Ramona, CA, United States
About this listing
Dave Murray Tribute Black '57 StratocasterWeighs 7.9 lbs.Hand built in San Diego County by Del Mar LutherieFree pro setup - $100 valueSee below for details.Available cases:Gig bag, $39Fender heavy duty FE1225 gig bag, $99Fender TSA approved hard case, $189Fender premium hard shell case, made in USA by G&G, black, $209This guitar will not ship with a case unless you add one to your order. Description: Fender produced a guitar like this from 2009 to 2014 as an Artist Series, and they sold for around $3000. We wanted to make a similar guitar using all high quality parts, but make it more accessible to Iron Maiden fans. What you see is the result. It's our tribute to Dave Murray's legendary 1957 Strat. History: Mr. Murray's original black 1957 Stratocaster was owned by the late Free guitarist Paul Kossoff. Mr. Murray recounts, "I bought it in 1976. I saw it advertised in Melody Maker, (and) got the serial number to check it was [Kossoff's] guitar. It cost quite a bit of money but I didn't care. I just sold everything I had so I could get it, and I used it from then on. It just felt like I was holding a piece of magic because he had used this guitar." Mr. Murray added a pair of DiMarzio humbuckers and the rest is Rock N Roll History!Dave Murray used his '57 Strat on the following albums and tours! The black '57 was Mr. Murray's main guitar from 1978 to 1988, and used on the classic Iron Maiden albums and tours. Iron Maiden (1980)Killers (1981)The Number of the Beast (1982)Piece of Mind (1983)Powerslave (1984)Somewhere in Time (1986)Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)Made in USA: We built this guitar by hand in our San Diego, California guitar shop. So it is made in USA. Almost all guitars, even Gibson and Fender USA have parts sourced from all over the world. That's a fact of our global economy. This guitar is no different. When we build guitars, we are always asking how we can give our customers the most bang for their buck, so we source high value parts that meet the specs we are after. Body: The body is made from 1.75" thick kiln-dried solid alder blank, which is precision CNC machined to exacting USA specs using a 1963 Fender body as the template. It's routed for HSH pickups then hand sanded. Next it's hand-painted in a dust free professional paint facility then hand buffed to a high luster. Neck: Fender has two versions of the neck we wanted. One made in Mexico and one in USA. Both are made by CNC machines with Fender quality control and both are of excellent quality. Since we've found no appreciable difference in quality, but one costs twice as much, we went for the more affordable version, so we could pass the savings to our customers. The neck is a Fender Classic Series '50s. It's built to 1950's specs and features the soft V profile. It's very similar in look and feel to Mr. Murray's 1957 neck. We checked the frets for level, and gave them a good polish. We also rounded over the fingerboard to give it a more played in feel. Pickups: The amazing tone comes from the pickups. We use DiMarzio like Mr. Murray - DiMarzio Super Distortion DP100 in the bridge and a PAF DP103 in the neck. We use an Alnico Strat single coil in the middle position. It's wound a little hotter than standard and is a good match for the humbuckers. Added versatility: Mr. Murray’s Strat had a three-way switch. We upgraded ours to a five-way switch and added a push-pull volume knob that splits the humbuckers and puts them into single-coil mode.. With these upgrades, you get a bunch more versatility while preserving the look and sound of Mr. Murray’s guitar. The DiMarzios sound wonderful split, so you get all the traditional Strat sounds too. Pickup combinations:Single coil mode:1. Neck single coil2. Neck and middle single coils3. Middle single coil4. Middle and bridge single coils5. Bridge single coilHumbucker mode:6. Neck humbucker 7. Neck humbucker and middle single coil8. Middle single coil and bridge humbucker9. Bridge humbuckerNumber six of six: This is the sixth we’ve built. The first five are with happy clients who love the sound, playability and build quality. Here's what our clients say about their DML Dave Murray:"Absolutely 100% love this guitar""Plays and sounds awesome""Amazing guitar""Doctor Ts Tone Factory was so awesome to buy from""Rivals any custom shop guitar that I have played""Outstanding