Official signature edition refinished in sea foam green, made in Mexico. This guitar has now been sold.

Fender produced a limited run of this Tom Delonge signature edition Stratocaster between1999-2004 (made in Mexico). This is one of them (made in 2002). These guitars are highly sought after. Here a link to a Wiki page about them.

When I got her, she had a black finish with chips and scratches.

So I decided to refinish her as a sea foam green relic. The headstock finish was bubbling to the point the decals were coming off. So these have been refinished too – to a high standard.

All parts are original except for a replacement volume dial and a Fender ‘F’ neckplate which I’ve added (the Tom Delonge stamped neckplate is long gone).

Enjoy the pics and more details …

AWESOME SOUND
The Tom Delonge Strat is armed with a Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader in the bridge position. This is an exceptionally edging/heavy pickup, which Seymour Duncan recommends for punk, garage, thrash, metal and other heavy rock styles. See info. There’s no tone control. Just volume!

She’s set up with Ernie Ball 10-46 strings for a comfortable lowish-to-medium action to suit every playing style. I’ve also set the intonation.

NECK AND TUNERS

The original headstock finish was bubbling off, taking the logo with it – and the serial number on the reverse. So I refinished the headstock so it’s now restored to its full glory!

The tuners are the Kluson type. All working well. The frets have some wear but nothing extreme. Plenty of life left.

It’s a great neck, C profile and in good condition.

RELIC BODY
The original black finish had some chips and lots of bucklerash on the back.

My personal view is that wear to black finishes never looks good. So I removed the black poly and refinished her.

Having primed her, I sprayed her sea foam green, then thin coats of clear finish. The colour is the closest I could find to sea foam green (it’s slighter darker/richer) but a very close match.

She has lots of deliberate scuffs, nicks and scrapes to replicate real, natural wear over years of heavy action.

After the finish drying, she was wet-sanded with Lemon oil for a smooth, clean finish (an old Gibson factory tip I found). You get all the micro wear lines on the surface – and a silky smooth finish to the touch.

She’s VERY worn/relic treatment in places (deliberately) – so no complaints please from ‘guitar polishers!’ The idea here is that she’s been on a world tour.

The result is a old-looking, finish that’s comfortable to hold and looks great. Hard to capture in pics, but I’ve tried my best.

Please note: The finish is very thin. Rather than her finish being ‘set in stone’ (ie. relic then heavy poly) she’ll wear more over time.

FENDER USA HARD

The case has no key but the hinges/latches are good. It was for a left-handed Strat previously but also fits right-handed models. The case has some scrapes to the finish where some writing was removed (a band’s name) but this has been covered over by the USA Tour sticker.

Please note: This guitar has now been sold.