New strat project questions

-=al=-

I got this Strat the other day,










I only wanted the neck really, it just looked so nice and i always wanted a nice glossy maple neck for my other strat which i kinda went to town with chaning and customising around...




-righty trem stuck in the tremolo
-autographed headstock
-name on the headstock... used a penknife to get the brand name off
-cut a hole int he bridge for the humbucker... with a penknife
-personalised artwork on the plate... randomly with a marker
-pups i has in an old guitar and some i found ina friends shed
-hand scalloped neck which took forever

in very unorthadox ways...


I was originally going to just change the neck but i bought the body too so ill start a whole new project on the new strat and do a Jimi hendirx on it




So i got a few Q's about it,


of corse ima leftie so im converting it to be comfortably playable lefthanded.. with a HSH configuration

Questions

Q.1 Im going to get a lefty trem for it, Is there any mods i need to make to the cavity for it? Ill have to fill the holes where the previous righty trem screws were and edit the plate a bit, But will it will be possible to put the lety trem in and working fully?



Q.2 The output jack, i was going to route a hole in the bottom of the guitar (near the bridge pin) for a new output for the jack, its awkward now the way where it is, i got a plastic les paul jack plate for it so i can just put that over it or even use the original...



Q.3 Volume and tone controls: i was thinkin about moving 1 volume and 1 tone to just under the bridge pup (scrapping the extra tone controll) but will the lefty tremolo bar get in the way also adding a killswitch but not sure where to put it as of yet and the Pickup switch, also under one of the pups...



Q.4 the old hole where the output jack plate was, any ideas what to put in place of it? or jsut to leave it blank since whatevers there might get in the way..



Q.5 the nut, how do u get it off!? and what nuts are the best for strats with frequent bending and whammy bar abuse... graphite is what seems to be the one.. for it but i was also looking at a tusq nut




Q.6 the best tool for routing a swimming pool cavity under the plate? its only routed for single coils t the moment theres a lil bita wood int he way...



oh and one more lil q... there's a lil bow in the neck i forget which way u turn it to straighten it up, which was is which again?


That's pretty much all i can think of, im going to get a few things on stewmac for it, i.e the trems, nuts, screws jackplate, new knobs etc, anytihng else?

Ancient1

Bastard.

Edit: Ok I'm calm now, meant to say that's a gorgeous Strat. :P

Johnny Storm

I can answer two of you questions:-

Turn the truss rod clockwise to reduce relief ie straighten the neck

To get the nut off: Use a razor blade or similar to cut through any varnish that may be sticking the nut to the neck. Put a big screwdriver or similar up against the side of the nut, give the screwdriver a firm tap with a mallet (ie you are trying to move the nut sideways across the neck in its own slot). Nut should come loose unless some previous owner has super-glued it in. Only use a drop or two of wood glue to hold your new nut in, in case you have to move it again.


Check out the bottom of the page

steveland?

That an SX?

-=al=-

Yes

ive no idea about them at all, any use? but i love the neck, the pics dont do it justice..

but tis gona be complety changed but i need some help first...



and its leave it for 15 mins every quarter turn or something isnt it

Dord

-=al=- wrote:

Yes

ive no idea about them at all, any use? but i love the neck, the pics dont do it justice..

but tis gona be complety changed but i need some help first...



and its leave it for 15 mins every quarter turn or something isnt it

SX's = teh SeX

i have that exact strat in the same colours and everything. sounds great, even stock. i just play it straight into my microcube :cool:

theyre a really solid base for modding. i've got an SX bass too and i'm thinking about another...

Giblet

-=al=- wrote:

Yes

ive no idea about them at all, any use? but i love the neck, the pics dont do it justice..

but tis gona be complety changed but i need some help first...



and its leave it for 15 mins every quarter turn or something isnt it

Try 12 hours.

steveland?

-=al=- wrote:

Yes

ive no idea about them at all, any use? but i love the neck, the pics dont do it justice..

but tis gona be complety changed but i need some help first...



and its leave it for 15 mins every quarter turn or something isnt it

I dunno, I've the exact same strat here (only black).

May give it a bit of a going over once I have my Les Paul finito but without any modding I was never impressed with the SX.

It seemed to me to be below a Squier quality wise...

The_g-man

All the money goes into the look, I had the same colour strat and got rid of it within two weeks. As good as the clear sound was out of it [for the money], as soon the gain was turned up it turned to fizz instead of distortion. Through multi-fx like you have on the microcube it should be passable.

-=al=-

first thing im doing is getin rid of the single coils, single coils and overdrive dont mix 80% of the time for what i do

they'r only nice for cleans neck and mid paired together that is...


ill be carefull with the trussrod, theres no rush, and the nut looks like it will come off relativly easy


got any more answers!?

fish-head

Looks like a nice piece of kit for modding. Check out GuitarFetish.com for some cheap but quality pickups for it. My friend has an SX Strat like that, it's actually a very nice little guitar. He still plays it. Loves it, even.

The neck looks absolutely fantastic.

Johnny Storm

fish-head wrote:

The neck looks absolutely fantastic.

+1

Giblet

-=al=- wrote:

first thing im doing is getin rid of the single coils, single coils and overdrive dont mix 80% of the time for what i do

they'r only nice for cleans neck and mid paired together that is...

A good single coil neck pickup through a good amp is fantastic.

-=al=-

The neck is AMAZING its very nice

and i have some old ibanez pups v7 and v8 and an EMG single coil i found ina friends sheda while back, i use 2 emgs in my strat already and it has the nicest cleans...


i liek single coils for a night bluesy type overdrive but i cant find the nice punchy full tones u get with humbukers

the bridge is in some pretty good nic too, i dont think it was played much at all

i have some tools for the swimming pool routing replaceing the bridge pin and ill ait till ig et a lefty trem till i do some cutting for it, also gota cut out the humbuckers spacing

lots of work, lovely

Dord

IMO single coils are only good for cleans/slightly dirty sounds. this guitar is no exception.

i'm buying new pups and pickguard from Jay at GFS at the end of the month. i'll be posting some pics of my plans...mmmwhahah i have a great idea for it!