KINGV02
New member
So I have finally finished my project, if you remember the thread I posted a few weeks ago. (link: https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?308688-Looking-for-a-Deadly-stock-pickup-replacement ) but the project was both fun and frustrating and in the end it took me about 5 hours to do everything I will list below.
First I had to make sure the pickguard fit, I only expected a few screws to fit since the guitar I had was a generic brand that wasn't 100% like the original reference fender stratocaster, in the end 3 screws were able to fit... not enough so I had to drill more holes in to get it to stay on.
Next, time to start installing pots, switch, etc. So i went to install my pots (thought this would be the easiest part) nope, the pickguard I bought was made for small pots and the seymour duncan ones were really big so I had to use a file and widen the holes and while doing this I made a big newb mistake and accidentally sniffed some of the paint finish that was coming off of the pickguard which would give me a small headache and make me a little bit woozy for the rest of the process. (stupid me)
Next was installing the switch which went well until I attempted to install the pickguard with the fat seymour duncan pots, and oversized crl 3 way switch. so then I had to enlarge the cavity in my guitar to fit in the pots and the switch, it went well but just consumed more time.
Next was the soldering/wiring which went way smoother than the last two things but it was my second time changing pickups and my first time doing it with passive pickups and wiring totally new electronics so that took me around 3 and a 1/2 hours (geez!)
finally the moment of truth I took my guitar upstairs, plugged it into my fender mustang 1 v2 20 watt amp, and grabbed my screw driver, I then proceeded to flick my switch to the bridge position...................................................................................thud..........................ThUd............................THUD......................................................THUD! It was probably greatest feeling of relief I have had in MY LIFE! I soon switched to the neck position and carried out on doing the same thing.....................thud...............thud.................Thud................... and then I strung my guitar up and then hung it up on my wall for the night, I was exhausted and the next day I began to set up the guitar and play some of my favorite riffs on it. I was very pleasantly surprised that I was able to get a pretty good peace sells tone out of it when eq'ed right (besides it not sounding as clear).
Really the Invaders are the pickups straight out of hell fierce, angry, mean, aggresive, percussive, as rich as chocolate, and still have that great passive emotion to them which I really love. They sound much better than the emg 81 I have in my peace sells vmnt (even though that is very debatable) part of that sound may be that I decided to get a 0.022 capacitor instead of using the stock 0.047 capacitor who knows anyways so far I think the time and money turned out to pay off very well.
Parts I bought:
. SD Invader set
. 2 seymour duncan 500k smooth turning pots
. a bag full of 0.022 caps
. black hh pickguard made by ikn
. 3 way switch made by crl
Pictures:
First I had to make sure the pickguard fit, I only expected a few screws to fit since the guitar I had was a generic brand that wasn't 100% like the original reference fender stratocaster, in the end 3 screws were able to fit... not enough so I had to drill more holes in to get it to stay on.
Next, time to start installing pots, switch, etc. So i went to install my pots (thought this would be the easiest part) nope, the pickguard I bought was made for small pots and the seymour duncan ones were really big so I had to use a file and widen the holes and while doing this I made a big newb mistake and accidentally sniffed some of the paint finish that was coming off of the pickguard which would give me a small headache and make me a little bit woozy for the rest of the process. (stupid me)
Next was installing the switch which went well until I attempted to install the pickguard with the fat seymour duncan pots, and oversized crl 3 way switch. so then I had to enlarge the cavity in my guitar to fit in the pots and the switch, it went well but just consumed more time.
Next was the soldering/wiring which went way smoother than the last two things but it was my second time changing pickups and my first time doing it with passive pickups and wiring totally new electronics so that took me around 3 and a 1/2 hours (geez!)
finally the moment of truth I took my guitar upstairs, plugged it into my fender mustang 1 v2 20 watt amp, and grabbed my screw driver, I then proceeded to flick my switch to the bridge position...................................................................................thud..........................ThUd............................THUD......................................................THUD! It was probably greatest feeling of relief I have had in MY LIFE! I soon switched to the neck position and carried out on doing the same thing.....................thud...............thud.................Thud................... and then I strung my guitar up and then hung it up on my wall for the night, I was exhausted and the next day I began to set up the guitar and play some of my favorite riffs on it. I was very pleasantly surprised that I was able to get a pretty good peace sells tone out of it when eq'ed right (besides it not sounding as clear).
Really the Invaders are the pickups straight out of hell fierce, angry, mean, aggresive, percussive, as rich as chocolate, and still have that great passive emotion to them which I really love. They sound much better than the emg 81 I have in my peace sells vmnt (even though that is very debatable) part of that sound may be that I decided to get a 0.022 capacitor instead of using the stock 0.047 capacitor who knows anyways so far I think the time and money turned out to pay off very well.
Parts I bought:
. SD Invader set
. 2 seymour duncan 500k smooth turning pots
. a bag full of 0.022 caps
. black hh pickguard made by ikn
. 3 way switch made by crl
Pictures:
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