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| I originally purchased this guitar as a fully handmade custom Stratocaster®, which was made by esteemed Australian luthier Gerard Gilet in approximately 1991. This Strat® had been extremely well cared for, and was in stunning condition. Its one previous owner purchased the guitar in 1991 through Harmony Music in Liverpool, Sydney, who sold Gilets by special order. He had originally gone in to buy a Fender, but the shop owner, Brian Felix, let him play his own Gilet, which convinced the customer to order this Stratocaster. The guitar had a 2-piece American Alder
body with nitrocellulose sunburst finish, a STUNNING, chunky vintage-style
D profile Birdseye Maple neck with a slab Rosewood board, and vintage-style
tuners, tremolo, and early Kinman pickups. This guitar was light at just
3.2kg (bang on 7 pounds) and it came in its original black tolex case. However, after a couple of years of ownership I decided to replace the original pickguard, which had cracked, and I then discovered the original body was routed out for humbuckers in the neck and bridge positions, and also for a Floyd Rose tremolo. There was also a repaired crack in the timber between the tremolo and bridge pickup routs, so I decided to purchase another high-quality body to mate with the stunning neck, which is without doubt my favourite of any Strat neck I have played, having a lovely vintage chunkiness to it. It also looks stunning! I eventually decided to indulge in one of my favourite Stratocaster custom colours, Sonic Blue, and ordered a genuine American Fender Custom Shop '60 NOS Stratocaster Body, in Select Alder (just 4 lbs, 2 oz) with 'Thin-Skin"' Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish. This body was made in 2011. The result is stunning. Pickups are 'Primitive Parts' handwound '54 spec Alnico 3 pickups custom made by a fellow in the USA when Grouse Guitars was still trading (back in about 2009), but I haven't seen any more of his products since then. I love the truly vintage sound. This is a long-term privately-owned instrument, and is not for sale.
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