my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

[Zerberus]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

I think the axe is just fine.

1. The board is absolutely normal for a 22 fret strat, I can´t remember ever seeing one without a gap. End of discussion

2. Fender seems to be "****ing around" with the inlays in the last few years, this isn´t the first strat or tele I´ve seen with "strange inlays". Don´t ask me what fender does, I´m not too sure I really wanna know myself :laugh2:

Play it, keep it, have fun with it. AFAIC, the axe is in tiptop shape

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

That's a sweet looking axe Bob. I'm like you and scrutinize the details. The gap is the same as my Am Standard was, and like my current Highway 1. The marker is a flaw from the factory, but nothing I would worry about as fraud. I've seen one or two like that at Guitar Center.

If it feels great and sounds great..not an issue. Any you got a great deal on it. Play it and enjoy - I can't wait to hear what pups you finally decide to put in it.

 

[midnite_man]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

Whew!!
Okay, that settles all that! Yeah John, your dot inlay is exactly like what I see on the neck of mine, and like I said earlier I'm not gonna sweat that in any way. My MIJ 60's Strat doesn't have that neck-joint gap, and I haven't played enough other AM Strats to have ever noticed it. But you guys have definitely put my mind at ease.
I'm just going to post the seller some favorable feedback and dig this guitar.
NOW...the fun begins! I have some pups that I think I may try in it very soon; an Antiquity Texas Hot for the neck, a 'Lil 59 for the bridge, and either leave the stocker in or put in one of the neck/bridge pickups that came with my MIJ for the middle, or buy another Antiquity.
Do a treble-bleed mod, and replace the bottom tone-pot with a toggle to activate the bridge with the neck pup only or all three together in the #4 position, if I can remember how I did it to my MIJ Strat. Might need a refresher course on that one.
OR, go with straight Antiquity's and slap the 'Lil 59 in the bridge of my MIJ.
Hmmm....decisions, decisions.
I know I posted a thread a few months back about trying to get more punch out of the bridge position of the MIJ, and bought the 'Lil 59 for that purpose, but that was before I bought this newer Strat. But that pup is white in color and my MIJ is all black including pearloid pickguard. The pup would look good in the AM Strat.
Hmmm....
Before I click on the magical "Submit Reply" button here, just wanna say again how much I am really appreciative of all the support on this new purchase. You all are The Best, and again this forum proves to me how fortunate I am to have you all as great resources for not only music, but for life in general!
A BIG bend of the string to you all!!!

-Bob

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

Very cool Bob..Just be careful about mixing and matching Duncan and Fender pickups...Duncans are normally "N" magnet and Fender "S" which will cause you polarity nightmares and thin,honky,out of phase tone...If you are going Duncan,go all the way Duncan and save yourself alot of grief...Trust me on this Bob cause I found out the hard way! Also..Invest in the $6 magnet polarity tester from www.stewmac.com so you know your magnet polarity always...It sucks to have a strat guard all put together and you think everything is perfect,and it's like "WTF" somethings not right...There are lots of tricks to save you some time on your strat though and I Mention some in my strat tutorial along with cap mods and such....

John

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

Strat pickup article...Read through it all Bob...Lots of good info for ya..

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/rsp.htm

 

[midnite_man]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

Thanks for the tips, John. I'll probably buy another Antiquity if that's the case about the magnet polarity issue. I'd like to hear what that 'Lil 59 sounds like in that new Strat, and combined with Antiquity's I might get myself to a beautiful place, tone-wise.
I'll read up on the info you hooked me up with.

-Bob

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

Thanks for the tips, John. I'll probably buy another Antiquity if that's the case about the magnet polarity issue. I'd like to hear what that 'Lil 59 sounds like in that new Strat, and combined with Antiquity's I might get myself to a beautiful place, tone-wise.
I'll read up on the info you hooked me up with.

-Bob

And your buddy is absolutely always here for you brother! Always! Get ahold of me before you decide on a RWRP middle pickup...I have the JB JR in the bridge of one of my strats and quite frankly I don't care for it..I'm hoping the Lil 59 would be much better though? I Must say though,that the Texas Hot(Custom)bridge pickup is great..It's not at all thin,has some great vintage tone and seems to cover alot of ground with my own amps and effects..When I play a strat,I pretty much want it to have a great single coil tone..I also have two strats as you know that have fullsized Duncan humbuckers,but they compromise in the bridge position tones for vintage single coil tone..Depends on what you need out of your axe?

John

John

 

[Robert S.]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

The dot and neck are perfectly normal.

 

[midnite_man]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

And your buddy is absolutely always here for you brother! Always! Get ahold of me before you decide on a RWRP middle pickup...I have the JB JR in the bridge of one of my strats and quite frankly I don't care for it..I'm hoping the Lil 59 would be much better though? I Must say though,that the Texas Hot(Custom)bridge pickup is great..It's not at all thin,has some great vintage tone and seems to cover alot of ground with my own amps and effects..When I play a strat,I pretty much want it to have a great single coil tone..I also have two strats as you know that have fullsized Duncan humbuckers,but they compromise in the bridge position tones for vintage single coil tone..Depends on what you need out of your axe?

