r/TomDelongeGuitars

Absolutely love a hardtail Strat, and my 2023 Tom Delonge is a special one. $800 pickup on Reverb and the neck plays like a dream. But one thing always kept it from being my forever Strat - and that was the missing neck pickup tones, like you’d hear from SRV or RHCP. So I added a neck pickup.

What I ended up with has all the same strengths of a stock TD Strat, with tons of extra versatility.

Custom Warmoth pickguard

Added a switch, and relocated the volume knob
further away from my strumming path.

Push-pull pot which switches parallel/series from the Invader bridge.

Fender Custom ‘69 Strat Neck pickup. It is wired to the 500k volume pot with a 470k resistor, so it only ‘sees’ 250k. Middle pickups have always bothered me, picking-wise, so I wanted to leave that space open.

Everything else is stock! All-in about a $150 upgrade, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I know it isn’t a purists TD but hoping some here can appreciate the effort.

Went with the stratocaster in Daphne Blue color (reissued) instead of the Starcaster! Let's see how it fits and looks here when it finally arrives..

Unfortunately I’m looking to sell my TD Starcaster that I’ve put a lot of money and time into. I just listed it on Reverb- https://reverb.com/item/99514268-fender-tom-delonge-starcaster?utm\_source=rev-ios-app&utm\_medium=ios-share&utm\_campaign=listing&utm\_content=99514268

I’ll throw in the DiMarzio Strap that’s installed right now.

If you are interested or have any questions, please feel free to message me on here. I am located in
San Diego.

I finally made one of my biggest guitar dreams come true: I bought a 2002 Fender Tom DeLonge Stratocaster in Surf Green, in excellent condition!

I live in Italy and paid €900 including shipping from Germany (which is roughly $1000 USD).

Before buying it, I was a little concerned because the serial number didn’t appear in Fender’s online Serial Number Lookup (which, as you know, is actually quite common with early-2000s Mexican-made Fenders). We contacted Fender directly, and they were incredibly helpful and replied very quickly. They checked their internal records and confirmed that the serial number corresponds to a 2002 Tom DeLonge Strat RW SFG. That gave me the confidence to go ahead with the purchase.

As soon as it arrived, I took it to my guitar tech for a complete setup and some much-needed care:

- Frets polished
- Rosewood fretboard cleaned and conditioned with lemon oil
- Bridge and saddles thoroughly cleaned
- Ernie Ball Paradigm 10–46 strings installed
- Bridge, action, neck relief and truss rod fully adjusted
- Pickguard removed and the original volume pot cleaned
- Full final polish using D’Addario guitar polish

Of course, I didn’t replace any of the original components. My only goal was to bring the guitar back to life, restore it to its former glory and preserve its originality.

I’ve wanted one of these for such a long time, and it feels amazing to finally own one!

The more photos that come in, the more excited I get! The lines left on the neck pickup cavity area will disappear after some more clear and leveling. Second photo was immediately after pulling the tape before scraping and cleaning up the binding - just to get an idea. And I know some were curious about Bloom doing a standard satin finish (non-open pore) and I’ve got to say that for not being done yet it already looks fantastic!

I took this guitar to a guitar shop for a set up and to see what they can do about this crack at the headstock. They just called me and said that as they were inspecting it, the headstock snapped completely off. They said they’re going to take it to a luthier but it’s probably going to be pretty expensive.

I told them I’ve had this guitar for over 6 years, I’ve had that crack the entire time, I’ve pushed on it, changed the strings dozens of times, traveled with it and I’ve never had any problems with it.

The guy said then I’m just extremely lucky and that our options are to scrap the guitar or take it to a Luthier. I said I feel like at this point the repair should be at the shops expense because it snapped while the employee was pushing on it. He said sir it was already broken. I said it was cracked not broken. He said it was really weak wood. I said when I dropped off this guitar and walked away I had a playable guitar and now you guys are calling me saying I have a guitar in two pieces. He said it was barely playable anyways. I said barely playable? I’ve been playing it for 6 years with a proper set up and now you’re just saying oops nothing we can do? He kept repeating himself insisting they did not break it, it was already broken and all they can do is get a quote from a luthier or scrap it.

I’m so pissed off I don’t know what to do. If I never brought it to them I’d still have a guitar.

Hi guys,

I thought of letting go 2 of my TD strats, all original, etc.

I own several Fender strats and starcasters now, so I need space 🥲

I spent eur 900 for each at the worst time ever (2022) but that is the game... nonetheless I wont be selling them to lose 50% 😬

Hit my PM if interested and let's discuss price and modalities 🤘

Made it halfway across the globe in one piece. I have a huge sense of relief and excitement, this is my first Tom guitar (First actual Strat too!).

I'm devestated. I saved up for months to get this custom 1994 Squier Strat with an Invader pickup and pound the perfect sticker and neck charm to put on it. It was seriously my dream guitar. It felt so smooth to play and I got an INSANELY good deal on it so replacing it wont be easy, but I wanna try.

I had it sitting on my couch in my living room and when I got home it was gone. The only plausable thing I can think of happening was the Amazon driver saw it through the window and took it the one day I forget to lock the door. I called all my friends and family and aked them if they had for some reason had it and none of them did. I even asked my neighbors if they had seen anything and nobody had. I live in the country so there's no way any of my neighbors would've caught it on tape and I don't have cameras so I have no way of getting proof. It's mt own dumb fault for forgetting to lock the door but I don't know what to do. I feel like such an idiot.

I've been going through so much terrible crap in my life right now and the one thing that brought me a way to outlet my feelings is gone. I don't know what to do anymore.

If any of you have any ideas on how I can rebuild my guitar or maybe have seen it around somewhere (It was stolen in Southeastern Michigan) any advice would be helpful. I'm a wreck right now. If there's any way you can help (I'm NOT asking for money, I WILL NOT accept it), I'd be so grateful.

Hope yall are having a good day today, sorry for the downer post.