Cheap Fender Style Parts

JDOD

JDOD

therecordingrebels.com
Aside from my other thread (about possibly getting a Chibson in place of the Tele and Washburn) the other thing that I'm really keen on is sorting out a really cheap shit old strat copy that I have.

Its quite a thin body; made by Encore - its the guitar that I learned to play on.
Not sure if it will need a new neck, I think I wore the fuck out of the frets and I really don't think its worth re-fretting.

Was thinking of modelling it on a Kurt Cobain guitar, which was the reason I bought it in the first place (I was 14 at the time):
http://www.kurtsequipment.com/pictures/blackstratfend.jpg
I don't want to throw shit loads of cash at this guitar 'cos its never gonna be great. But the stuff that's on it at the moment is beyond shit.
I'll be installing a JB in the bridge position (but that's the only quality part that'll be going on it)
Does anyone know where I can get "acceptable" quality stuff like, pots, knobs, bridges, pickups and switches, maybe unbranded stuff - but decent and playable. Pretty much the only "original" bit I expect to be left with on this guitar is the body.
 
Ecc83 has talked about Maplin for components over there in the UK. I haven't dug around their site at all so I'm not sure what all they would be able to supply but it would be a start in price checking at least, if they have the stuff.
 
Check out Guitar Electronics.com. My setup guru up north told me about this site; we're working to trick out a cheapo squier strat that I got for pennies on the dollar a while back. This is the site he gave me to check out for different pickup wiring diagrams - there should be more than enough to keep you second guessing every decision. :D
 
Yeah, probably will be! I want to go for a HSS setup with a 5 way switch.

I broke one tone pot on my Strat yeara ago and never replaced it. I've never known what two tone pots were for!
 
JDOD said:
Yeah, probably will be! I want to go for a HSS setup with a 5 way switch.

I broke one tone pot on my Strat yeara ago and never replaced it. I've never known what two tone pots were for!
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Well, it's usually a "separate" Tone control for the Neck and Middle with the Bridge just wide open...

...except that everything is in parallel anyway, so both tones are really more like Master Tones that only work in certain positions of the switch. In the B+M position, the MT control affects both pickups. In the N+M position both T pots affect both of the pickups in sort of interactive way.
 
Cheers, I've not used a strat style guitar since I was 18 - and one of the tone pots was broken for at least a year before that!
 
I never use the T pots anyway, and usually remove them in guitars that I re-wire. Actually, I prefer no pots at all, but I'm kinda Nutz.
 
ashcat_lt said:
I never use the T pots anyway, and usually remove them in guitars that I re-wire. Actually, I prefer no pots at all, but I'm kinda Nutz.
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I like a volume pot - I like to use it occasionally - never for recording, rarely live - but I sometimes like to if I'm just playing my guitar in the house.
 
Yeah, Allparts are good. They were the only place I could get a Push-Push coil tap pot for my gigging guitar (known as the Gobshite! :D ). I can't get on with push-pull types - they take far too long to switch.

I couldn't manage without a volume pot live, it's just a reflex for me to roll the volume off between songs.
 
I'm contemplating getting a trem block, for my '66 strat, that costs 70 bucks. Fender has an exact replacement ("pure vintage" block) for $25, but it's made with leaded steel and the $70 one (Callaham) is made with cold rolled non leaded steel, like the original ones.

I broke the arm off in the original block back in 1981. I discarded the old block when I had the new one put in. ( In hindsight a stupid move but bear in mind that a 66 strat wasn't considered collectable in the late 70s...because it was post cbs). Even though the replacement block was steel, it wasn't correct. It was drilled for the strings to stop much deeper into the block than the original. That has kind of bugged the shit outta me for years.
So, is it worth over $40 more to get a cold rolled steel block when it still won't be ORIGINAL to the guitar?
To me it is. I think the cold rolled steel blocks have better tone and sustain and are part of the vintage strat tone mojo.

I guess a $70 trem block is a cheap part when an original on ebay goes for over $600.
Man, original part prices for my strat are insane!
 
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I'll be installing a kill switch in my cheepo strat copy. Just 'cos I have one in my guitar case that I won in a competition. In fact, one of the reasons that I decided to rebuild this guitar was 'cos I had it!
 
I have a couple of guitars where I wired the 3/5-way blade switch so that what would normally be the bridge position is "On", the neck position is "On with Tone at 0", and in between is shorted to silence. Pickup combinations are handled via other switches. The wiring is the same whenever you use a Tele or Strat switch, but the 5-way ends up with three kill positions rather than just the one.
 
mjbphotos said:
check out guitarfetish.com for parts
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+1

Although their hardware is not great. I have a Xaviere strat guitar (from Guitar Fetish) and its electrics and pickups and pretty fine, however the metal parts are no more than passable. The whammy bar of my guitar never screwed right in the bridge pocket and after little to none use it broke right in the middle of the thread. Fortunately it still can be screwed in but I don't use it anymore and it's just there then I won't lose the bar. Also two of the six tuners came already with a big clearance. When I wrote to the guys asking about such problems in a BRAND NEW guitar the customer service answered me that it was like it was and that they wouldn't do anything about since the parts I was complaining about were 'fully functional' despite of their fuzzy working. I didn't bother to complain any longer because I am in another country and the guitar costed me only $120 and despite the small issues it is still a great axe. But the point is that while I would buy electric parts with them (specially pickups) I definitively would NOT put any penny on their hardware.

Other than that eBay always have good deals.
 
Finally got around to getting my old strat copy out of my parents attic.
Probably hasn't had new strings since the late 90s.

It's basically scrap. Needs a complete rebuild I don't think even the neck is usuable.
It doesn't have a truss rod and there are sharp fret ends everywhere. I remember I would occasionally get the top e string caught on the end of a fret and would have to pull it free.
The neck does appear to be straight though and not overly bowed.

I haven't plugged it in yet. But all the hardware is pretty minging. Even the pole pieces and blade switch are showing signs of rust.

The whole thing seems to be covered in a layer of filth too.

image.jpgimage.jpg
 
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