Doing up the oul strat

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 9:09am #1

I'm not in a single coil place at the moment and toyed with the idea of selling my strat for a while, but have since seen sense (say that quickly) and I'm thinking of humbucking its ass.

Here it is at present

I'm pretty much decided on a Gibson Tony Iommi humbucker (no point having a JB in everything) and, co-incidentally, saw a bloke yesterday who did a similar job to what I have in mind

but the chrome pickup on a white scratch plate looks gash IMO. So I'm thinking of maybe a gold anodized scratchplate sort of like this but with only a single full size humbucker

Though not in the Tom DeLonge stylee, I want a tone knob too

Should I be locked up?

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 9:25am

Even though the desecration of Strats is utter blasphemy and against my religion, i think this could work out quite well, tbh...

Saw that pic you PMed me last night and i think it's quite doable....

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 9:37am

Yeah, I'll be keeping the existing scratchplate and pickups intact so returning it to factory spec is a 10 minute job, just don't know about what scratch plate to get though

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 9:42am

Tiger-stripe?

Or a mirror plate a la Phil Lynott?

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 9:44am

Yeah, the mirror one is high up on the list

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 9:47am

What about whachamacall the material.....the metal looking yoke - one of Dime's guitar bodies was entirely covered in it and i think Hetfield had a black ESP with a similar body?

Ring a bell? i'll try to link a pic...

This is what i had in mind....can you even get a scratchplate like that?

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 9:55am

Yeah you can and no, I wouldn't

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 9:57am

Something along these lines then?

clay · 13-05-2005 9:59am

gold anodized scratchplate, chrome pickup.....sounds like "chav my axe"!

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 10:00am

Dunno about the whole ripple thing

the plain mirror thing would go well with the pickup alright

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 10:04am

clay wrote:

gold anodized scratchplate, chrome pickup.....sounds like "chav my axe"!

Yeah, that had crossed my mind

The whole Mary Kaye Strat thing has my mind all a-clouded

I do believe that to be the prettiest of all strats

must get used to these extra buttons

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 10:04am

"chav my axe"!

LOL, quiet you!

We're talking about Doc's axe here, not just any axe!

The whole Mary Kaye Strat thing has my mind all a-clouded

Oh. My. God. That is just beautiful...

What did i tell you man, huh?

No life til Fender.

clay · 13-05-2005 11:22am

wow! that's one to hang over the fireplace all right...the grain coming through looks gorgeous

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 11:37am

Yeah, mine has the same white blonde finish (doesn't really show up well in these pics) which is why I was thinking gold might be a good thing

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 11:44am

Gold might look good indeed, but whatever you do, do not get a matching gold shirt - unless you're into Abba.

Eoin Madsen · 13-05-2005 12:22pm

Ooh. Why don't you strip the finish, sand it down a touch, and refinish satin? I bet the wood is even lovelier without all that nasty plastic white.

Ooh. Take out the floating bridge and install a nice fixed one.

Ooh. Rewire it so you have a volume knob for each pickup, do away with the pickup selector, and add a tone and a vari-tone (rotary switch to change tone capacitor value).

Right... I need a good strat and some money.

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 12:29pm

No, I love the finish.

The bridge isn't floating, it's going nowhere.

There'll only be one pickup when I'm done and I'm not giving each coil a volume control

Yes, you do need a good strat

feylya · 13-05-2005 12:33pm

You can get the Tony Iommi pickup in black afaik...

And I should take a picture of my checkerplate pickguard :eek:

It sucks

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 12:34pm

And gold... black looks too much like an EMG

feylya · 13-05-2005 12:37pm

PAH! What about frosted aluminium. Or maybe just a good old fashioned mother of pearl pickguard?

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 12:40pm

Possibly mop, twas on the list of considerations...

what's frosted aluminim? Can you find a single humbucker strat scratchplate in frosted aluminium?

feylya · 13-05-2005 12:45pm

Can't find a picture of one now but it's the sort of rough effect you can get on computer cases and DVD players and the like.

