Before You Upgrade Your Strat… Watch This
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Originally posted by UCUMBIYslSt3wQgJwWrDP5dQ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPoh-uoOq0I
This is the good old Mike's McCready Stratocaster. What I did on mine is make it more reliced as much possoble and change the pickup for a Fat 60 stratocaster. So what your toughs ?
The Fender Strat is the Chevy small block 350 of guitars. It's fine on its own, or you can hot rod it just a little, or turn it into a supercharged fire-breathing monster.
I think a p90 in the bridge would be cool, maybe even at an angle
Not one of the most, but THE MOST replicated, copied, stolen, inspiring, duplicated.
This video went from tone tips to a sales pitch ????
I am very satisfied with the fully loaded pickguard I ordered from MusicLilly…
Im a Telecaster guy, but I just got my first strat in 40 years. American Performer Timber Sugar Pine or some stuff. Trying to wrap my head around it. Almost got the Mike Macready because of your review, but the U.S. Strat was $700 cheaper. She's a beauty.
This is my strat. There are many like it but…
First of all, Classic Vibe Strats all have great sounding alnico pickups, not ceramic. Second, Oak Grisby switches won't fit in the shallow control cavity on shallow body Squiers. Third, the CTS pots have larger diameter shafts on them than the small Alpha pots, and may not fit in the pickguard without reaming the holes for the pots. So, when people buy all your shamelessly promoted stuff and find that the switch and pots won't fit in their guitar they aren't going to be very happy. Finally- people can buy oak Grisby switches, CTS pots, and all the other standard parts elsewhere for less than you charge.
I’m looking for a PAF clone Humbucker. I have built a Telecaster with a fairly hot bridge pickup. The idea is to make an accurate copy of Joe Bonamassa’s “Bludgeon” ‘51 Nocaster, that had a PAF installed in the neck way back before Joe found it at a Guitar Center. I’ve painted the body Butterscotch Blonde and have the correct neck. PAF copies have a hit and miss reputation. If you do make one… please let me know.
Really good video. I upgrade Import guitars to Fender/Gibson specs for electrics (Bournes/CTS pots, Orange Drop capacitors, Switchcraft jacks, etc…) but sometimes a few of these parts ARE NOT RIGHT FOR AN IMPORT. Not trying to yell, just wanted your attention.
I have mainly Mid Level guitars (buy them Used to make you budget go farther) where I upgrade them and basically land somewhere between $500-$1000 depending on the Mods, pickups (Seymour Duncans, Gretsch Filtertrons (real deal)) where I will basically the guidelines in this video. Basically "Proof of Concept" guitars that are way less expensive than a custom build or a Custom Shop (all three in my pic). I also buy Imports that range from $40 Used to $240 New and I upgrade the hell out of those and call them my "Primo Cheapos." Most are "Squier Adjacent" in terms of quality and I had to do that during the Pandemic as everyone wanted $250 for a beat up Affinity. Usually these bodies are thinner and the control cavities are smaller and tighter than a MIM or American Fender, so it's easy to make mistakes under the hood if you try and cram in full sized CTS pots and a Grigsby switch.
On my Primo Cheapos I usually upgraded switches to a better Import model, JD Moon for a Gibson style toggle and Kaish for the Fender style blade switch. Sometimes I would have to rewire the guitar a third time if the CTS pots were too big for where the control holes were located. For this I can definitely recommend Bournes mini pots as they have a similar "throw" to the CTS pots. Full sized Bournes pots roll much quicker and for me the only place where I really use this is on a Squier Standard Telecaster with a control plate flip where I can do Volume and Tone swells like a Lap Steel. It's also VERY EASY to blow through the back of thinner Import guitars if you are not too careful, so a tight control cavity I would recommend Bournes mini pots and the Kaish and that still allows you to shield the cavity and not have your parts ground out on the shielding.
Another thing I found for Strats is that NOT ALL PARTS WILL WORK ON YOUR GUITAR. I bought a Arianna guitar intending to make it a Rockabilly Strat (Xaviere now makes it so you don't have to Mod one) and with the pickguard on top of the stock guitar, everything looked ok. Once I took off the original pickguard, no dice, the pots were not working in the control part of the body and there was WAY too much material to remove to really justify doing that (you usually need to remove a few milimeters of material in the neck pocket of a new pickguard). So I bought another Strat style (GFS Xaviere model) guitar for the Filtertron (these are GFS Trons) and I quickly found out the difference between US spaced bridges and "Vintage Narrow" spaced bridges. The Trons went into a Thinline Tele style guitar, the new Strat got GFS pickups (Surf 90 in the Bridge, Brighton Rocks (Burns style) for the Neck and Middle) and I tried to port over the GFS loaded Xaviere to the OEM pickguard and the pickups WERE TOO BIG. At that point I just threw away the old pickguard, said "Screw this!" and put on the Xaviere loaded pickguard on the Arianna. Eventually I swapped the pickup covers and control plastics from white to black and later swapped the Xaviere pickguard and backplate for silver aluminum ones. Most of my Primo Cheapos typically land between $250-$400 finished with a gig bag (or old case), Dunlop strap locks (my preference) and a Levy strap or equivalent.
