The ‘Bat Strat’ was inspired by the music and creative works of Jim Steinman, and pays homage to Bat Out of Hell – both the 1977 Meat Loaf album and the later stage musical of the same name. Imagery is inspired by the stage musical, with the strat itself being a reference to one of its two leading characters and also a reference to the Stratocaster mentioned in the monologue Love and Death and an American Guitar.
The Bat Strat is a classic Strat style basswood body with a 21-fret maple neck and maple fingerboard, single coil pickup arrangement and vintage Tremolo bridge. Assistance in visual design and finishing credited to my father and master carpenter Tim Cox, with further design and plate manufacture credited to Tim Allen of Gig.Ink. A blog detailing the build can be found Here.:
In 2020 I came across Neck Illusions; an American company offering high quality decals on a specially designed, ultra-thin vinyl material. I was dissatisfied with the original bats on the neck as the thickness of the vinyl, and resultant thickness of the lacquer made the guitar difficult to play and didn’t help the sound. I reached out to Neck Illusions who kindly provided a set for this guitar. Some revisions are planned for a further revision after which the product will receive a full article of its own, but here is how the guitar looks as of May 2020.
