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misanthropy26
New member
Does anyone recommend any particular pickup heights for my Squire Affinity Strat (3 single coils)?
I play hard rock to metal.
Can you help me?
I play hard rock to metal.
Can you help me?
Evildick
New member
You can go here and set it up like a normal strat would be setup. Just click on the Fender label on the left, then click on setup at the top, then the Strat picture.
http://www.mrgearhead.com/
If you scroll down the page a little to the Pickup section, that should help out a little.
DIck
http://www.mrgearhead.com/
If you scroll down the page a little to the Pickup section, that should help out a little.
DIck
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Emeric
New member
Closer you set them to the strings, the more output and usually often sustain. Too close and you will be bottoming out the strings on the poles (unless they are covered pickups) when playing. The magnetic pull can screw with the intonation of your guitar if too close.
Generally, you might want to adjust the bridge pickup closer to the strings than the other two, with the rhythm lower than the middle. It's a volume game, some like to balance the output evenly, others don't (me). I usually have the rhythm pickup lower on tele's/strats though. It really depends on the sound your after. Not rocket science though, play around with the heights until you get the sound you like.
If your unfamiliar with setting intonation on guitars, I'd recommend bringing it to a guitar tech for a setup. Won't cost mega-bucks, and your guitar will play and sound much better if it hasn't been setup in awhile (or ever).
Generally, you might want to adjust the bridge pickup closer to the strings than the other two, with the rhythm lower than the middle. It's a volume game, some like to balance the output evenly, others don't (me). I usually have the rhythm pickup lower on tele's/strats though. It really depends on the sound your after. Not rocket science though, play around with the heights until you get the sound you like.
If your unfamiliar with setting intonation on guitars, I'd recommend bringing it to a guitar tech for a setup. Won't cost mega-bucks, and your guitar will play and sound much better if it hasn't been setup in awhile (or ever).
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Dr. Photon
New member
The Squier Affinity Strat is setup just like a normal Strat. You first adjust the string height (to a setting that you like) along with the tremolo springs to "float" the bridge. then you adjust the truss rod. Then you adjust the intonation with a tuner (so that an open string and that string at the 12th fret are the same note). If you do not make use of the "tremolo" (technically, it's vibrato), you can fix the birdge by tightening the trem springs all the way so that the back of the bridge is flush with the body, and then tightening down the front screws so the front is flush (I only make the outer two screws under the E strings tight). When you do this, the tuning is easier and more stable. The downside is that you can only do whammy dives (no up bends) and they cannot be quite as extreme.
As for the pickups, you probabally want them raised as high as possible. This provides you with the highest output (great for heavey distortion). If they are too high, the strings might hit the pole pieces, which sounds horrible. If the pickups are adjust very high, their magnetic field dampens the strings and reduces sustain slightly, but this is negligible.
On my Squier affinity fat strat (made in china), the pickups were absolutely horrible. it had the kind with a single magnet behind the pole pieces. I ordered a MightyMite 3 play pickguard with pickups (the normal dual magnets that straddle the pole pieces) pre installed from eBay (under $40 shipped) and that improved the sound by leaps and bounds - it's almost as good as a fender mexican standard. the HSS and SSS pickguards are interchangeable. The only issue is that squier has a slightly different screw layout, so on any aftermarket pickguard that's made for a fender, you will have to drive screws into the body a cm or so from where the screw holes are (no need to drill, just press and screw in). The Squier pickguard also has a few fewer screws so you have to go to Home Depot and spend $0.88 on a pack of generic screws if you care about unfilled screw holes.
As for the pickups, you probabally want them raised as high as possible. This provides you with the highest output (great for heavey distortion). If they are too high, the strings might hit the pole pieces, which sounds horrible. If the pickups are adjust very high, their magnetic field dampens the strings and reduces sustain slightly, but this is negligible.
On my Squier affinity fat strat (made in china), the pickups were absolutely horrible. it had the kind with a single magnet behind the pole pieces. I ordered a MightyMite 3 play pickguard with pickups (the normal dual magnets that straddle the pole pieces) pre installed from eBay (under $40 shipped) and that improved the sound by leaps and bounds - it's almost as good as a fender mexican standard. the HSS and SSS pickguards are interchangeable. The only issue is that squier has a slightly different screw layout, so on any aftermarket pickguard that's made for a fender, you will have to drive screws into the body a cm or so from where the screw holes are (no need to drill, just press and screw in). The Squier pickguard also has a few fewer screws so you have to go to Home Depot and spend $0.88 on a pack of generic screws if you care about unfilled screw holes.
ZoSo58LP
rock guy
"On my Squier affinity fat strat (made in china), the pickups were absolutely horrible. it had the kind with a single magnet behind the pole pieces. I ordered a MightyMite 3 play pickguard with pickups (the normal dual magnets that straddle the pole pieces) pre installed from eBay (under $40 shipped) and that improved the sound by leaps and bounds - "
lmao i did the SAEM thing....except mines not the affinity...she's from 96, but it's from China too...I bought the SSH combination, and along with it, a Seymour Duncan SH-4 Jeff Beck humbucker....sounds great for a cheap guitar...i've got locking tuners in it too
lmao i did the SAEM thing....except mines not the affinity...she's from 96, but it's from China too...I bought the SSH combination, and along with it, a Seymour Duncan SH-4 Jeff Beck humbucker....sounds great for a cheap guitar...i've got locking tuners in it too
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Thorguitarist
New member
Those chinese strats are a bastard aren't they. My bassist had the squire p-bass and one day he decided to jab the headstock through my ceiling and he blew of the tuners ..ahahah... I wouldnt really reccommend mod-ing a squire (especially a chinese one). Just buy a actuall fender strat. From eBay or something. I'm guessing though the pick-ups should be slightly higher on this guitar though if you want to play metal..
ZoSo58LP
rock guy
nah mines pretty good actually...like it stands up to quite a lot of abuse lol and it still has a fat humbucker sound...i mean yeah naturally i love my 89 USA strat better, but still, the squier was my first guitar, and bascally my first modded guitar that i did all by myself lol
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Thorguitarist
New member
With that 89 strat i bet the the squire collects dust... I know my first real guitar the Ibanez G10 
doesn't even have strings on it...I was gonna customize that some new pickups, paint job, hardware... Eh i never got around to it...right now it's sitting on my wall
doesn't even have strings on it...I was gonna customize that some new pickups, paint job, hardware... Eh i never got around to it...right now it's sitting on my wall