Tom Delonge Sticker Stratocaster Replica (October 1994- November 1997)

[Thibaut182]

Newly surfaced discovery!

I recently watched the documentary Momentum Generation about the 90s surfing scene (and there were interviews with Tom Delonge, Fletcher and Jim from Pennywise and Scott from UL) and there was also footage of the Good Times Tour (some newly surfaced footage that wasn't on the Good Times Tour DVD was added too and a few clips of the sticker strat in action!)

https://tv.apple.com/fr/movie/momentum-generation/umc.cmc.233sn6q0cexl16ekzano5och7?l=en

[blinkstillrules]

Huge sticker strat update thanks to Mark Hoppus himself on his Discord today.

 

Mark provided the first clear image of the back of the guitar.

 

Turns out guttermouth was not on the guitar. It was Buck-o-nine and Unwritten Law stickers instead. That's also another "reverse" Arnette above buck-o-nine, same as on the back of the headstock. By reverse I mean, the black and white colors are the reverse of the Arnette stickers on the front of the guitar.

 

 

 

I also recently obtained actual airwalk stickers the same as Tom's and Davey was able to update the art file for those based off the scan.

[Thibaut182]

Quick observation : 

It's in regards to the UL and Buck O-Nine stickers, in that MTV Interview with Matt Pinfield at the start Mark mentions in particular those two bands so maybe Tom added those stickers around that time (Tom's hair from that newly-surfaced-picture matches with that MTV Interview dated October 1997). At 0:51

Just an observation I wanted to share here!

It would be very cool to find out the exact show or date of the picture above as this is an INSANE and HUGE discovery!

 

[daveyjones]

2 hours ago, Thibaut182 said:

Quick observation : 

It's in regards to the UL and Buck O-Nine stickers, in that MTV Interview with Matt Pinfield at the start Mark mentions in particular those two bands so maybe Tom added those stickers around that time

good guess, but two things:

1.) the pic is from blink opening for the descendents at the whiskey, october 1996.

2.) they were on the back since at least mid-1995. you can see them at the end of the "m+m's" video (just dark and blurry; we couldn't tell what they were). blink had been playing with both bands constantly since 1994.

[Thibaut182]

Newly surfaced and very rare footage of the guitar!

The guitar doesn't have the Lagwagon sticker yet and it has the "duct" tape stap, so it's definitely late 1996/early 1997 in regards to the timeline ?

Huge credits and massive shout-out to PUNK ROCK VHS for sharing this insane gem!

 

[Thibaut182]

New picture of the strat in action !

Huge thanks to @Kjblink182 for sharing this amazing article about this show that includes a picture of the guitar without the stickers!

11/26/1997: The band performs at Bren Center at UC Irvine in Irvine, California. Last known performance of the guitar.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/afr9u2p6vfryp2u/Skratch22.pdf?dl=0

 

[blinkstillrules]

On 7/14/2022 at 5:20 AM, Thibaut182 said:

New picture of the strat in action !

Huge thanks to @Kjblink182 for sharing this amazing article about this show that includes a picture of the guitar without the stickers!

11/26/1997: The band performs at Bren Center at UC Irvine in Irvine, California. Last known performance of the guitar.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/afr9u2p6vfryp2u/Skratch22.pdf?dl=0

 

Great find. We pretty much stick to Mark's Discord these days...it's easier. That's where we wrapped up finishing the Sticker Strat. I'll try and pop in here though.

[Thibaut182]

Found this newly surfaced picture while doing my timeline website research ? 

Credits to the page Beyond Vaudeville on Facebook for sharing this gem!

7/25/1997: The band performs at Lifetime Studios New York, New York for MTV Oddville.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=572746584852250&set=pcb.572746631518912

[Elisa]

@Thibaut182 I just found a link to this Instagram post where they say that a copy of this guitar (with all the stickers) is being displayed on tour right now. They even e-mailed the stickers to Tom so he was able to recreate it on his own OG guitar: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr1tt37v_BS/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== 

[Thibaut182]

1 hour ago, Elisa said:

@Thibaut182 I just found a link to this Instagram post where they say that a copy of this guitar (with all the stickers) is being displayed on tour right now. They even e-mailed the stickers to Tom so he was able to recreate it on his own OG guitar: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr1tt37v_BS/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== 

Yes that sticker strat is displayed in the museum if you have the VIP tickets for the shows.

Some recognition and credit to the forums would be nice though (especially Blink 182 Online) because I created this thread back in 2016 : back when I started this thread I had no idea that people would start doing their replicas and eventually that Tom would resticker his own OG guitar which is crazy!

[Thibaut182]

Just found this online, wow what do we think about this ?!?!?!