quality!" "Will definitely be buying another one very soon" "Highly recommended!"Luthier's Measurements:Weight: 7.9 lbsNut width: 1.66”Neck width at 12th Fret: 2.02”Neck thickness at 1st fret: 0.83”Neck thickness at 12th fret: 0.87”Action (high e): 0.050"Action (low E): 0.060"Neck pickup DCR: 7.6k OhmsMiddle pickup DCR: 6.4k OhmsBridge pickup DCR: 13.6k OhmsFret condition: New 10/10Truss rod: Turns easilyCosmetic condition: ExcellentFunctional condition: ExcellentPlayability: Easy to play. Low actionSound: ExcellentOverall condition: ExcellentFeatures and Specs:Body wood: Alder Body finish: Black glossNeck: Fender Classic Series '50sBody contours: Belly cut and forearm contourBody routing: HSHNeck wood: MapleNeck profile: Soft VNeck joint: Standard bolt onNeck plate: Chrome Fretboard wood: Maple Fret size: NarrowNumber of frets: 21Fingerboard radius: 9.5” Scale: 25.5"Truss rod: Vintage style, adjust at heelNeck pickup: DiMarzio DP103 PAF Middle pickup: Alnico V single coilBridge pickup: DiMarzio DP100 Super DistortionPickup rings: ChromeSwitch: Fender five-way switch with black tipVolume pot: 500k audio taper with push-pull coil splitTone 1 pot: CTS 500k (neck and bridge)Tone 2 pot: CTS 250k (middle pickup) Knobs: Fender aged whiteTailpiece: Fender vintage style tremoloTuners: Fender vintage style slotted tunersPickguard: 50's 8-hole, single plyJack plate: Fender chrome Output jack: Switchcraft #11 Strap buttons: Fender/Schaller strap lock buttonsAbout Del Mar Lutherie: We’re a small shop in San Diego County, California, and part of the local guitar community (Fender, Taylor, Carvin/Kiesel). We build custom electric guitars and vintage-style, hand-wired tube amps. We also buy, sell and trade vintage and used gear. Our owner is a guitar enthusiast, wood worker and professional engineer and designer by training.Del Mar Lutherie Guitars: We've built over 150 custom guitars in the last few years and our clients have been extremely pleased. We use high-quality parts and a cost-effective production approach to provide our clients a lot of value for their dollar.Why buy from us? Our clients have peace of mind knowing they’re buying from an established and highly rated professional shop. We've been doing this type of work since 1999 and have thousands of happy customers. We pride ourselves in providing best-in-class, personalized service for each client. We are a Reverb Preferred Seller, and our approval rating is close to 100%. Dr. T’s Professional Inspection and Setup: You may find a similar guitar at a lower price, but ours may still be the better value as we include our professional inspection and setup ($100 to $150 value). Many new guitars, even high-priced ones, benefit very much from a professional setup. With over 25 years in the industry, we’re convinced that a good setup is the single most important investment to improve the playability and sound of your guitar. Here’s what in entails. We go through our 66-point inspection check-list and make sure everything is right at each step. We remove the strings and tighten and set the drag on the tuners. We inspect and polish the frets, clean and oil the fingerboard, restring, tune to pitch and set the relief, action and intonation. We then play each fret and check for fret buzz and fret-outs during bends, and we fine-tune as required. Next, we test the electronics, tighten pots and jacks and balance the pickups. Occasionally, we find a fault with the electronics, so we dig in and fix that. Once the electronics are tip top, we play the guitar to make sure everything is right. Finally, we clean and polish, then slacken the stings to get it ready for shipping.String Gauges and Settings: We do our setups using common string gauges and settings, which we've found work well for most players. For electrics, we use 9-42 gauge strings for Fender (25.5") scale guitars and 10-46 for Gibson (24.75") scale guitars. We set action to 0.050 on the high e side and 0.060 on the low E side. This action is fairly low and allows for easy fretting without buzzing or sacrificing tone. If you have special preferences, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you.Fine Tuning Adjustments: Your guitar will be playing and sounding wonderful when we finish our setup. However, occasionally minor adjustments will be needed after shipping due to changes in temperature and/or humidity, rough handling or other unfavorable