BLACKED OUT Sawtooth Sawtooth ES Series Electric Guitar, ST-ES Strat Style 2023 - EXTRA BLACK

There's something about a black strat style guitar that makes me want to make it... even blacker. This is the second time I've done this. The first time, I was just touching up a used black strat here and there with a marking pen, when I decided to also use it to darken the fingerboard. The result sold right away online. Turned out that it happened to be the same model as Brandon Lee used in The Crow, a Hohner Rockwood. I had no idea about the connection at the time. I just liked the devilish look of a black on black strat. This time, the back of the neck on this otherwise new Sawtooth (no Crow connections) was unfinished maple and I bought it just to blacken it further. The body, headstock, and pickguard were already black. The fingerboard was already dark but I darkened it more with a Varathane furniture marker, letting it get on the frets as well. The neck was unfinished or maybe satin finished in its natural color. Rather than get into spray paint, I decided to just keep going with the marker. You can kind of tell it's a marker; it's not like a solid spray paint finish. But to me it gives a certain spooky quality, like the texture of a raven's wings in the inky darkness of an illustration in an old Edgar Allan Poe book. I wiped off excess Varathane with a towel as I went, but you may still get some dry ink on your hands! I was going to take off the tuners to to cover every millimeter with ink but, in a fit of punk pique, I just lazily inked right up to the tuners, leaving some bare wood surrounding them, and put X's on the back of the tuners themselves.  Those white plastic dots on the tuners can be peeled off if you like. But if you mess with my fine work of art. I might have to haunt you. Just kidding - do whatever you like!

The pickguard looks a bit dinged up in the pictures, but the plastic film is still on it, so most of that should come off if you decide to remove it.

By the way this guitar is nicely set up, decently intonated and has an impressive, ringing sustain to it when strummed unplugged. The pickups aren't bad at all. But of course you can upgrade down the line if you like. As such it would be a great guitar for a beginner to intermediate player or even a fun backup for a pro. Sawtooth might not be a familiar brand and this is indeed an entry level guitar (still cost me more than I'm now charging). . But they were also tapped by shredder Michelangelo Batio to build his signature guitars, so they know what they're doing.

Also includes the little practice amp that came with it, with a 3 or 4 inch speaker. Runs on a 9 volt battery or standard guitar pedal 9 volt power, another one included. Not as good as the guitar and nothing to write home about but you could begin to learn with it.

No returns except for honestly and objectively not as described. International buyers please use eBay international shipping as I will not be responsible for extra paperwork or unreliable forwarders. No returns at all on international sales due to the distances involved.