Elliott S-Series Stratocaster Guitar w/ BladeRunner Tremolo - Race Car Red

Information

Brand New with Warranty​​​​​​​. We are an authorized Elliott dealer.

Like what you see? All photos (and video) are of the exact instrument you will receive.

Moonshine isn’t the only thing to come from the hills of North Carolina. The state has been the birthplace of banjo great Earl Scruggs and the stomping grounds of flat top picker Doc Watson. But more recently, the electrified sounds of Elliott guitars and amplifiers have been heard rolling in the valleys and roaring on stages across the nation. From an unassuming shop in Hiddenite, NC, this 190-proof team is crafting some of the most intoxicating small-batch guitar flavors in the industry.

Body

It starts with Alder. A tried-and-true ingredient in the Stratocaster lineage, yes. But ultimately it’s how you pick it and what you do with it that counts. Specifically, “The wood is selected first and has to meet certain size and grain characteristics to assure all bodies are glued in the same manner, with an offset glue joint at the bottom bout of the guitar. This maintains consistency from one guitar to the next. The upper bout is contoured for a very comfortable feel.”

Neck

The Maple neck is a mid-‘60s fast C profile. Andy Elliott selected a rift sawn cut on this particular one for its perfect marriage of stability and broad frequency response. As with all of his guitars, he also reinforced the neck with two graphite rods to make sure it doesn’t move no matter how hard your rock or how far you travel. It is finished in a perfect nitro and dressed up on the side with Elliott’s unique red-toned dot inlays, easily visibility under stage lights or lack thereof. It is topped with an Indian Rosewood fingerboard that is planed under tension for a perfectly straight end result. The frets are epoxied to transfer maximum resonance and avoid the minute backbow that a traditional fretting technique applies to the neck as frets tangs are “wedged” into the fingerboard. Hence, you get a perfectly-operating truss rod that doesn’t play any games down the length of the neck.

Tremolo

While we’re talking about stability, the BladeRuneer Super-Vee tremolo gives you more lively string interaction with the body than a traditional tremolo, and increased sustain as well. Instead of relying on a pivot point, the leading edge or anchor plate is screwed down firmly and joined to the main portion of the tremolo by a piece of spring steel that allows all the movement of a good strat trem without any of the friction! Your tuning returns to the exact same spot every time. The trem arm has a pin protruding beyond the threaded section into a dampening mechanism to make for a perfectly responsive tremolo with zero slop. This tremolo is a fitting choice for an instrument that has already gone the extra mile in maximizing string resonance and dialing in the player experience.

Pickups

Josh speaking here... I am not exaggerating when I say the Elliott Swallowtails are my favorite S Style pickups of any I’ve played to date. Adam Childers handwinds these in-house to create incredibly dynamic pickups that are uniquely voiced to the guitar. Punchy and bell-like bottoms, soaring top end and just the right girth in the midrange. To me, they are the perfect enhancement of traditional single coil flavor to fill out modern pop and CCM while retaining abundant vintage vibe. The “in-between” positions are moneymakers and I’ve never heard a stratocaster bridge pickup stand so powerfully on its own.

Wiring

And there’s a secret weapon under the hood… Andy wires these with master volume / master tone / neck pickup volume. Put everything on 10 and you’ve got a regular strat. But roll “back” that third knob to bring up the neck pickup regardless of what pickup setting you’re on. Adding a little neck with the middle pickup gives you fatter lead tones that stay flawlessly clear and articulate. Add sparingly with the bridge pickup for the knockout punch you’ve been missing in your other Strats, or full up for Tele-like spank that fills a room. And yes, you can run all three pickups together and yes, you should.

How Does It Play?

We are finding that when these come in we usually don’t even touch a thing. And that’s saying something. They are dialed in thoroughly by Andy Elliott and seem to be bulletproof to the normal affects of shipping and variations in climate. Of course, we check thoroughly and ensure everything is in tip-top shape from frets to electronics. The neck feels superb and the body contours are thoroughly comfortable. Give it a try! We don’t think you’ll look back but we have a return policy for you just in case!

The SKB hardshell case is included and will protect your guitar faithfully. The rubber cushion grip handle is super comfy and the latches are TSA-approved.

Specifications

Body: Alder

Neck: Rift sawn maple w/ graphite reinforcement rods

Profile: Mid-‘60s fast C

Truss Rod: Single action

Fretboard: Indian Rosewood

Pickups: Elliott Swallowtails

Controls: Master volume / Master tone / Neck pickup volume

Bridge: BladeRunner Super-Vee Tremolo

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