They are selling the stickers (I bet they took all the info from this thread ...)

https://house95guitars.shop/products/house-95-td-sticker-strat-sticker-pack

https://house95guitars.shop/products/coming-soon-house-95-td-red-strat-sticker-pack

[HoverBoard]

Hello, I manage to scratch all the stickers as accurate as possible with photoshop and now I'm ready to took it to the print shop, but I don't know the size measurements each of its own, any advice?

[23adrock]

Come hard or don’t come.  

 

https://imgur.com/a/PNIuCbt

[Patient #48273]

1 hour ago, 23adrock said:

Come hard or don’t come.  

https://imgur.com/a/PNIuCbt

I assumed you were a porn bot and was about to ban you. You've got to embed (non-pornographic) photos, especially with a caption like that. 😅

[23adrock]

4 minutes ago, Patient #48273 said:

I assumed you were a porn bot and was about to ban you. You've got to embed (non-pornographic) photos, especially with a caption like that. 😅

lol my bad, new to the forum.  Edited 

[23adrock]

Guitar arrived.  Didn’t appreciate that the 40th anniversary logo is a medallion affixed to the headstock and not a sticker.  Looks to be in good shape and pretty accurate so far. Maple neck, dark rosewood fretboard, Olympic white body, bright white pickguard. White knobs. Two screws in the bridge.  

[23adrock]

[23adrock]

Reached the attachment limit … more photos and high res here 

https://imgur.com/a/7ipSyJd

[23adrock]

So I’m onto the pickup ordering phase, and I noticed a couple things. First of all that the lettering on the hot rails is different nowadays that it was on Tom’s guitar. That also raised questions about the voicing since we know the X2N has different voicing now vs the 90s. So I reached out to Seymour Duncan and got some answers. Voicing is currently the same, but if you want the vintage look with the lettering and the tape wrapping, you need to custom order.
 

I also reached out to DiMarzio about the X2N. Tom’s looks very white, but the only vintage ones I can find are cream. It seems more than just cream that has yellowed over time. I’ll see what they say.

—-

Hi, I’m trying to make a replica of a guitar from the 90s, namely the Tom Delonge sticker strat. It is said that he has a hot rails in the neck, but if you look at the SD lettering, its at the bottom of the pick up, similar to what you have on the telecaster hot rails pickup now. I did find one listing for a 1980s version of the bridge version of the SHR that had the lettering towards the bottom. I guess what I’m wondering, is the voicing of the current hot rails pickups the same as the variety that would’ve come out in the 80s and 90s? If not, is it possible to custom make one with vintage voicing with lettering at the bottom, like in the pic? And if so, how much would that cost? So I’m looking for both vintage sound and aesthetic… Thank you!

Hello Leon, 
Thank you for reaching out, the new models are voiced the same, but we wouldn't be able to do that logo placement for our new covers but you can be special order the Old Style as a build your own pickup through the Custom Shop.
 You would want to specify in the notes that you want old construction taped bobbins for Hot Rails/single coil sized humbuckers.
 Custom Shop Single Coil Sized Rail Humbuckers begin at $180 per pickup, current lead time is 6-8 weeks.

Thank you for the quick and helpful reply! He also used a JB Jr in the middle position. If I wanted to be as authentic as possible to that early 90s time period, would I also want to custom order with taped bobbins etc? Has the voicing on those changed?

Hello Leon, 
The voicing has not changed on those either, but redesigned for the same coil protecting housing.
You can also order the order style JB jr from the same form.

 

 

[23adrock]

Some info on the DiMarzio from their tech.  
——- 

Hi, I’m trying to make a replica of a guitar from the 90s, namely the Tom Delonge sticker strat.  He used an X2N in the bridge position, but it is my understanding that those from the early 90s were voiced differently and had nickel plates instead of brass. I tried looking for some used older ones, but they all are labeled as Cream. They definitely look yellower than the picture below. His looks white. Where they ever offered in White back then? Or do you think it was just a light cream and the older ones have yellowed with time? I saw someone with a vintage one that looked whiter and they mentioned that the coating had come off; were they white underneath? Lastly, would you be able to make a vintage style white one as a custom order? Thank you!

We have never altered the performance specs of the X2N since its introduction in 1979, although the currently available X2Ns have several changes. The original base plates were chrome-plated brass, which were subsequently superceded by standard brass plates. The bobbins were available in white by the 1990s. The bar polepieces are now F-spaced to allow the X2N to work equally well with narrow and wide string-spacing, and the baseplates are now made of PCB with plugin cables.  The voicing has not changed.  The X2N is available in white (https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/high-power/x2n?v=20178). It is no longer available with either narrow polepiece spacing or a brass baseplate.

OK, thanks!  There’s a comparison video on YouTube where he plays a vintage X2N marked 1979 and then a modern one and they do sound a bit different.  So to clarify, the removal of the plating of the base plate and the addition of the PCB should not affect the sound, correct?

That’s correct.
DiMarzio Inc.