conditions. Since we have no control over this, we cannot cover the cost of these adjustments. However, if your guitar was mishandled during shipping, please let us know, so we can see if a shipping claim is in order. Sometimes it’s possible to get you a partial refund to help cover issues if we can show that they were caused by shipping.Standard of Care: We strive to meet our clients’ expectations and want you to be happy with your purchase. Our DML brand of guitars are hand-built one at a time, not mass produced in an ISO9001 factory. We go through an extensive in-house quality control process to make sure they look, play and sound wonderful. That said, they will have artifacts that are consistent with the hand-built process. We know our process is good, because, our clients have been extremely pleased with our guitars. However, we understand that there are a few people out there that want a guitar that is “perfect” or “flawless”. If you are one of those people, we advise you to buy locally so you can inspect it closely in person. We do not guarantee that our guitars will be cosmetically flawless, and we don’t accept returns or give partial refunds due to minor cosmetic imperfections.Shipping: We ship guitars via UPS ground. The fee shown includes shipping within the contiguous USA with insurance. It also includes packaging materials and our time to pack up and drop off at UPS. For guitars, shipping costs are controlled by box size and insurance is based on value. Your guitar will ship without a case, unless one is described as included in the listing or you add one to your order. If you decline to add a case, we will pack your guitar well with bubble wrap and other padding and ship it in a sturdy guitar box. However, if you want your guitar to have even better protection, we encourage you to add a hard case to your order. See below for details.Cases: There are many benefits when you buy a case from us; we have good prices, we make sure your guitar fits, we offer free shipping on the case (when combined with a guitar) and we ship your guitar inside the case for better protection. Each year, we see a small number of guitars arrive with damage caused by mishandling during shipping. However, when shipped inside a hard case, the incidence of damage is almost zero. See the top of the listing or inquire for options.Delivery Time: We do our best to get your guitar setup, boxed and shipped as soon as possible. However, sometimes this can take a few days depending on our workload and other factors. Once UPS receives your guitar, they will estimate a delivery date, which you can access via Reverb. UPS will typically deliver your guitar within 2 to 7 business days after they receive it, depending on your distance from Southern California. If you're in a hurry, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you, or at least we can advise you of the estimated wait, so you can decide if you need to make other arrangements.Damage Claims: Although rare, guitars sometimes are damaged during shipping. If you receive a guitar that is damaged, please let us know immediately so we can open a claim. Save your box and packaging material, as the shipper may ask to see photos of those.Returns and Canceled Orders: We are a small business and can’t afford to offer free returns like the big guys. There is a lot of time, effort and cost involved with pulling your guitar from inventory, setting it up, packing and shipping it. Please make sure you want the guitar before you commit to buy. If we agree to a return, you will be responsible for shipping (both ways) and a restocking fee to cover our time.Trades: We are a professional guitar business. Anything we take on trade, we resell. To make sense for us, we can only offer wholesale value, which is typically 40% to 60% of what it would sell for on Reverb. This is usually as good or better than Guitar Center. If you’re OK with this, please send current photos of your gear. We need brand, model, year, and condition. Note any mods, repairs or other issues. If your guitar includes a case or bag, send photos of that as well. Once we have this info, we can give you an estimate of trade in value. If you agree, next you would bring or send us your guitar. We will provide your credit once we receive your gear and confirm its condition. You can apply your credit to anything we have for sale in our shop.
Price$1,979
+ $105 Shipping