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 12:48pm

OSX?

Ah yes, I know it. Very pricey though.

These guys seem to have the best selction out there.

feylya · 13-05-2005 12:51pm

http://wdmusicproducts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WMPI&Product_Code=STZ-213

That one. Or you could just get a clear pickguard, some self sticking mirror tape and a can of black paint and make your own..

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 12:52pm

" (SIMULATED) "

Meh, dunno how well that would go with a chrome pickup though?

feylya · 13-05-2005 12:56pm

Nothing gets on well with a chrome pickup on a white guitar. Maybe black mother of pearl?

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 1:05pm

I think ancient1 might be onto something with the mirror idea...

Although if I saw someone with that I'd think they were a twat

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 1:09pm

I'll pit the link up cos it's a bleedin huge picture

feylya · 13-05-2005 1:17pm

Iron Maiden stylee!

Giblet · 13-05-2005 1:17pm

Definatly a Mirror scratch to go with the pickup. Blind people in the audience.

My poor strat is taking a Rory Gallagher turn for the worst. Pray for it.

feylya · 13-05-2005 1:19pm

Oooh, don't forget lasers!

And there's nothing wrong with having a Rory Gallagher style strat

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 2:00pm

Have you started to sweat acid? Drink more milk

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 2:47pm

Mirror plates are cool!

Just wipe your hands off that kebab sauce before you pick up the guitar.

Fey, been listening to some Hendrix lately?

feylya · 13-05-2005 2:53pm

Not really. Just got that song stuck in my head

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 2:55pm

It's a very good one to have stuck in your head

feylya · 13-05-2005 2:55pm

TIS! Must learn it some day. And I must get a strat...

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 2:57pm

I think i still have the Guitar World transcript to that song somewhere, if i dig it up, i'll send it to you. Absolutely completely unplayable, of course.

feylya · 13-05-2005 3:00pm

Cheers. Ah, it'll be something different to my usual power chord ****e

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 3:05pm

Believe me, you'll be glad to go back to that safe power chord haven.
Jimi was a lunatic.

Anyways, Doc, this is what i actually meant when i put up that pic of Dime.

Dia.EpiphoneEXBlack.JPG

bonzai bob · 13-05-2005 3:09pm

question: How would the strat sound with a single hum compared to the standard 3 coils?

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 3:09pm

Bob: Deadly.

Ancient1: Yeah, diamond plate, I think it's called?

bonzai bob · 13-05-2005 3:10pm

Doctor J wrote:

Bob: Deadly.

Touché

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 3:11pm

Diamond plate, possibly yeah....works well in some situations.

Doc, you have gots to take a look at this:

http://www.customchrome.co.uk/guitar.htm

bonzai bob · 13-05-2005 3:11pm

why not 2 humbuckers?

feylya · 13-05-2005 3:12pm

Diamond plate on a strat hurts...

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 3:13pm

Perhaps.

But chrome dolphins??

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 3:13pm

Well, it won't sound like a strat... which is kind of the idea. I'm writing very heavy stuff tuned down to B at the moment, so you can kind of understand why the strat is sitting in its case... which is bad. I want to play it. So I reckon a gamble (yeah right) on the Tony Iommi pickup and a new scratchplate for the strat is the way forward here. If it sounds ****e, just stick the old scratchplate back in (with all the old pickups, wiring, etc ready to go) in 10 minutes.

Doctor J · 13-05-2005 3:14pm

bonzai bob wrote:

why not 2 humbuckers?

I can get by very happily on one.

Ancient1 - No. Put down the mouse and walk away from the computer

feylya · 13-05-2005 3:16pm

Just do a Van Halen and chop up a pickguard!

Ancient1 · 13-05-2005 3:16pm

Ok ok, i'll be good.

feylya · 13-05-2005 3:17pm

And for stuff in B, just get a 7 string

Doing up the oul strat

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