John

John

Good points to ponder, John. I already have 3 guitars with humbuckers in 'em....it might be a little redundant to put another one in my Strat. That's why we sometimes play different types of guitars, right? To get those different tones?
Maybe I'm kidding myself about thinking a hummer will improve the bridge situation instead of using an Antiquity Texas Hot instead. Many forum members who previously responded to that older thread a few months back suggested going straight Antiquity's, but again, that was before I bought this new axe - plus at that time I was really frustrated with the sounds I was hearing from my MIJ. I'm still not completely satisfied with the bridge in that guitar, but after some serious tweaking I was able to attain some tones that I can live with for now. But that's another ongoing project.
Perhaps it's time for me to accept what this new Strat was intended to be, a single coil pickup guitar.

-Bob

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

Good points to ponder, John. I already have 3 guitars with humbuckers in 'em....it might be a little redundant to put another one in my Strat. That's why we sometimes play different types of guitars, right? To get those different tones?
Maybe I'm kidding myself about thinking a hummer will improve the bridge situation instead of using an Antiquity Texas Hot instead. Many forum members who previously responded to that older thread a few months back suggested going straight Antiquity's, but again, that was before I bought this new axe - plus at that time I was really frustrated with the sounds I was hearing from my MIJ. I'm still not completely satisfied with the bridge in that guitar, but after some serious tweaking I was able to attain some tones that I can live with for now. But that's another ongoing project.
Perhaps it's time for me to accept what this new Strat was intended to be, a single coil pickup guitar.

-Bob

Bob...You've heard me say this before and here it goes again buddy...The Texas Hots are currently the best single coil pickups I've ever used! These pickups are smooth but yet have some balls also and yet still do the whole vintage thing really well...Hard to explain but there's just something very special that I Like about all 3 of these pickups? :dance:

 

[midnite_man]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

Well, I guess what I need to do is get a few bucks together and look for a Antiquity Custom Hot bridge pup and a match for the neck at the middle position.
Where's the best place to shop?

 

[midnite_man]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

The dot and neck are perfectly normal.

Hey, thanks for chiming in Robert! I've been so busy at the keyboard here I missed your post.
I was just sitting here wondering if I'd need to do that toggle-switch mod on this AM Strat that you turned me onto last year, and that I did on my MIJ?
I mainly did it to the MIJ due to the Hot Stacks I put in the guitar, in order to take the edge off the pups when needed.
What do you think?

-Bob

 

[midnite_man]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

What type of cap. do you guys use, ceramic or plastic film? Where do you usually buy your components?

-Bob

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

What type of cap. do you guys use, ceramic or plastic film? Where do you usually buy your components?

-Bob

www.mouser.com

I Like using either Vishay Orange Drops or the CDE caps..A good polyester film cap is fine..I Only use ceramic as a treble bleed cap and not as tone caps..Get .01 .015 .022 .047 and experiment... .1 is very dark and I don't use that value.

John

 

[midnite_man]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

www.mouser.com

I Like using either Vishay Orange Drops or the CDE caps..A good polyester film cap is fine..I Only use ceramic as a treble bleed cap and not as tone caps..Get .01 .015 .022 .047 and experiment... .1 is very dark and I don't use that value.

John

I was just looking through the Mouser catalogue at capacitors, and noted that the Vishay Orange Drop type caps come in 100V, 200V, 400V, etc. classifications. I take it I'm needing only 100V caps, correect? Also, I noticed that there are two Vishay parts# for what appears to be the same caps. For example, a .022pf 100V cap has a model numbers of 225P22391WD3, and 225P22491XD3. The first costing $.56/ea. and the other $1.04/ea. Which one is the right one? I noticed the same thing with all their cap.'s. What's the difference between the "WD3" and the "XD3?"
Could you pass along any actual part #'s to me, John?

-Bob

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

I was just looking through the Mouser catalogue at capacitors, and noted that the Vishay Orange Drop type caps come in 100V, 200V, 400V, etc. classifications. I take it I'm needing only 100V caps, correect? Also, I noticed that there are two Vishay parts# for what appears to be the same caps. For example, a .022pf 100V cap has a model numbers of 225P22391WD3, and 225P22491XD3. The first costing $.56/ea. and the other $1.04/ea. Which one is the right one? I noticed the same thing with all their cap.'s. What's the difference between the "WD3" and the "XD3?"
Could you pass along any actual part #'s to me, John?

-Bob

All of the caps you mentioned are fine...I Like the 100v CDE caps...Part numbers go like this... 5989-100v.01 5989-100v.015 etc...
The Orange Drop 226P caps in the 100v values are fine also...100 volts is more than sufficient voltage in a guitar..I pretty much use the CDE caps though and these are Metalized Polyester..

 

[Robert S.]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

MM, I suggest alot of different things to alot of different people and I don't remember exactly which suggestion you are referring to.

 

[mrid]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

Dude, you got screwed. Sell it to me, and I'll dispose of it properly! :laugh2:

That's a killer deal!!!!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

Nice guitar! Looks like you got a great deal too. Everything the guys are telling you about it seems right on to me... Enjoy!

Lew

 

[Hoss]

Re: my new AM-Strat arrived....mint? Scott? John S? Lew? Anybody?

NEW STUFF ROCKS!!! :headbang:

man...you got a great deal!!!

have fun with it!!!