mutt Strats or Teles -- who's got 'em?

No actual Strats here, a couple of Teles. Main one I'm playing these days is a Bill Lawrence Swampkaster Thinline, patterned after the '69 Thinline. I think mine's better than most Fenders.

 

A MIM HSS Strat with Duncans, S-1 switch and a Original Hot Rod Floyd Rose. 1 vol and 1 tone.

 

I'm building a mutt HSS strat with a scalloped board from Jackson pieces. Gotta get back to that soon.

 

For >35 years I've owned this Yamaha SE-200, which was a cheap entry level semi-Strat clone that I subsequently "upgraded" with LSR tuners, a graphite nut, a Schaller bridge, and Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails pickups. Great sounding guitar, and it made its way onto a lot of studio recordings over those many years.



But a year or two ago I realized that the neck had developed an uncurable twist and it was no longer playable. Time to retire it. Since I loved those Duncan pickups, the plan was to salvage them and put them into some new guitar. Decided that since I've always wanted a Tele I'd pursue that platform. Called up Warmoth and had them custom build an all-Padauk Telecaster body rear-routed for three Strat pickups, and an all Padauk Telecaster neck with ebony fingerboard and stainless steel frets. Bought another Schaller bridge (in black this time) and Schaller tuners.
Here's a mock up before the electronics got installed:



Full disclosure: ^^^that pic was taken just before the pandemic got crazy, and I have made zero progress on completing that guitar ever since! The parts are all still sitting in my closet, waiting for me to have some time to finish up the project. I suck.

 

My 2004 Strat isn't much of a Frankenstein, but I have replaced the stock pickups with Lace Hot Golds, including the overwound bridge pickup. These pickups are fantastic, and might actually cut through too much, which is odd to contemplate as a bassist. My other electric guitar is the Comanche (2015), which was Leo Fender's final take on the Strat format. In a sense, it's Leo's Frankenstein Strat, what with the Z-coil pickups, passive bass control, and expander switch that allows neck+bridge or all three pickups. It's a great guitar, but for whatever reason actual Fenders seem to sound better through my Deluxe Reverb Tone Master amp, both my Strat and others I've tested in shops.