I took take a pic of my Strat and Tele today and decided to post it here-
http://images.lilypix.com/albums/use.../strattele.jpg
You've probably heard enough about both of them but in case you haven't-
The Strat is a 2005 Hwy1 that I bought new for $500 delivered with %0 interest financing and a free iPod. I replaced the pickups with my old "unwound" Fralin Vintage Hot set, put a Callaham vintage spaced bridge on it, a USACG 1 piece maple boat neck with 7-1/4"-9-1/2" fretboard and 6105 frets (I sold the original neck for the cost of the USACG neck), Gotoh vintage style tuners and a few other parts. I used Minwax Wipe-On Poly on the neck. I sold the original parts and have invested very little over the original cost of the guitar (unless you count the pickups, which I already owned). It's hardly a "Fender" guitar at all anymore!
The "Tele" is really a "USACG T-Style"- a USACG swamp ash body and USACG 1 piece maple soft "V" neck with a 9-1/2" radius and 6105 frets, a Fralin Blues Special bridge pickup, a Fralin Stock neck pickup, Glendale brass and aluminum saddles (I won these. They sound great), Gotoh vintage style tuners and Fender hardware (all slotted head screws!). I used Minwax Wipe-On Poly on the body and neck. This guitar cost me less than $800 to build with all new parts.
I assembled the Tele 6 years ago. It's held up well!
