Building a Scalloped Neck SuperStrat! - This Thing SCREAMS! 

Tip: When you drill into a finished body, put a piece of masking tape on the finish where you are going to drill. Greatly reduces the chances of cracking. Ask me how I know.

13:41 People who drive Honda Civics at 3am

While you were doing tone tests I loved that you were laughing a bit and smiling. It’s easy to tell you’re doing what you love

This guitar is much easier to play on than I anticipated! VIDEO SECTIONS: 1. The Build 2. Dirty Tones - 13:28 3. One Minute Solo - 16:17 4. Clean Tones - 17:22 5. Final Thoughts - 18:29 Enjoy!

That has got to be one of your best achievements yet, and it's only the beginning of year man. Cheers, and this has only gotten me more excited for what's to come!

that actually really inspires me to make one on my own

In instruction - Darrell: "Screw everything down" In practice - Me: "Screw everything up"

I have an '84 MIJ Squier Bullet Strat, loaded with Darkmoon pups/Obsidian Wire electronics and a '90 Indian Squier II Strat, loaded with Fender Custom Shop pups/Obsidian Wire electronics (toneblender circuit) because of your channel. Best decision ever! I also have a '18 Squier Deluxe, again because of your channel, bone stock. It really needs some setup work - I may get a Vegatrem while I'm at it. Your builds and enthusiasm are contagious - keep it up!

13:41 i thought you were gonna play Kickstart my heart

16:18 sounded like a Mega Man stage 😂

Sweet Build! Still a fan of the 80s Fender's. Purchased my first New Guitar which was an 83 Stratocaster. Still plays great!! Concur the Necks are Great.... Also very underrated guitars. Nice build 👍 Enjoy my friend!

Darrell, while it takes more time, a hand-operated drill (like a Yankee Push Drill) will almost ensure you don't crack the finish, etc. when drilling your holes.

Just use an awl to make a mini dimple in the paint before you start to drill new holes, it will prevent the drill bit from wandering.

Love the way you document everything from sourcing to final thoughts. After watching your several builds, I have decided to build my very first full partscaster and your videos helped me a lot in sourcing all the parts! Who needs a Suhr when you have Darrell Braun Guitar?:D

“Unfortunately I’ve already started to “relic” the body” hahaha ain’t that the way it goes

Great build! Pickups sound awesome and I love the Vega UltraTrem bridge!

That’s awesome!!! These builds keep getting better and better, and they’re my favorite ones to watch. Keep on keepin’ on man!

Wow, sounds amazing and so many tonal options! Can’t wait to see what else you have coming for 2020 😁

Hey Darrell,great job on the Super Strat!!!!... you are spot on with that 80s sound.

Darrell, this is one of the best builds you've done. What a fun guitar!

I really enjoyed this process! Thank you for such a great mini series

This thing is sick. I'd love to do a Warmoth strat build w/ a blank headstock and get my name custom engraved onto it, so it's kinda like "my brand" guitar

Darrell, your build videos are probably my favorite YT content. Thanks!

Now I know how Mick Mars got that opening to Kickstart My Heart. Lol fabulous build and tones. You got a winner there

I think you’ll have massive fun with it. Loved the two vids. Thanks for showing this. Now I want to build one.

I just wanted to say thank you for such an Awesome channel on here and that your an inspiration to me as an Awesome player!! Your guitar builds and upgrades that you do are so phenomenal and inspiring to me!! Thank you so much Darrell

Great video as always Darrell! I'm a child of the 80's and loved this build. Keep up the great work. God bless and rock on!

Great video. I’m really digging the sound of those pickups.

That thing is stunning and we can all see the joy you are feeling playing it!

Thanks again, Darrell!! Good info!

Always awesome to see a new video Darrell!

Completely agree with you on the neck profile - I got an 80s Japanese 'contemporary' strat a few years ago and it's one of my favourite guitars to play.

Love watching your builds! Sounds great!

Great video, so much fun to watch. Vega trem looks awesome.

Fantastic Job DARRELL! Just Beautiful! 🎸🤘🎸

Darrell, Just a tip on securing your output jack; put a drop or 2 of Loctite thread -locker ( light Blue) (not the Green color fluid) on the threads before you put the nut on and that will keep the nut from coming loose from any vibration . and the nut can be easily removed if need arises to replace the output jack On the guitar it looks awesome and the flames on the HH's is a killer (love it) plus tone is really good on the bridge Humbucker. The guitar is like a Chevy Pickup Truck, everybody loves a red one.. Excellent choice on the Vega Trem and the Obsidian Electronics. Great start for 2020!

