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Question about customising

  • 11-01-2009 8:32pm
    #1
    Music-and-booze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 152 ✭✭


    hey guys, i'm looking to get my old SX strat done-up as i need a back -up guitar for playing live. Ive had it for years and its pretty worse for wear, i'd be looking to get new pick-ups and locking tuners fitted to the guitar, i was just wondering if anyone would have an idea about the best brands to get and where to get them? And if anywhere in Dublin would provide the service of installing them? Budget is about 250 euro...

    Also if my budget allows i was thinking about getting a black scratchplate and pots fitted, anyone know if this is possible to source in dublin?

    Cheers.


Comments

  • #2
    Alanstrainor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,157 ✭✭✭✭Alanstrainor


    If you're in anyway handy with a soldering iron, it's a DIY job really. Well that's for the pickups side of things, i just installed a new set on a squier i just got, very painless, 6 solders total had the job done.


  • #3
    Music-and-booze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 152 ✭✭Music-and-booze


    yeah i know how to solder, but I wouldn't be handy enough to trust myself with expensive pick-ups, I don't think its that expensive to get it done professionally anyway


  • #4
    spoonbadger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,365 ✭✭✭spoonbadger


    Music-and-booze wrote: »
    hey guys, i'm looking to get my old SX strat done-up as i need a back -up guitar for playing live. Ive had it for years and its pretty worse for wear, i'd be looking to get new pick-ups and locking tuners fitted to the guitar, i was just wondering if anyone would have an idea about the best brands to get and where to get them? And if anywhere in Dublin would provide the service of installing them? Budget is about 250 euro...

    Also if my budget allows i was thinking about getting a black scratchplate and pots fitted, anyone know if this is possible to source in dublin?

    Cheers.
    Install them yourself, that'll give about 50€ of your budget back to the tuners and pickups.

    What kind of tone are you going for?. That'll decide what pickups you get.This breaks down into...

    1. What kind of music you play.
    2. What kind of music you like.
    3. What other gear (amp,effects) you have.

    As for the tuners, it'll depend on what's already in your strat. Different tuners have different size holes, and different layouts.

    These the tuners i'd recomend. They're supposedly the best ones out there...
    http://www.thomann.de/ie/fender_schaller_locking_tuner_ch.htm


  • #5
    spoonbadger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,365 ✭✭✭spoonbadger


    Music-and-booze wrote: »
    yeah i know how to solder, but I wouldn't be handy enough to trust myself with expensive pick-ups, I don't think its that expensive to get it done professionally anyway
    I wouldnt worry about that too much if i were you.Like alan says, it's very simple. If you've ever soldered an instrument cable, then you're more than qualified to solder a guitar!!. And dont worry,you wont have to do any soldering anywhere near the pickups, just the pots and switch.


  • #6
    Music-and-booze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 152 ✭✭Music-and-booze


    hey spoonbadger, i play mostly garage/alternative rock stuff, so would be looking for that raw strat sound, without the horrible tinny sound you tend to get from cheap guitars like the one i have, wouldn't be confident installing the pick-ups though i'd almost definitely make a mess of it.
    Tuners look great, look like theyd fit too, is there anyway of telling if theyd fit my strat copy?


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  • #7
    spoonbadger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,365 ✭✭✭spoonbadger


    Music-and-booze wrote: »
    hey spoonbadger, i play mostly garage/alternative rock stuff, so would be looking for that raw strat sound, without the horrible tinny sound you tend to get from cheap guitars like the one i have, wouldn't be confident installing the pick-ups though i'd almost definitely make a mess of it.
    Tuners look great, look like theyd fit too, is there anyway of telling if theyd fit my strat copy?
    Did you get any kind of info with your guitar?.Manual?. Anything thing like that would say what size your tuners are. Or, you could just find a site that's selling it, and it'll tell you.

    As for garage rock, How about....

    Bridge SD quarter pound. Hot single coil or Tele-style single coil or Single sized humbucker coil

    Middle SD 52. Classic single coil

    Neck SD alnice2. Warm single coil

    The middle and neck pickups are fairly standard strat style. The first bridge pickup is a pretty hot single coil. The second one is a strat pickup which sounds like a telecaster bridge pickup (alot of garage/alt. bands have used telecasters, more or less ever since the clash). the third pickup is a single sized humbucker, which would be good for more aggresive alt. rock and chugga-chugga riffs.


  • #8
    Squirrel
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,376 ✭✭✭Squirrel


    Alanstrainor wrote: »
    If you're in anyway handy with a soldering iron, it's a DIY job really. Well that's for the pickups side of things, i just installed a new set on a squier i just got, very painless, 6 solders total had the job done.

    When are the pictures coming of that Squier Alan? It's the Classic Vibe right? Music-and-booze, no need to worry about soldering, it doesn't need to look the neatest, and it's generally pretty hard to mess up. Give it a shot and as said will give ya more of your budget to spend on better stuff, or just plain save you money


  • #9
    Dord
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dord


    I did the same about 2 years ago to an SX strat. I customised it with GFS parts and Wilkinson locking tuners. :)

    Check out the thread here http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055069939&highlight=gfs


  • #10
    Music-and-booze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 152 ✭✭Music-and-booze


    cheers dude the guitar looks awesome, i see u got a new pickguard, i was thinking about getting a new one for my SX, saw a few on thomann that took my fancy, anyone know if there's a standard size for strat model pickguards? i.e, if i were to buy a pickguard made for a fender strat, would it fit my SX?


  • #11
    Alanstrainor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,157 ✭✭✭✭Alanstrainor


    Just make sure the pickguard you go for has the correct number of screws for mounting it. The older 50's styled pick guards have 8 holes where as newer versions have 11.


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  • #12
    Dord
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,817 ✭✭✭✭Dord


    Music-and-booze wrote: »
    cheers dude the guitar looks awesome, i see u got a new pickguard, i was thinking about getting a new one for my SX, saw a few on thomann that took my fancy, anyone know if there's a standard size for strat model pickguards? i.e, if i were to buy a pickguard made for a fender strat, would it fit my SX?

    I bought mine from Guitarfetish along with the pickups. I think it needed a slight bit of modification, nothing too extreme. :)


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