The guitar pictured above is a collection of parts that Brad Henderson of Colt Ford personally picked out. The main components and the key to its tone are the candy apple red Strat body, Warmoth flame maple neck, and a Seymour Duncan JB SH-4 humbucker in the bridge position.

The Warmoth neck is flame maple with a standard thin profile, a compound radius fretboard, and the bridge is a vintage six-screw Wilkinson tremolo. “I prefer a six screw vintage bridge as I feel it’s more resonant and has more connection to the wood,” Henderson says. “I oil the slots of the nut on the neck to help keep the strings from getting caught and keep the tremolo running smooth. It stays in tune great. I like to go crazy with the divebombs, and it stays in tune just fine.” Henderson also uses vintage tuners and likes to change his own strings. He uses Dunlop 10-46 gauge and puts on a fresh pack every night: he says that the ritual of changing the strings and oiling the unfinished neck “help warm up the hands and get me ready for the show.” Now, lets get down to the body! The body of his Frankenstrat is a nitrocellulose candy apple red finish By MJT, purchased on ebay. It was lightly reliced at the time, but in just about a year the guitar has been used in over 200 shows in all kinds of venues, from clubs to arena shows. It is now what he likes to call a “Caveman” relic. You can actually see him drag the guitar across a gravel parking lot Colt Ford’s music video for “What I Call Home.”

“I feel that guitars are meant to be used and abused,” Henderson says. “That worn guitar is an weapon of ass destruction and when it is cranked through my Splawn Quickrod it will literally whip your ass”. Brad is currently on the road with Colt Ford, whose new album Declaration of Independence debuted on August 7th. You can hear Brad’s lead guitar work featured on cuts “Hugh Damn Right” and “Way Too Early.”