So, you can buy "Stratocaster Parts" and not have them work out. This is something rather common on Offsets and for my Tele, the part size discrepancy isn't as big as the Strat parts.
But yeah, upgrade where you can, usually better parts weigh more than OEM parts so expect your guitar to chonk up. On my Strat style Primo Cheapos, pretty much everything has been replaced except the body, the neck, the neck screws and the output jack cover. It's fun, you can make about $350 worth of guitar and parts punch more like $400-$900 of guitar off the wall at a guitar store. I will tell you though, that Import will never be a Fender Player series guitar, but it can definitely compliment the sound and be as reliable as one if you pick the right parts.????????✨
Thank you Dylan
Shorter grub screw in the saddles. The cheap "upgrade" that makes palm muting so much more pleasant.
Strat's are crap. The paint falls off.
Just look at Rory Gallagher's or Steve Ray Vaughan's, or Yngwie Malmsteen's…
My favorite Strat upgrade is the 10-way Freeway switch (assuming 3 s/c p/ups). In addition to the normal 5 positions, it offer a further 5 combinations, including series combinations to get very close to humbucker tones. It makes for an incredibly versatile guitar.
The other mod I like is to have a master vol and a master tone, and use the 3rd hole in the pickguard for a stutter switch.
How to make a Strat sound good = Buy a Hardtail.
I got me a used Squier strat for about $80 and I dropped in Tex Mex pickups. I liked their tone better than Texas Specials. Then I did the tone rewire where one tone pot is connected to the neck and middle while the other is connected to the bridge. Gives me more options and I love it.
I've been on a p90 kick lately, love the growling mid range and clarity..
Beautiful workmanship on your pups Dylan ???? ????
Strats teles and Les Paul's.. probably the most replicated guitars in existence. Super strats probably next in line..
No examples of how these electronics differ, so I can only imagine they sound virtually the same. If you want any guitar to sound good, first make sure that it is set up well. If your strings are a mile off the fretboard and not intonated, it's going to sound horrendous. A nice low action with a new set of strings will allow the strings to vibrate against the frets just a little bit and you'll get that jangly metallic sound you want. Plus it will be easier to play so you will play better.
So what?
Do you have any insights on the freeway switch for strats that turn it form a 5 way to 10 way?
FYI: Swapping out the cheap five-way switch for a Grigsby will be dependent on the rout underneath – many import models have very shallow routs and will need to be made deeper.
there is too much guitars in the world, BUY a cool second hand there is more value into it
The best place to start with any guitar is a quality built Tube guitar Amplifier. New Fender, Gibson, Marshall, boogie are not good builds. Even some of the so-boutique builders sold out post 2008 tone king etc. It's a difficult task buying an amp because you need some basic knowledge in amplifier electronics. So where does one go? Rest assured it's not Sweetwater, Musicians enemy or any of the other online retailers. Swarts AST, Bartel amps are a few of the cry once and be done choices. There's nothing like a well built deluxe, AC 15 add the efficient Cannibis REX or the Celestion Blue alnico 12" for country, blues and rock. There's plenty of decent amp tech blowing the whistle. learn from them what is………….. as Always beware of the grifters and their smiles. They're not your friend.
All you gotta do is play it good. It will then sound good.. No need for anything else.
chat i just bought a new strat, am i cooked? (literally today i bought some Warmoth strat parts and am going to build my own custom strat lol
lots of talk about "tone" and no audio clips. no a/b comparisons to actually prove one thing sounds better than the other. this is just a 16 minute ad
The only problem gigging the more budget guitars in my opinion is the soder joints they break. Thats why you should gig with mid radge or high end
The 50’s classic vibe has 8 hole pick guard, you have those loaded as well or I drill extra holes?
Obsidian anyone?
Loaded Pickguards for Strats are awesome. If you use a "Quick Connect" at the Output Jack, it makes an entire Pickguard easy to swap in a few minutes. This can turning one Strat into many, a tone chameleon using different pickups and electronics.