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Building a Custom David Gilmour Inspired Fender Stratocaster — Landon Media Inc.

Guitar Builds · Jul 24, 2020 · Written By Landon Bailey

Building a Custom David Gilmour Inspired Fender Stratocaster

🎸 The Build

What happens when you source every single part from Fender's official catalog and assemble it yourself? You get a guitar that's 100% Fender DNA — without the Fender price tag — and the deep satisfaction of knowing every component, every screw, every wire yourself.

Inspired by David Gilmour's iconic Black Strat, Landon builds a partscaster using a roasted maple neck, a Classic Series '60s body, Fender Custom Shop '54 pickups, and the Obsidianwire 7-way wiring kit that gives the guitar Gilmour's legendary pickup switching options. The whole thing comes in well under the cost of a Fender Mod Shop equivalent.

One commenter put it best: "This is like Bob Ross for guitar builders."

        🎵 The Gilmour Connection
        David Gilmour's "Black Strat" is one of the most famous guitars in rock history — used on Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and Animals. The key to its tone is the 5-way switching combined with a custom wiring mod that gives access to additional pickup combinations. The Obsidianwire 7-way kit replicates this exactly — all with a solderless install.
      

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🔩 The Complete Parts List

Every part used in this build is a genuine Fender component, sourced from their official parts catalog. Fender part numbers are included so you can find the exact same parts.

Fender Part: 0990502920

Stratocaster Roasted Maple Neck

The standout piece of the build. Roasted maple has a beautiful tobacco-brown colour, improved stability, and a broken-in vintage feel straight out of the box.

Sweetwater Amazon Thomann

Fender Part: 0998003706

Classic Series '60s Stratocaster Body

Alder body in black — the classic Gilmour Black Strat colour. Proper routing for vintage-style tremolo and standard Strat pickguard.

Sweetwater Amazon

Custom Shop

Fender Custom Shop Custom '54 Stratocaster Pickups

The heart of the Gilmour tone. These vintage-voiced alnico pickups deliver that classic '50s Strat snap and quack — the same era Gilmour's original Black Strat was built.

Sweetwater Amazon Thomann

Obsidianwire

Obsidianwire 7-Way Wiring Kit

The key to the Gilmour switching mod. This solderless kit adds two extra pickup combinations to the standard 5-way switch — including the neck + bridge combination Gilmour famously used.

Obsidianwire

Fender Part: 0991448100

Neck Plate

Sweetwater Amazon

Fender Part: 0056254049

Control Knobs

Sweetwater Amazon

Fender Part: 0037429049

Tuners

Sweetwater Amazon Thomann

Fender Part: 0991359000

Pickguard (3-Ply White)

Sweetwater Amazon Thomann

Fender Part: 0071014049

Vintage Style Bridge

Sweetwater Amazon Thomann

Fender Part: 0991940100

Strat Jack Ferrule (Cup)

Sweetwater Amazon

Fender Part: 0994940000

Stratocaster Switch Tips — White

Sweetwater Amazon

Fender Part: 00994915000

Strap Buttons

Sweetwater Amazon

🛠️ Build Tools Landon sources all his guitar building and maintenance tools from StewMac — the go-to supplier for luthiers and DIY guitar builders. Everything from nut files to string action gauges to soldering irons. Shop StewMac here →