Up for sale is my wonderful hardtail Strat built by the very talented Ron Thorn at Thorn guitars in California.I am a big Strat fan, and have owned a couple hundred of them over the past 45 years, including every year of pre-CBS Fender (except 1963), and almost all of the high-end modern builders, including Suhr, Tom Anderson, Fender Custom Shop, LSL, Nash, Tyler, Valley Arts, Pensa, Danocaster, Vigier, Grosch, Kelton Swade, DeTemple, etc… I can honestly say that Ron Thorn is my favorite Strat maker ever. The only reason that I am selling it is because I have ordered an otherwise identical one in Swamp Ash instead of Alder. I keep trying to love Alder-bodied Strats, especially as most of my favorite players use Alder-bodied ones, but for me, it just must be Swamp Ash, it seems.If you are at all in the market for a truly GREAT hardtail Strat, this is the one you want. Even unplugged, it is remarkably “alive” and vibrant with great definition and sustain.I own two other Thorn guitars, and can tell you that Ron is very easy to work with. If you want a different pickguard or pickup configuration in this guitar, just call Ron, and he’ll make it happen for you. When I got this guitar, it had a humbucker in the bridge position, which is just not my thing. Ron suggested putting one of his Alnico P-90s in the bridge, which sounded like a good idea to me. A few days later, a new pickguard and new pickup arrived in the mail, and it all just dropped in.Thorn uses a proprietary dovetail neck joint, so that the string tension acts to increase contact between the neck and body, rather than reduce contact, as with standard bolt-on necks. He is also super-careful in his choices of wood and hardware. He makes a lot of the hardware and pickups himself. Whatever the reasons, his guitars all just seem to have “it”, the magic that makes the guitar call you from across the room, and make you play it.His necks tend to be on the fuller side, which works very well for me. Even when I was young and had a taste for small necks, I still recognized that bigger-necked guitars always seemed to sound better. Ron also uses a very nice compound radius, and does great setups.The body is Alder with a super-thin nitrocellulose finish that he has done a light “Relic” job on. (In my opinion, way too many guitars are weighed down with thick, heavy finishes, which dampen the wood’s ability to resonate properly.) It has light crazing, a bit of wear-through on the edge of the forearm area and the belly cut, and several tiny dings and dents. It had these when new, and acquired no additional ones while in my possession. The neck is Maple with a Maple fingerboard. The tuning machines are locking Gotoh Kluson-style tuners, with height reducing from the low E to the high E tuners, so as to negate the need for a string tree. The bridge is his own hardtail, with strings running through the body.It has two of Thorn’s own Strat-style single coil pickups, which I think are wound by Lollar, and one of Thorn’s Alnico P-90-styles in the bridge, which Thorn winds in-house. Unlike most Strat-style pickups, the Thorns had the magnet spacing different for each position, to maximize the pickups sensitivity to string vibrations. The Alnico P-90 is Ron’s own design, which captures much of the magic of the early 1950s Gibson Alnico pickups. It is clear and crisp, with great detail, and still with a lot of power. They pair very nicely with the Strat pickups, and the in-between bridge/middle setting is very “Stratty” and useful.The neck is a rather full C-shape with a nut width of 1 11/16”, and a thickness of 0.885” at the 1st fret and 0.985” at the 12th fret, not including the frets themselves. The action is an effortless 4/64” between the low E and the crown of the 12th fret and 3/64” between the high E and the crown of the 12th fret. The frets show no wear at all, and are in perfect condition, with no dings or dents.It had a full set-up by Mike Lull at The Guitarworks. I normally have Mike do a Plek job on my instruments, but this one didn’t need it, just a little tweaking to make it ideal for me and my normal string choice. The setup is now perfection, and it truly plays like butter with absolutely no high frets, buzzing, dead spots, dips, twists or issues of any kind. It is in stunningly perfect playing condition. There is plenty of room to adjust the truss rod in both directions, should you be a fan of super light or super heavy strings, or if you live in a swamp or a desert.It’s hard to call any “Relic” guitar “Mint”, so I’ll call this “Near Mint”.It weighs in at a light and comfortable 7 lbs., 9.5 oz., or 3.44 Kg.It comes with its original tweed-covered hard case, made by G&G.The instrument comes with a 48-hour approval period. If, within the 48-hour period, you decide that the instrument is not for you, simply return it to me in the same condition as I sent it out, with full insurance, and I will refund your purchase price, minus shipping to you. Buyer pays return shipping.TERMS, PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: Buyer pays selling price plus shipping and insurance. I typically ship with USPS or FedEx, though other arrangements can be made at the buyer's request. No fee is charged for packing or handling. I will gladly ship anywhere in the world, but beware, international shipping charges can be steep, and the buyer is responsible for all duties, taxes, VAT, brokerage and storage fees on their end. Please contact me with any questions.