Partscaster Fender Stratocaster with Fender Custom Shop Texas Special Pickups, Mighty Mite, CTS, Sprague, GraphTech

I originally built this Partscaster back in 2020 but have continuously modified it since. Although this is a partscaster, the ONLY parts on it that are not certified Fender parts are the body, nut, and bridge; The body is made by Mighty Mite, who does have licensing from Fender to make Fender-certified body reproductions. The nut is a TUSQ nut. The bridge itself is a Gotoh Traditional Tremolo Strat bridge with 2-7/32 in spacing. The neck, tuners, string trees, strap buttons, pickguard, pickups, potentiometers, capacitors, 5-way switch, knobs, output jack, and jack plate are all Fender-certified parts. The guitar has normal, minor scratches from normal but careful use.

The wiring is a Buhr Electronics Stratocaster Wiring Kit. From Buhr:

• CTS 450G 250 kΩ Audio Taper Pots 24-Spline Split Shaft
• Oak-Grigsby 5-Way Blade Switch
• Mallory 150 .047 µF Polyester Film Tone Capacitor

Wiring configuration base on Traditional Stratocaster Specs with a Master Volume and Neck and Middle Tone Controls.

Standard Positions as follows:

• Neck w/ Neck Tone Control
• Neck & Middle w/ Neck or Middle Tone Control
• Middle w/ Middle Tone Control
• Middle & Bridge w/ Middle Tone Control
• Bridge w/ NO Tone Control

Price Breakdown for Partscaster Build:

Mighty Mite Swamp Ash Body 203.00

Fender Powerhouse (MIM) Neck  208.56

Fender Texas Special Pickups    250.00

Fender Tremolo Bridge             69.99

Gotoh Locking Tuners                74.76

Pickguard                                    30.00

CTS Pots and CRL Switch       40.00

TUSQ Nut                                    15.00

Output Jack and Plate              12.00

Bushings                                      11.22

Fender Saddles                          10.00

Fender String Guides                   8.19

Neck Plate                                    8.00

Sprague Orange Drop Caps       7.00  

Vintage Cloth Pushback Wire    5.00

Fender Locking Strap Buttons    5.00

Copper Shielding                         3.50

GRAND TOTAL:         970.82

*In searching the serial number on the neck, Fender's website did not return any results. This is common, especially for the time period in which the Powerhouse Strats were made. Fender does not claim an exhaustive record of their own serial numbers. There is, therefore, no evidence to prove the authenticity of the neck. As a former guitar tech for a local guitar store and having held countless MIM and MIA Fender necks, I can assure that it is indistinguishable from a Fender product in feel, setup, and fret work. All specs and physical characteristics point to it being an authentic Fender product, even in lieu of a return serial number.