Strat mods

Alanstrainor

As some of you may know, i have a squire classic vibe that i bought purely to mod. I've done a few bits, weird pickups, gold hardware, new scratch plate. Nothing too major.
Anyway, after the meetup there on the weekend, i want P90's!!! And was thinking about keeping things simple. Buy a blank scratch plate on ebay that i can fit any pickup to, fit a hole for a P90 in the neck position. And having nothing but a kill switch and an input jack!
Am i crazy?:D
Tbh, i think it could be just about the most awesome thing in the world!

stephenshields2

Sound like it could be very interesting!

Personally wouldnt have the killswitch alone... Maybe have it with a volume knob as well?

Alanstrainor

stephenshields2 wrote: »

Sound like it could be very interesting!

Personally wouldnt have the killswitch alone... Maybe have it with a volume knob as well?

Common sense would say have a volume pot. But there's a crazy person in my head saying just have a kill switch!

stephenshields2

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Common sense would say have a volume pot. But there's a crazy person in my head saying just have a kill switch!

You could always add a volume knob later on anyway!

boycey

Hmmm, I wonder what inspired these kerrazzy thoughts of yours Alan?!!

Personally, I'd go for a P90 in the bridge position, I never really liked Strat bridge pickups, especially wired normally with no tone control. But then again sonic beauty is in the ear of the beholder. Neck or bridge, it would be a cool mod on a Strat.

As an aside, the P90s in the Hamer have a lot more 'sizzle' going on and are the most Fenderish to my ears, the Bareknuckles in the SG are darker with a more vintage Gibson P90 vibe. I really like the Seymour Duncan P90 in the neck position of the Hamer, it sounds superb. Had you a brand in mind?

Alanstrainor

boycey wrote: »

Hmmm, I wonder what inspired these kerrazzy thoughts of yours Alan?!!

Personally, I'd go for a P90 in the bridge position, I never really liked Strat bridge pickups, especially wired normally with no tone control. But then again sonic beauty is in the ear of the beholder. Neck or bridge, it would be a cool mod on a Strat.

As an aside, the P90s in the Hamer have a lot more 'sizzle' going on and are the most Fenderish to my ears, the Bareknuckles in the SG are darker with a more vintage Gibson P90 vibe. I really like the Seymour Duncan P90 in the neck position of the Hamer, it sounds superb. Had you a brand in mind?

I really have no idea what P90 i would even buy. But i think i want to just have a single pickup in it! Like a someones junior i may have been playing!

Johnny Storm

boycey wrote: »

Hmmm, I wonder what inspired these kerrazzy thoughts of yours Alan?!!

Personally, I'd go for a P90 in the bridge position, I never really liked Strat bridge pickups, especially wired normally with no tone control. But then again sonic beauty is in the ear of the beholder. Neck or bridge, it would be a cool mod on a Strat.

As an aside, the P90s in the Hamer have a lot more 'sizzle' going on and are the most Fenderish to my ears, the Bareknuckles in the SG are darker with a more vintage Gibson P90 vibe. I really like the Seymour Duncan P90 in the neck position of the Hamer, it sounds superb. Had you a brand in mind?

IMHO that Hamer sounded deadly.
I'd try out the P90 in both neck and bridge positions (why not middle too?) on the strat before deciding on a scratchplate.

Paolo_M

Hey man,
Why not have the killswitch plus a pushpull volume pot.
In one poisition you'd a volume control, with treble bleed of course, and the other position would be straight across the output jack.
An alternitive would be to use one of those "off" pots that are disconnected completely when they it 10. It'd be a more elegant an simple way of doing the same thing.
While you're at it; a neat trick is to insert a resistor (1k works well with a 500k pot ) between the ground lug and ground itself. This gives you a variable gain control if you're using a OD pedal or a distorted amp. Now you'll be able to wind your volume control all the way down and have a clean rather than turning it off completely, that's what the kill switch is for anyway.
It's the same as being able to get to that .7 position that just passes signal but you just need to turn it completely, much easier in a gig. The treble bleed cap would ensure that it doesn't get muddy.

darrenw5094

Paolo_M wrote: »

Hey man,
Why not have the killswitch plus a pushpull volume pot.
In one poisition you'd a volume control, with treble bleed of course, and the other position would be straight across the output jack.
An alternitive would be to use one of those "off" pots that are disconnected completely when they it 10. It'd be a more elegant an simple way of doing the same thing.
While you're at it; a neat trick is to insert a resistor (1k works well with a 500k pot ) between the ground lug and ground itself. This gives you a variable gain control if you're using a OD pedal or a distorted amp. Now you'll be able to wind your volume control all the way down and have a clean rather than turning it off completely, that's what the kill switch is for anyway.
It's the same as being able to get to that .7 position that just passes signal but you just need to turn it completely, much easier in a gig. The treble bleed cap would ensure that it doesn't get muddy.

How about that Seymour Duncan that is all 3, single coil, P90 and humbucker. You would need a 3 way switch to change them.

Gold hardware.......:eek:

Mataguri

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Common sense would say have a volume pot. But there's a crazy person in my head saying just have a kill switch!

Or how about a killpot? A killswitch and volume pot in one. I have one in a Strat and it works extremely well:

Alanstrainor

Paolo_M wrote: »

Hey man,
Why not have the killswitch plus a pushpull volume pot.
In one poisition you'd a volume control, with treble bleed of course, and the other position would be straight across the output jack.
An alternitive would be to use one of those "off" pots that are disconnected completely when they it 10. It'd be a more elegant an simple way of doing the same thing.
While you're at it; a neat trick is to insert a resistor (1k works well with a 500k pot ) between the ground lug and ground itself. This gives you a variable gain control if you're using a OD pedal or a distorted amp. Now you'll be able to wind your volume control all the way down and have a clean rather than turning it off completely, that's what the kill switch is for anyway.
It's the same as being able to get to that .7 position that just passes signal but you just need to turn it completely, much easier in a gig. The treble bleed cap would ensure that it doesn't get muddy.

Wow, what a post! Cheers Paolo. I've a lot to think about.

However i must stress that my knowledge of electronics/wiring isn't the best, some might even say it's terrible! So the above may be a bit over kill. I had never even heard of an "off" pot. It sounds ideal.

I have a blank scratch plate ordered, so deciding to add two more pickups wont be an issue, no matter what they are. As a test run, before taking the plunge on a nice P90, i might wire in a texas special strat pickup or a Telecaster bridge pickup in the neck that i have lying around.

Thanks for all the posts. I honestly can't wait to get this started!

wild turkey

You cant have any more fun than on a single pickup guitar, especially with a p90 & with paulo's input its going to be better than ever !

boycey

darrenw5094 wrote: »

How about that Seymour Duncan that is all 3, single coil, P90 and humbucker. You would need a 3 way switch to change them.

Gold hardware.......:eek:

That is a damn good idea. Versatility and simplicity at the same time!