2026 Mustang Alley 250th America Anniversary Tribute Guitar

EVENT DIRECT SALE ONLY

$1,250.00 — One-of-One Mustang Alley 2026 / America 250 Tribute Guitar

This guitar was created specifically for Mustang Alley 2026 in Ferndale, Michigan, during the Woodward Dream Cruise and America's 250th anniversary celebration.

This is not a production model or a design that can simply be reordered. It is the completed tribute guitar that was prepared for and represented at the 2026 event—a physical marker of a particular place and moment in time.

The instrument began as a black Eleca Stratocaster-style guitar and was completely reworked by Back From the Dead Guitars into a functional custom instrument and one-of-a-kind commemorative piece.

Custom Americana Artwork

The body was refinished in Antique White and received a custom tissue-applied Americana artwork treatment incorporating Mustang Alley, American muscle-car imagery, stars, patriotic elements, and the 1776–2026 America 250 theme.

The artwork imagery was created collaboratively using ChatGPT — GPT-5.6 Sol by OpenAI, with creative direction, composition, physical application, restoration, modification, finishing, and final guitar construction performed by Ken Zufelt / Back From the Dead Guitars.

The front artwork is protected beneath approximately 15 light coats of Rust-Oleum Crystal Clear Enamel. The rear of the body was wet-sanded through 3000 grit, machine polished, and waxed. The body sides were intentionally left with a more natural transitional finish between the polished rear and artwork-covered front.

Neck, Frets & Playing Setup

The guitar received substantial neck and fret work rather than a basic cosmetic refurbishment.

The rosewood fretboard was progressively sanded from 220 through 1000 grit, its edges were hand rolled, and the board was finished with lemon oil. The back of the neck was progressively sanded through 2000 grit and treated with five applications of boiled linseed oil.

The original frets were replaced with Jescar FW55090 nickel-silver fretwire. The frets were individually installed, leveled, crowned, beveled, polished through 2500 grit, and then hand polished with Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish.

A new bone nut was fitted, shaped and polished through 2500 grit, with each string slot individually hand-cut for the installed string gauges.

The completed guitar is set to approximately 1.5 mm action at the 12th fret on its 12-inch-radius fingerboard and has been individually played and checked at every fret for high spots and fret buzz.

It is currently fitted with Ernie Ball Regular Slinky 10–46 strings and intonated in the Back From the Dead Guitars shop environment.

Hardware

Upgraded hardware includes Gotoh SG381 chrome 16:1 tuners, renewed string trees, mushroom-style strap buttons, and a Wilkinson M Series WOV01-10 vintage-style tremolo bridge.

The tremolo is lightly floated and configured primarily for traditional playing and downward dive-bomb use. The original bridge cavity was routed as necessary to provide clearance for the full-size Wilkinson tremolo block and supplied tremolo arm.

Custom Electronics

The electronics were rebuilt using Alnico 5 single-coil pickups, CTS A250K potentiometers, cloth pushback wire throughout, two 0.047 µF Orange Drop tone capacitors, a treble-bleed circuit, Switchcraft output jack, and an Oak Grigsby-style five-way selector.

The control cavity was enlarged to properly accommodate the full-size CTS potentiometers, and both the body cavity and rear of the pickguard were shielded with copper foil.

The bridge pickup has its own dedicated tone control, while the neck and middle pickups share the second tone circuit.

A Gilmour neck-add switch expands the standard five Strat-style selections to seven available combinations, including Neck + Bridge and All Three Pickups.

Neck-Forward Alnico 5 SSS Configuration

This instrument also has a unique permanent pickup arrangement documented separately as Neck-Forward Alnico 5 SSS:

Neck — 6.94 kΩ
Middle — 5.76 kΩ
Bridge — 5.53 kΩ

Rather than the more common progressively hotter bridge arrangement, the highest-resistance pickup is positioned at the neck and the lowest-resistance pickup at the bridge.

The result is a fuller, stronger neck response, a balanced middle voice, and a clearer vintage-output bridge character. Pickup height can be adjusted to tailor the balance to the individual player's preference.

The wiring itself is conventional. Neck-Forward refers to the calibrated pickup placement and voicing of this particular guitar.

The decorated pickup covers are integrated into the completed artwork, making this pickup arrangement a permanent part of the finished tribute design. Additional Neck-Forward technical documentation is included with the guitar.

Final Specifications

Weight: 8.3 lb
Fingerboard Radius: 12 inches
Action at 12th Fret: approximately 1.5 mm
Strings: Ernie Ball Regular Slinky .010–.046
Pickups: Alnico 5 SSS — 6.94 kΩ Neck / 5.76 kΩ Middle / 5.53 kΩ Bridge
Controls: CTS A250K Volume / Tone / Tone
Tone Capacitors: Two 0.047 µF Orange Drop capacitors
Switching: 5-way selector plus Gilmour neck-add switch
Bridge Tone: Dedicated bridge tone control
Output Jack: Switchcraft
Tuners: Gotoh SG381 Chrome 16:1
Bridge: Wilkinson M Series WOV01-10 Vintage-Style Tremolo
Nut: Hand-fitted and hand-slotted bone
Frets: Jescar FW55090 Nickel Silver
Wiring: Cloth pushback throughout
Shielding: Copper-foiled body cavity and pickguard

Why This Guitar Is One-of-One

The component work, setup and artwork could theoretically inspire another build.

This particular guitar cannot be recreated.

It was made for Mustang Alley 2026 / Woodward Dream Cruise during America's 250th anniversary year and was physically present as the completed tribute instrument associated with that event.

Another guitar could be built. Another version of the artwork could be made.

But another guitar cannot become this guitar, at this event, at this moment in history.

That provenance is part of the instrument.

Price: $1,250.00

EVENT DIRECT SALE ONLY — NO SHIPPING.

Purchase is completed directly at the event. The buyer may inspect the actual guitar prior to purchase and receives the guitar and its accompanying documentation and included accessories at the time of completed sale.