NGD "El Diablo"

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RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Frets: 13929
edited January 2017 in Guitar
This just arrived. Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Heavy Relic "El Diablo" Strat.

The neck feels great, sleek and really comfortable, love the jumbo frets, it's a light body and making me want to play. I haven't plugged it in yet.

I wanted something to compliment my R8 and AV52 and also look different and fancied a bit of wear...well I got that.

Looks will be marmite for some I'm sure, I'm going to restring it, tweak setup and plug it in and see how it sounds.









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Comments

  • Philly_QPhilly_Q Frets: 22516
    edited January 2017

    Excellent choice!  I like those a lot, quite similar to the Ancho Poblano model from a year or two ago but with a 10/56 V neck rather than the Nocaster profile.

    So that's where your £2,500 went. :) 

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  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Frets: 13929
    yep


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  • blueskunkblueskunk Frets: 2867
    Fackin Awesome guitar mate. Well done. Suitably jealous :)
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  • blueskunkblueskunk Frets: 2867
    Never seen a scratchplate like that. Cool as fook 
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  • Lovely that.
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  • proggyproggy Frets: 5827
    Love it. It looks as comforting as a well worn pair of old shoes.
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  • StrangefanStrangefan Frets: 5845
    Two and a half thousand pounds for that, are you sure you didn't find it in a canal somewhere? you sir are mental.... Brilliant :D
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  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Frets: 13929
    Two and a half thousand pounds for that, are you sure you didn't find it in a canal somewhere? you sir are mental.... Brilliant :D
    Pretty much what my wife said. Restrung, tweaked set up and plugged in, it's sounds good. I did clean off the brown coffee stain they apply either side of the frets, it just wipes off. I don't know why Fender Custom Shop do this on maple neck relics, I guess it's meant to represent dirt built up over many years. Also, the nut is cut a little higher that some custom shops which is good, I have played many where there is some open string rattle when plucked hard, and with the jumbo frets it's good to see this isn;t the case here. All case candy was present and correct and I got he Cruz Tools tool kit as well, which I wasn't expecting, I already have one and use it a lot.

    The pickups are a little warmer sounding than some, I believe they are wound a little hotter which adds a bit more mid range, which I like a lot on a Strat. The greasebucket circuit on the treble pickup tone control is interesting, especially on higher gain sounds, it makes rolling off the tone a bit different to a regular tone control, rolling the control takes highs away but doesn't lose any volume at all. I like to roll the tone off on a Strat bridge pickup with gain to fatten it but it can bet goofy quickly if you go too far and this circuit works to help give a subtle enhancement to that nicely and gives a bit more usable range on the tone control.

    All in all, it plays and sound great, and I wanted a Strat that looked different and would be a real contrast from my AV52 Tele and R8 Les Paul. They feel like showroom new now by comparison, while the El Diablo Strat is like a worn pair of jeans.

    Bonus is that if I fancy it looking like a more traditional Strat I could always fit an aged white scratch plate and it would look more like an old '56, but I'm happy with the aluminium for now.

    I had forgotten how great a good Strat is. There is just something about that pickup position 2 (bridge/middle) with an amp set to a hint of grit and a nice delay. I don't think any other guitar does that in between sound quite like a real Strat.

    All good.



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  • LebarqueLebarque Frets: 3755
    Beautiful, congrats
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