Mod, Mod Mod Mod Muhmod Mod....

GoetzManor

GoetzManor

New member
Greetings all!

Recently, I was gifted a Squier Strat with a broken pickup selector. The possibilities are endless, I know. So, I'm looking for advice on how to mod this guitar, aside from replacing the selector. It is an Affinity series, which from what I've read doesn't come with the usual negative "Squier stigma". Is it worth putting some money into this guitar and if so, where should I start?


All help is greatly appreciated!
 
I would call it the perfect platform for first time modders. Just don't spend alot upgrading it and keep the original parts so that you can swap them back out if you decide to get rid of it. Then you can either reuse or sell the upgrades seperatly. Pickup selectors are cheap,. I would go ahead and fix that ,. this will get you familer with the wiring and some soldering practice if you need it.

For that part and other upgrades check out the guitarfetish site,. For that guitar I'd probably start with one of their pre-wired pickguards in whatever configuration suits your style. They have better pickups available seperatly,. but,. Before you spend the money I would want to have a better idea of what kind of tone you're looking for ,. experience with different guitars and pickups helps.
 
Affinitys are the cheapest Squier models, so go ahead and do whatever you want to it! Dyer's suggestion of guitarfetish.com is a good one - they sell preloaded Strat pickguards that might be just the thing for this project.
 
The pickguard that I bought from guitarfetish did not exactly fit the Squier strat that I put it on. Not all of the screw holes lined up, and the area around the neck pocket needed to be modified a little. It was not one of the pre-loaded ones, and I'm not sure exactly what Squier line this guitar is from, but something to consider. I highly recommend their pickups, though. I've got a total of eight of their rail HBs, a pair of their dream180s, plus a mini-HB and a pair of their PAF-style HBs in various guitars and am very happy with all of them.

It really would help for suggestions if we new what you were looking for. What are you going to use this thing for - live, recording? Do you want every tone possible, or just a few really good ones?

The first thing I'd want on a strat is a way to get B+N. The "all three" combination isn't quite as important, but depending how you accomplish this "Tele" combo, you can sometimes get it for free. Next I'd look for at least a couple of series combinations (B*N would be my priority) and then maybe an Out of Phase option or two.
 
Thanks for the feedback thus far. First off, I'll say that I am a drummer by nature and just so happen to have picked up the guitar along the way so my knowledge of guitar terminology is somewhat limited (luckily, there is this forum and Google).

ashcat_lt said:
It really would help for suggestions if we new what you were looking for. What are you going to use this thing for - live, recording? Do you want every tone possible, or just a few really good ones?
Click to expand...

Basically, I've always been enamoured with Jim Root's sound. Now, I'm not trying to copy that because I know a lot goes into his sound, but I do like the fact that he gets some really awesome heavier tones with a Fender while at the same time, getting sweet clean tones. I have a Marshall halfstack that the guitarist in my band leaves at my house so I can run it through that. But other than that, I'm just looking to upgrade it into a decent recording guitar for my "studio".

Again, thanks!
 
for a strat I like what's sometimes called the elite wiring set-up.

You have a 3-way mini-toggle for each p'up.
So 3 switches .... one for each p'up.

Each switch can turn its p'up on/off/on-reversed polarity.
So you can use any combination of p'ups in any combination of phase.

Run the bridge out of phase with the other two .... all at once .... etc.
It gives you the largest number of sounds possible with three p'ups.
For example I sometimes run the neck out of phase with the other 2 and turn the neck tone all the way down and you get a 'cocked' wah sound.

I dunno if this is a good starting point though because it's a more complicated wiring than some of the others.
But it may be something to keep in mind and it's not that hard anyway if you just take your time.

And guitarfetish is great. Terrific prices and good solid parts. You can get better but only by spending a lot more.

In fact, I just ordered enough GF parts to build a tele and it's gonna be sweet.
In a few weeks after my company leaves I'll throw it all together one night and take some pics and do a thread about it.

I have 4000 dollar guitars that are a bit better but I also have GF stuff that's really first rate.

Good luck and have fun.
 
Good idea from Lt Bob - I'd love a Strat with the 3 pickup selectors, and seperate volume controls for each p-up, too.

Doesn't Jim Root mostly use humbuckers?

Guitarfestish has a Strat pickguard preloaded with 2 humbuckers - you'd probably have to route out some wood on the Squier, and maybe the screw holes wouldn't match up, but its a Squier, just go for it!
 
I wouldn't worry about the pickup cavaties,. most imported strat bodies are routed for humbuckers by default regardless of what they actually put in them, pull your old pickguard off before ordering to make sure though. If you want heavy you most likely want humbuckers,. those are the square pickups,. guitar fetish has 2 prewired pickguards with dual humbuckers for $40, in black or white,. easy peasy,. screw holes may not match up perfect but thats ok. the pickguard will cover up the ones that don't. If you have to make new holes be sure to pre-drill them before trying to run the screws in. If the fit around the necks not quite right, modify the pickguard,. not the neck,.lol.
 
dyermaker8 said:
If the fit around the necks not quite right, modify the pickguard...
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I did mine with a steak knife, and it shows!

Course, the L'il Killers are pretty hefty humbuckers in a single-coil package, and let me tell you they are pretty damn powerful! They're just the wrong size and shape to fit the SC cutouts in any pick guard I've ever met. But that's what steak knives are for! ;)
 
The SD Hotrails were like that too. Good novelty factor. When it comes to transformer specs thier size has definite correlation with frequency coloring. Tradeoffs. Its all about finding the right tool for the job.
 
ashcat_lt said:
With three single coil pickups, but it leaves out the various series combos... It's also got several redundancies.
Click to expand...
actually hadn't thought of the series potential .... hmmmm.

But if you want strat sounds the 3 switches give you all that's possible with single coils ...... going series on anything is definitely gonna be outside the strat zone.















.
 
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Series options will get you closer to humbucker-type sounds without changing pickups...

My Xavier hybrid thing replaced my strat, and refined the wiring I had going in there. I routed for a middle pickup and put the L'il Killer from the strat in there, with a L'il Puncher in the bridge and the stock mini-HB (another GFS pickup) in the neck. Each pickup has a rotary switch for local off-split-parallel-series, then there's two toggle switches that allow me to get every possible combination of inter-pickup series/parallel, a third toggle to throw the neck out of phase, and the Tele-switch that came with it acts as a kill/tone-kill switch. It's not technically every possible combination of 6 coils, but there are very few redundancies and only one "gotcha". It is exactly what I would do with a strat (if I didn't already have this...), but I can't really recommend it to random people because it's not super easy to switch from one pickup/combo to another on the fly, and while it feels pretty intuitive to me, it kinda should come with an owner's manual.

Did I mention I have eight of those railbuckers installed? Actually I think it's only seven, but I'm pretty happy with them. Do they sound exactly like a full-sized HB? Probably not, but for the things I would really want an HB sound for, I actually prefer them to the GFS PAF-style in my Xavier SG. The L'il Killer in my hybrid's bridge is heavier wound, louder and darker (in that overwound HB way) than any other pickup I've ever encountered. I don't often play metal, but I do go for those types of tones sometimes, and I have no problem getting them.

Realize, though, that overwound HBs actually work against you when you're shooting for certain types of metal tones. All that extra wire means a lot less top end extension, what some folks might call "bite". If you're looking to sound like somebody playing active EMG-style pickups, you're actually better off with the lightest wound pickup you can find (a light HB in local parallel might be good) and then using a booster downstream to make up for lost output.
 
Ha! Just got the thread title (yeah, I'm a little slow sometimes).

Some kind of modness has taken control.
 
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