TeleStrat

About eight years ago, while working on a magazine out of Oceanside, a friend of mine introduced me to this guy Alex Perez. Alex's job was to build custom Fender guitars for the artists who played their guitars professionally. I think his title was Artist Relations Manager.
One of the coolest and mellowest dudes I've ever met, Alex invited us up to the Fender Custom Shop for a tour and it was a fricking eye opener. Must have been like it was in the early days, each guitar built slowly and deliberately by an actual human being — and one who just happened to love guitars more than anything.
When I left, Alex told me, "If you ever need anything, just call me."
It took me some time to get the courage up, but one day I called him and asked him to assemble a guitar for me.
"No problem. When can you come pick it up?" He asked without hesitation.
A couple days later, when I showed up this is what he'd put together —— a Strat with a Telecaster neck. Whaaaaaat?
Just got it out today and played it for a while and thought I'd show off / share this Wilkins family heirloom.
Pimpin' ain't easy.