2023 Del Mar Lutherie Surfcaster Strat Lake Placid Blue - Made in USA

2023 Del Mar Lutherie Surfcaster Strat
Hand built in California, USA
Weighs 7.8 lbs

Available cases:

• Fender Gig Bag, $49
• Rectangular Wood Hard Shell Case, black, $119
• Rectangular Wood Hard Shell Case, tweed, $139
• Fender molded case, $179
• Fender rectangular deluxe case by G&G brown or black, $219

Cases:  We price our guitars without cases since many people don't need one. But, if you want a case, we can add one. See above for options.

Includes our professional setup - $80 value.
See below for details.  

About Del Mar Lutherie
Del Mar Lutherie has been building custom guitars since 2004.
All guitars are hand-built one at a time by our head luthier using high quality parts.

Custom Builds
If you don't see exactly what you want, please inquire. We might be able to modify one of our existing builds to meet your needs. If not, we would be happy to do a custom build for you. Keep in mind that turn-around time will be longer on a custom build.

Del Mar Lutherie - Surfcaster Guitars
We've sold over a dozen of these and our clients have been extremely pleased. Some have commented that they like them better than factory built American Strats. We use high quality parts and a cost effective production approach to provide our clients a lot of value for their dollar.

Bodies are 1.75" thick in alder or ash and routed for HSH to allow for future possibilities. They are built to exact 1963 Stratocaster body specs using a 1963 Fender Strat as the template. Each body is hand-sanded, hand painted, hand polished to a glossy finish.

Necks are hard maple with a two-way truss rod and a medium C profile.
Fingerboards are maple or rosewood and have 12" radius and 22 medium jumbo frets.
Frets are leveled, crowned and polished by hand.

Pickups: The great tone comes from a set of vintage style single coil pickups with Alnico V magnets and enameled copper wire. They sound like Strats from the 50's and 60's but a little hotter. Output is clear and balanced. DC resistance is 7.8k for the neck pickup, 8.0k for the middle pickup and 8.3k for the bridge pickup for balanced sound.  Pole spacing is 48, 50 and 52 mm for better alignment with the strings. The middle pickup is reverse wound, reverse polarity (RWRP) for noise cancelling in positions 2 and 4.

Hardware: We like Fender tuners and bridges which we've found to be of excellent quality and a great value for money.

Electronics: We use top quality electronics with Fender or Oak Grigsby 5-way switches, CTS pots, metalized film tone caps and Switchcraft jacks. We include treble bleed circuits as standard to preserve high-end tone even when your volume is turned down. We use 22 gauge solid copper hook up wire.

Pricing:

• Lake Placid Blue, Rosewood fretboard, $699
• Sonic Blue, Rosewood fretboard, SOLD
• Inca Silver Metallic, Hard Tail, Maple fretboard, SOLD
• Burgundy Mist Metallic, Rosewood fretboard, SOLD
• Fiesta Red, Rosewood fretboard, SOLD
• Aztec Gold, Rosewood fretboard, SOLD
• Sherwood Green, Maple fretboard, SOLD
• Surf Green, Tinted neck, Maple fretboard, SOLD
• Surf Green, Rosewood fretboard, Mint pickguard, black pickups, SOLD
• Olympic White, Rosewood fretboard, Abalone inlays. SOLD
• Mary Kaye White, Ash body, Rosewood fretboard, Abalone inlays. SOLD
• Seafoam Green, Ebony fretboard, Abalone inlays. SOLD

Features and Specs:

• Model: Surfcaster
• Build shop: Del Mar Lutherie, California, USA
• Body shape: Strat style
• Body type: Solid body
• Body wood: Alder
• Body contours: Belly cut, forearm contour
• Body finish: Gloss
• Neck wood: Maple
• Neck shape: Medium C profile
• Scale: 25.5"
• Neck joint: Bolt on
• Nut material: Synthetic bone
• Nut width: 1.65" (42 mm)
• Fretboard wood: Rosewood
• Fretboard radius: 12"
• Fretboard inlays: White dots
• Frets: Medium jumbo
• No. of Frets: 22
• Neck pickup: Alnico V single coil, 7.8k Ohms, 48 mm pole spacing
• Middle pickup: Alnico V single coil, 8.0k Ohms, 50 mm pole spacing, RWRP for hum cancelling
• Bridge pickup: Alnico V single coil, 8.3k Ohms, 52 mm pole spacing
• Controls: Master volume, tone 1 for neck and middle, tone 2 for bridge pickup
• Switch: Oak Grigsby Five-way blade
• Other: Treble bleed circuit
• Bridge: Fender vintage style synchronized tremolo
• Saddles: Fender stamped steel
• Tuners: Fender staggered and locking
• Hardware: Chrome

Dr. T’s Professional Setup.
You may find a similar instrument listed at a lower price, but ours may still be the better value as we include our professional inspection and setup.  With over 20 years in the industry, we’re convinced that a good setup is the single most important investment that can be made to improve the playability and sound of a guitar.  We inspect the guitar and address any issues.  Next, we remove the strings, clean the guitar, and tighten and set the drag on the tuning keys.  We inspect the frets, and level, crown and polish as required.  We clean and oil the fingerboard, restring, tune to pitch and set the neck relief, action and intonation.  We then play each fret and check for fret buzz and fret-outs during string bends, and we fine tune as required.  Next, we test the electronics, tighten pots and jacks and balance the pickups.  Lastly, we play the guitar to make sure everything is just right. 

Standard of Care:  We make every effort to meet our clients’ expectations and want you to be pleased with your guitar.  Our Del Mar Lutherie guitars are hand built one at a time, not mass produced in a factory. As hand built instruments, they sometimes have artifacts that some people might view as cosmetic "imperfections".  If you want a guitar in "perfect" or “flawless” condition, we advise you to buy locally so you can inspect it closely in person.   We cannot guarantee that our guitars will be cosmetically flawless.   We do not accept returns or give partial credit on guitars that have the smallest cosmetic imperfections that are only noticeable upon close inspection. Thank you.