgins1980 . As opposed to the gold strat, this paint job is my best one to date!! 10/10 would recommend Gracey's nitro cans. It's a $40 can of spray paint, and you need base as well as clear, but it's a joy to work with. Very forgiving and dries quick and HARD. The real deal vintage-spec stuff in the proper vintage colors.

 

[Robb]

Them stripes are GREAT and you did a fine job !

 

[dbrian66]

I am also impressed with the sunburst stripes. I would never had thought of doing that, but it looks amazing. Nice work on the whole build!

 

[jdean074]

Thanx for showing love homies -- My hope one day is to cook the collection down to a handful of lifers, each with my own personal touch!! 😄😄😄