Upgrading a junky strat

StoRMiE

StoRMiE

New member
I felt the need to make an account after lurking here for information regarding random things over the past couple of months, So yeah.

Anyway, I have a terrible Squier SE Strat that I've hated for the longest time. Not because it's a bad instrument but because I just don't like anything about it. The pickguard is yellowed, The headstock is misshapen so bad that I can see it from across the room and it haunts me. Only reason I keep it is because my sister gave it to me a while back, It was her first guitar. Needless to say she didn't really take care of it as it has more dings, dents, and scratches than I can count.

So I decided to change everything I hated about it and while I was at it I might as well throw a humbucker into it since it's routed for it, Problem is that I love having a slanted bridge pickup, So I picked up a Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid Production floor custom and bought a slanted HB pickguard without thinking about the routing. Gotta rout it out slightly to get it to fit. While I was at it I decided to change the cheap import switch and alpha pots because they crackle and it has 3 500k's for some odd reason. I've been held up by several things, most recently being the only part I've been waiting on is a new CTS 250k since I used one of the ones I bought in a different guitar. The pot arrived broken yesterday, It doesn't turn and I can't understand why. So I'm shipping it back and have to wait on a replacement... Parts thus far are as followed.

B/W/B Warmoth angled HSS pickguard
Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid Production floor custom
CTS pots
Oak Grigsby 5 way
Mallory 150 .022 cap
Strat knobs that looks like LP knobs
Chrome screws to replace rusty junk.
WP_20140225_004.jpgWP_20140225_002.jpgWP_20140225_003.jpgWP_20140320_025.jpgWP_20140320_026.jpgInside black strat before pickguard swap.jpg

As time goes on I was hoping to replace the neck, tuners, bridge, trem block, and get it repainted. But then I remembered it's a Squier.

Here's hoping that I actually attached pictures correctly and this is in the right place within the forum. If it's not, My bad...
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

I endorse these shenanigans. What's the headstock look like that gets to ya? I really dislike the 70s headstock personally.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

WP_20140325_001.jpg

The ball of the headstock is 3/4 the size of every strat I've seen and own.
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

I have one of these... It's really not as bad as you say it is... Or at least mine isn't. With thae upgrades it should be a fun guitar to futz around on
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

As long as you realize that you're probably gonna end up with a Squier that has five times its value in parts installed...have fun and knock yourself out. (And no, I'm not saying that sarcastically.)
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

The way I look at it, It's a strat. Anything I put into it I can remove and put into something else later. For the most part anyway.
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

I have worked on those Chinese-made Squiers before now.

Hang on to the original pickguard. You may need it as a template. The screw holes around the perimeter of your replacement pickguard will almost certainly not align with the holes drilled into the guitar body. The worst culprit is the the hole at the bottom corner of the guard, where the MIC outline stretches further towards the jack socket plate than the average Stratoclone. You may find that the corresponding screw on your new guard is trying to bite into fresh air.

Three solutions.
1) Another Chinese-made guard.
2) Some sort of filler or dowel in the corner of the control cavity. (This will match up with the screw hole in a conventional guard.)
3) A replacement pickguard in which the screw holes have not been pre-drilled. (This is where the original guard comes in useful as a template.)

I concur with the concern expressed by others about the disproportionate expenditure. My own solution was to go minimal - "spare" Fender Tex-Mex humbucker, Hxx guard, decent quality pots, capacitor and jack socket.
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

I've had quite a different experience, This was my previous attempt, Lined up 100% perfect. No re drilling and absolutely no problems, It was a 100% drop in. I doubt I'll get that lucky twice but a couple of new holes never killed it.

WP_20130606_001.jpgInside of my strat After Tea.jpgWP_20130609_001.jpg
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

I have no idea how to wire the cap in... Where do I put it? I know absolutely nothing about wiring.

Edit: Scratch that, I figured it out.
 
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Re: Upgrading a junky strat

You realize that's a .22uf cap? You need .022uf. The one you have will convert the tone control to a volume control.
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

ArtieToo said:
You realize that's a .22uf cap? You need .022uf. The one you have will convert the tone control to a volume control.
Click to expand...

No I did not, That would probably explain why it's the size of my thumb.

Edit: Just ordered the correct cap, Thanks for informing me of my opps and telling me what it does.
 
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Re: Upgrading a junky strat

No prob man. Btw, I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek when I said it would convert it to a volume control. In reality, it would roll everything off above so low of a frequency that you might still hear something, but it would sound like a subwoofer under a mattress. :)
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

I wonder what would happen if I put it in a bass on a 10 Meg pot.

In all seriousness what would somebody use a .22 for?
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

A .22uf is fairly common as the input or output cap in any audio circuit where you want to block DC from getting in or out. In other words, you'd want to pass all of the audio frequencies, rather than dump them to ground.
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

ArtieToo said:
You realize that's a .22uf cap? You need .022uf. The one you have will convert the tone control to a volume control.
Click to expand...

Saw that also,but you beat me too it Artie...Glad one of us caught it..That's a big value cap! LOL
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

I'm fond of upgrading Squier Strats along with other junky guitars. I've got a Peavey Raptor I that's been sitting in my closet feeling sad and dejected because she's not loved like my other guitars. Upcoming project alert! Annie's getting a redo as a HSS with a Duncan Designed HB and part of a set of Dragonfire Texas Blues Pickups. I've been working on my soldering technique to get it pretty good but I know the feeling of "creating" something new with my hands. So keep it up Stormie, cut your teeth on a cruddy old guitar, there'll be bigger and better projects down the road.
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat


THis is what I had to do to put a different guard on a fake Strat. Just make sure it's not too close to the tone pot... I ended up shaving the side of the dowel down to clear the pot.
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiring_resources_guitar_wiring_diagrams/
THese guys have 1001 different wiring diagrams available, and if they don't have what you need on there already they can make something up. And I think upgrading junky strats is fun!
 
Re: Upgrading a junky strat

Took about a month to get to doing it, Had a couple other things to do and didn't really get around to it.

1) Ended up having to "rout" a little of the cavity out in a few spots to get things to fit where they should.
2) Had to dowel/re-drill all the screw holes as they were just off enough that I couldn't get the screws in.
3) Pickguard fit fine but the bridge had a slightly higher edge for the trem arm that I had to take a file to in order to make it fit correctly.]
4) Wired it to auto split the 59/Custom Hybrid since It would probably be the most useful bridge pickup to split.

commencing pic dump. If anybody actually cares because you probably don't.
(Apologies for pic spam ahead of time, Took way more pictures than I thought I did.)

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More as I upload them...
 
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