Waiting for my Southern Belle Guitar

The story...

David Allen introduced Morgan Mitcham, who runs Southern Belle Guitars and, she only uses David Allen's pickups, what in fact means that Morgan cares about tone.

I don't usually buy luthier's guitars, since they have no value if you think that you could resell them later. But, I am thinking on the specifications of my dreamed guitar since long time ago. After testing several guitars of any kind, now I knew what I wanted and, unfortunately isn't in the market at a reasonable price. Therefore, this was a golden opportunity to have my dreamed guitar at a reasonable price.

Well, I've watched the very few videos where you can hear a Southern Belle Guitar sounding and, I loved the sound and sustain of such guitars, and very specially, the sound of a Tele Cabronita, with a couple of David Allen's Rebels (Fitertones). So, I thought that if she could build my guitar with such a big tone, I would be fully satisfied and, probably the seek for my number one guitar will finish.

I was in contact with Morgan to check if my specifications were feasible and, since they were, I've ordered the guitar. David is providing me a set of Furys (think on Robin Trower) for that axe, which I expect will work for my personal style.


My Specifications

But... what I wanted?.
I wanted, basically a Stratocaster but, with some twists.

The body should have some carving or beveling on the area of the neck's pocket, to allow a better access to lower frets. Morgan show me some body model that had such a beveling but, without altering the classic look of a Strato. First smile.

The neck should have a soft-V profile, with a maple fretboard and compound radius, starting on 9.5", as any regular modern Strato. No issues?. Nice, second smile.

Tuning Keys should be auto-locking staggered ones. No issues?. Awesome, third smile.
This is one of the things I love in the Deluxe Strato.

Bone nut, please. Right.

I want the Deluxe floating bridge and tremolo bar. No problem.
This is the second thing I love in the Deluxe Strato.

I want Pearl pickguard and strings cover. No problem.

I want black knobs and pickups covers. No problem.

I want her painted in Cherry Sunburst. No problem.

I want to wire it following my own Wiring Design. No problem.

Please, I want not the Micro-Tilt system. No problem.
This is one of the two things I hate in Deluxe Strato.


Building process

It took a long while but, the good things take longer times so...
Here you can see some pictures about how she was taking her final look.

First, Morgan was focused on the neck...

Then, it was the turn to paint the body...

Yeeees!. That's the look I wanted. Beautiful!.

Working on the wiring. This is how it would look, more or less...

Aha!. This is exactly the look I wanted. Perfect!.

She's coming and, I am counting the days to put my hands on this beauty.
I will make some demo video of the guitar, once the final setup is made and, everything goes as expected.