Here are my Stratocasters. From left to right:
A custom built Ed Beaver Stratocaster. I call her Tempest, after Tempest Storm, the stripper. Ash body, birdseye maple neck with a technically and mathematically infinite radius, which I decided to do after a conversation with Mark Easterling, a guitar bad-ass who has all his guitars set up this way. Gotoh 1088TW tremelo bridge, Planet Waves auto-clipping tuners. P/up's: They're all made by Rio Grande, but have different flavors: Stelly (bridge), Halfbreed (middle) and a Vintage Texas Tallboy (neck). This guitar was the first Ed Beaver I owned.
The second guitar is basically a stock Fender Stratocaster. She's named Bettie, after Bettie Page.
(Hmm... there's a pattern going on with these names. Put on your tinfoil hats.) It's got Rio Grande Vintage Texas Tallboy Pickups and the only other things that are not stock are the tuners, which are Sperzels, I put on some Graphtech saddles, and the pickguard. I also took out the tone pots to get a purer tone, but I ended up wiring one back in because I got too much high end. This guitar has been through a lot. I bought it new @ Guitar Center in Hollywood, CA in 1999 for $799.=, and took it to Memphis, TN to play the blues and anything else that made money. She has flown across stages, through a window (my bad), spent time on a grill (drunk fratboy's bad) and has been used as defensive weapon. I love playing this guitar. It's got a cool vibe and she'll occasionally let me do some Eddy Shaver inspired stuff.
The guitar on the right is Kreosote, another Ed Beaver custom guitar. I am actually not quite sure what the body is made out of, but it's wood for sure. Maple neck with an ebony fretboard, Planet Waves auto-clipping tuners. Hardtail bridge. P/ups: Bartonlini PBF50 (bridge) and a Bartolini PBF-47 (neck). These are some of the coolest humbuckers I've heared. Punchy yet clear. Ed wired the pickups so that when the tone pots are all the way open, you actually ground out a coil, creating a single-coil pickup. The Bartolini's actually sound like true single-coils when the coil is tapped.
You can't really see it, but Kreosote has tons of burn marks on the head stock after she was put to use as a fireworks launching device during a gig @ Lake Martin in Alabama. It burnt and melted the plastic on the tuners. I've been out of tune since.
