The guitar that started my passion for building.......

[MichaelW]

I built my first partscaster somewhere around 1989-1990.

I'm sure I've told the story before about ordering parts out of paper catalogs heh....with a written order form! (Stew Mac and Warmoth)

Well I just got an email today about Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music/David Gilmour/801) opening a Reverb Shop and selling some of his gear.

I was a huge Phil Manzanera fan, especially of his work with Brian Eno in the short lived group "801".

Back than he was playing a Levinson Blade strat that I totally lusted after. I was also making $11/hr back then building boats and no way I could afford a Levinson.
So I decided to try to build one, and thus my first Warmoth short scale strat was born.

It's a bit surreal looking at pics of that guitar now........

Levinson Blade Stratocaster 1980s Owned by Phil Manzanera | Reverb

This Levinson Blade Stratocaster 1980s is owned by Phil Manzanera This is a beautiful guitar to play with a really fast neck and light body. It has excellent sounding Levinson Single Coils. This guitar has seen lots of use since the '80, evident through buckle-wear on the back and a few minor ...

reverb.com

 

[Cvoxdog]

Phil Manzanera is the coolest. We should invite him over to this forum.

 

[HamishR]

I've always wondered a short scale Strat would sound like. Most of my favourite guitars have 24.6' or 24 3/4" scales - Gretsches and Gibsons. I even discovered that I prefer acoustics with the shorter scale. They have more chunk to the sound or something.

So how does a short scale Strat compared to a regular 25 1/2" scale Strat?

 

[MichaelW]

I've always wondered a short scale Strat would sound like. Most of my favourite guitars have 25.6' or 24 3/4" scales - Gretsches and Gibsons. I even discovered that I prefer acoustics with the shorter scale. They have more chunk to the sound or something.

So how does a short scale Strat compared to a regular 25 1/2" scale Strat?

It depends on the pickups. The "sound" is less difference than you would think. But it "feels" different.