Oliva 135th Anniversary "La Estrato Castro" - A Cigar Box Guitar for the Strat Player???

I've built a couple of custom CBGs based on players' go-to instruments, and one I've been asked to make a couple times is based on a Fender Stratocaster. I build them with my favorite Oliva 135th Anniversary boxes to create another "familiar yet different" instrument that a gigging Stratocaster player can strap on and enjoy.

It's got some bumps and bruises I touched up a little (common on these upcycled cigar boxes, especially these glossy lacquered boxes), but as you can see, definitely a looker, and it does "the Strat thing" wonderfully!

It comes with a basic toploader hardtail bridge, 3 "Strat-style" ceramic single-coil pickups bring you the noise (inside is shielded, so not “too much noise”, mind you), mounted in black/white/black 3-ply pickup rings. I used a traditional style 5-way blade and loaded it with the vol (magnetic pickups)/master tone/vol (under-lid passive piezo) configuration, exiting through the classic "football" jack you'd find on your average Strat-styled instrument.

Neck pickup sounds full, bridge pickup is bright, and positions 2 and 4 are nice and "glassy" (gets you right there in that Knopfler tone zone). 

 BUT, unlike a Strat, you can actually get all the way up to that last fret comfortably, so you can solo all the way into the "strat-o-sphere".

22-fret neck with vintage-style tuners keeps it clean and classy.  

I made a triple-humbucker version of this I just sold, and the player loved it. I can't get over how good these things sound once I've buttoned them up. What a cool combination of old-school tradition and contemporary electric guitar versatility!

Sounds and feel you're not gonna' get on your traditional CBG!