I've been waiting for this 😍😍 Nice strat🎸

Warmoth bodies are second to none. They're excellent, however, anytime I've had to pair up a Warmoth body, with a Fender (USA) neck, I've always had to use a StewMac .025 full neck shim, to get the bridge saddles up high enough, to get a good tone, and keep the height adjustment screws, so they're not sticking out too much. I'm self-admittedly a Gibson guy, so I guess I want a bit more neck/body angle. Great build, Darrell. 👍

I really enjoy your channel Darrell. Love the builds the whole thing. So much fun. Keep it up

The white knobs look great the contrast with the black pickguard pulls the colors together, a nice touch!

I’m watching! Thanks Darrell! Your Channel is really awesome.

You and I have tastes in guitars/parts that are miles apart. That being said, your videos are awesome and I always enjoy your pleasant attitude and demeanor

Fantastic job! Possibly the best sounding guitar I've heard you play!

A couple of things some folks may or may not find helpful and/or useful... or not: First, waaaaaaay back in the day (sometime back in the mid-70s,) somebody who was writing one of the monthly articles for Guitar Player Magazine mentioned that because the Strat’s output jack is recessed, he often had difficulty removing and inserting the cable quickly while swapping guitars during live shows. Not that it’s a particularly hard task to accomplish at home or rehearsals, just that he sometimes ruined cables while yanking frantically on them before trading one guitar off to his roadie in exchange for the next one. His solution was to invert the mounting plate so that it stands up above the top, instead of being recessed into it. Even after nearly 56 years of playing guitar I’m still not famous and have no insanely pressing need to “hot swap” axes between playing my 20 Top Ten hits for my adoring fans, so it wasn’t a problem for me then or now. However, I did try it for a short while to see if there was much benefit. I suppose it could be helpful to some players, but anyone who places a lot of importance on the “look” of their Strat-style guitar may have the one drawback he also mentioned: the reverse side of the output jack mounting plate of most Strats aren’t usually as smooth and shiny as the factory installed side. Most gold plated ones tend to look pretty good, but a lot of the chrome ones aren’t even very shiny, sometimes. If you think it’s for you, try it! Second: Whenever I drill multiple holes into something that MUST NOT MOVE until ALL of the holes are drilled, I can usually count on it moving at some point - even sometimes when I have it well taped down with painters tape. To avoid that, I first tape the (let’s say it’s a pickguard not unlike the one for which you drilled holes in this video,) pickguard down. Then I plan to drill the first two holes which are physically located furthest apart, and sort of “diagonally opposed,” in a way. In the case of this scalloped Strat’s guard, it would be the hole at the far end of the control cavity by the rearmost pot, along with the hole at the bass side of the neck pocket. Actually, any two holes on opposite sides of the pickguard will do. I’ll drill one or the other first, then, before drilling the second hole, I would insert a screw into the first hole and screw It down, just snug, and enough to prevent the pickguard from sliding around. Let’s say I selected and drilled the hole for the one by the neck pocket, and screwed It down nice and snug. Next, while holding the pickguard down firmly, even though it’s still taped down too, I’ll make sure the alignment is correct, then drill the second hole at the one where the pickguard covers the control cavity, at the very end of the rounded “tail” of the pickguard. At this point, the two screws are more or less at the top right and bottom left holes, with both tightened snugly. From there, it’s a simple matter to drill the rest of the holes, either inserting screws as I go, or just drilling them all, since the two I chose first should hold the pickguard firmly in place while I finish drilling the rest. However, with my luck the way it is, I’d keep inserting them as I go - I need all the help I can get! 😂 I know this is a pretty long comment, bordering on *excessively* long in some opinions, but when I make suggestions in public about modifying what can easily be the prized possessions of a LOT of people, I try to be as thorough as possible. If you’ve made it this far, I hope you found at least one of these to be helpful or useful. Cheers!!

Another great build, really fun, nice job!

It turned out great, the color is amazing, and the Vega trem is really good, nice one Darrell

Looks and sounds awesome! I have a super strat with a Warmouth body slowly taking shape. Thanks for this video and ideas.

Excellent classic DBG material. Keep this stuff coming.

Looks great, sounds amazing. Great build!

Never built a guitar but I've built other stuff snd I totally feel you on the sweating bullets. Especially when you knowyou have essentially one try to get something right.

