Replacement Pickup?

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dewhitt

Dave DeWhitt
Hi All,

I have a 1980s Japanese-made Fender Strat that I use for recording all my guitar tracks and I've been struggling with getting a good, heavy rock tone for quite awhile now. The Strat has three single coil pups, which sound, well....like a strat :) Which is cool, if that's the tone you are trying to get (and sometimes it is, but other times I really need a heavier tone - see Signs of Life on my soundclick page). Unfortunately, I don't currently have the funds for a new guitar, but I've been thinking about putting in a higher gain humbucker in the bridge position of the Strat, maybe something like a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. So....

Is this a good idea? Which humbuckers do you like for this?

Thanks,

Dave DeWhitt
http://www.soundclick.com/davedewhitt
 
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Since your guitars body is routed for the 3 single coils, you'd have to do some work on the guitar to get a bucker in there. You would also need to acquire a new pickguard with the S-S-H cuts. Then you have to rewire all of it. If you're up to all that, then go for it. If not, I'd just save up my money and buy a decent guitar with 2 humbuckers. Then you have your strat sound and your heavy sound!

For parts and tools to get the work done, if you decide to go that route, google stewmac or all-parts and you can find anything you need for guitar modification on those websites. I'm sure there are some tutorials on the interwebs about a S-S-S to S-S-H conversion if you dig around. But just warning you...guitar mods can really mess up your axe if you do something wrong, and all it takes is a second to mess something up. If this is a guitar that you love dearly and are afraid your abilities might not be up to snuff...buy a new guitar for the tone you want or take it to a luthier to get the mods done.
 
Thanks, yeah I should've mentioned that I'll definitely be taking this to my local guitar shop to have the work done if I go with a full sized humbucker that requires routing and tons of rewiring. If I go with a single wide profile like the Seymour Duncan SJBJ-1 JB Jr, which is kind of what I'm leaning toward now, then I might just try to tackle it myself.

This isn't exactly a dearly loved guitar, it's more like a POS that is the only guitar I have :) But it is the only guitar I have, so in that sense I'd be pretty upset if I jacked it up :eek:

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
http://www.soundclick.com/davedewhitt
 
Ahh ok. Well, if you wanna sell the "POS" to me, I'll be glad to take it off your hands since you don't like it too well. Haha. They just don't make em like they used to...a 1980 Fender (even a Japanese one) is a great guitar...unless it's been abused. But irregardless, if you're absolutely sure you want to do it, then go for it. But remember that the routing is irreversable if you go with the dual-profile humbucker...choose wisely. :D
 
After you pay the shop to rout the body and re-wire the guitar, pay for the humbucker and pickguard, and take a hit on the value of a arguably collectible guitar, you will likely be out quite a bit more than a used MIM HSS or Epiphone Les Paul will cost you- maybe even more than new one might cost. Unless you need/want to travel light (JJ Cale would approve:D) or don't want to open yourself to GAS infection, you might be better off buying another guitar.
 
Only you can know what you want, sound-wise, but if I were you, I'd get another guitar. If you want, you could go the humbucker-in-a-single-coil-form factor, like the JB Jr., make sure you keep all of the original components if you want to sell the guitar later. As has been alluded to, there's a pretty big market for Japanese strats, but the more original they are, the better. I know guys who are even looking for just the 80's Japanese Strat pickups. The ones I've heard were awesome.
 
Not sure about the Humbucker thing because I am a P-90 nut. I just put two in my Strat body.

Warmoth has a good interactive site and a pickguard builder. [I created and routed my own pickguard because I have 2tone, 2vol controls and my Neck P-90 is in a custom position]

Check this out; their pickguards are as cheap as anyones. Its also cool to play around with.

http://www.warmoth.com/Pickguard/StratPickguard.aspx

There is not really all that much to changing a pickup, have a search online for whichever configuration you go for, someone is bound to have already done it.
 
I'm really shocked to hear that there's a market for 80s Japanese Strats...not that this is a bad guitar, I exaggerated when I referred to it as a POS, but still... :D

I just ordered a Seymour Duncan Little 59 mini humbucker and I'm going to give it a whirl. Yeah, I will definitely be saving all the original parts and I will absolutely not proceed if it looks like this would damage the guitar. I'm thinking this could be a good thing for me for recording because the neck single coil pup will cover me for bluesier, more classic-rock type tones, and then the bridge humbucker should hopefully help me with higher gain efforts.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll post some clips when I get the new pup installed.

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
http://www.soundclick.com/davedewhitt
 
you can't go wrong with a set of Wilde Bill Lawrence pickups.

i have a lil 59'r in a custom strat, it's nice, but i prefer the lawrence at this point.
 
SD Hot rail will give that fat bucker tone for sure. It'll be about $100 and 20 minutes of time. I would NOT alter the 3 single setup. That guitar is rather a hot commodity and it will retain value with all original parts as is (keep the old pup) in case you ever want to sell the guitar some day.
Good luck.
 
Putting a humbucker on a Strat is tantamount to heresy, IMO. :D
 
I presume you've already checked the cavity on the off-chance that it may have a swimming-pool type route. I'd consider something by Jeff at BKP - this might be what you're looking for. Expensive, but very good kit.
 
dewhitt said:
.

This isn't exactly a dearly loved guitar, it's more like a POS that is the only guitar I have :)
Click to expand...

80's Jap Strat a POS? Really? I've heard nothing but good things. The best fender neck I've played is on a Jap Fender.
 
Yeh, anytime you want to get rid of that POS at garage sale pricing...just shoot me a PM.
 
matttheaxe said:
SD Hot rail will give that fat bucker tone for sure. It'll be about $100 and 20 minutes of time. I would NOT alter the 3 single setup. That guitar is rather a hot commodity and it will retain value with all original parts as is (keep the old pup) in case you ever want to sell the guitar some day.
Good luck.
Click to expand...

+1
the hot rails is a machine imo
 
Well, I'll say this...you guys are definitely making me reevaluate my opinion of the worth of the strat. As I said, I was exaggerating when I called it a POS. In fact, it's a really nice looking guitar and it plays well and sounds good. If I had to name a gripe it would be the bridge, which is Fender's take on the Floyd Rose trem that included a locking nut that I found so annoying that I removed it years ago (don't worry, I still have it) and added my own string guides. Here's a pic I just snapped: http://www.mediafire.com/i/?if9klpa8x251e15

It's has a great, faded tobacco sunburst finish and the pups and tone knobs are nicely yellowed, which gives it a vintage look.

Anyway, if the guitar world is divided up into collectors, speculators, and utilitarian players the way the George Gruhn says it is, I think I fall squarely in the last category, so my inclination is to mod what I have to make it play and sound like what I want. I may have to think this over a little more though :confused:

Thanks for the interesting suggestions and input!

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
http://www.soundclick.com/davedewhitt
 
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