Feel a bit speechless... what a great review and what a fantastic guitar with beautifull tones. I showed this video to a friend at work and now e also wants to start to learn about guitars. I think that every videos of yours can motivate enough for others to want to start with guitars as well! Thank you!

My new favorite build, it looks amazing, sounds amazing, and you look so happy while your playing it😂, great video!!!!

Dude what a beautiful guitar. Peace love and blessings from Alberta.

The Most enjoyable tone test I've heard in a long time, especially 13:40.

Reminds me of a mix of Kickstart my heart, eruption, you really got me😂😂😂

DBG...you've outdone yourself here. Thanks for the video.

Next thing that strat needs is a "Flux Capacitor" Doc Brown's "Flux Capacitor" would take that guitar to another dimension or at least back to the late 80s!

Looks like you had just about as much fun as you anticipated when the parts arrived. I agree about the neck - a little tricky, but not as much trouble as you anticipated, and the guitar looks great. Well done!

I love these videos and it helped me alot as when I started guitar I didn't know how anything worked and what was what and I learned that through your build videos thanks darrell

Nice guitar . Been watching for while great videos . Your voice is very easy on the ears .

Awesome build!!!

Fun Stuff...Great Job! Tim n Tina

It’s nice to hear some more of your playing. You can really shred!

Damn! Those pickups sound amazing

I don't think you have another thumbnail with you that happy. Awesome to see you enjoying what you do. Happy new years mate

Nice Looking Guitar !!! Thanks for step by step Build Vid!!!! Super Helpful I might change my Wilkingson trem

The Obsidian products are really good. I re-wired a Squire Strat with some new pups and it was a snap, plus now it has higher quality pots and tone control for the bridge pickup.

This is pretty amazing.

What a beast! Wow!! Congrats!

Looks like a great build . Thank you

Nice demo, liked everything, Specially the whammy bar.

Beautiful build. Awesome axe. Makes me wanna build one. Keep it up.

Sounds and looks great!

Nice build Darrell,very neat and sodderless wiring to boot never seen the Vega trem interesting sounds killer and great playing,Cheers fellow Canuck.

Darrell you are the worlds nicest man !!! A hell of a guitar player and I really enjoy your channel !!! One of my Favorites for sure

I havent looked in a while...holy smokes your studio is fayaa

Awesome video as always mate, and love that guitar

Love the idea of a floating trem in a standard sized cavity. Makes me think even I could do this build!

WOW! That guitar is amazing! The tones blow me away! I want one with that exact pickup, electronics and tremolo. I would go for a different color scheme and don't need the scalloped neck, but other than that it's awesome! I'm gonna bookmark this and I may upgrade my Strat with that pickguard setup and trem.

Strandberg and Aristides, Darrell. I really wish you could demo some of those, you are one of the most objective and entertaining reviewers on RU-vid, would love your take.

Great looking and sounding guitar. I don't have a Vega Trem, but I use only 2 springs as well. I much prefer the softer feel, and I don't have any trem tuning issues with that setup. Perfect way to start the New Year with a red hot Strat. Congrats on the cool build!

I love the custom logo on the Humbuckers! 🙂

The smile on your face around 13:50 ish is PRICELESS! Way to go bro!!

It sounds really good.

Beautiful Guitar, the pickups cover is a nice touch

It's sound like a custom shop strat. In my opinion it is your best built so far. Greetings from Poland!

Okay, I’ve been following and watching your channel for the past 2 months; it’s inspired my poor-ass to get a squire and deck it out with high end parts at cheap prices. The build is amazing for me and I couldn’t be happier. But dude... i gotta say, you got a lot of skill with that demo 👀👀👀

Always got a huge smile while talking... Onya Darrell

Awesome !!!

Oh man that is great guitar, you help me found the tone that i was looking for. Thank you :) PS. I LOVE 80's rock !

Lots of sounds in those picks... Cool.

Wow. That looks like a beast

When Darrel started playing clean, I was half expecting Hot for Teacher where Eddie Van Halen switches off the gain and does those little bluesy licks. Awesome as always Darrel!

sounds and looks great

Thanks for doing a minute of clean tones, even if this is not a guitar you'd necessary choose to play clean. :^) It's always appreciated!

Nice one D! You built a Great Guitar!

The star of the video was definitely the Vega trem. No locking nut installed yet and it still held tune! 👍🏻

I like the new studio ! Looks great

Love it! Looks great, bridge humbucker a monster, VegaTrem the best trem ever. Cool neck, Mr Malmsteen!

Ok I take back what I said in the previous video. Those pickups are freaking incredible and this build.... This should be a production build. Love it.