Originally I was thinking about a Squier Tele Custom, adding a Fender American Strat tremelo system, and swapping Gibson P94's or TV Jones HiloTrons in place of the humbuckers. Then it occured to me..."why not get an HH Stratocaster, and swap the soap bars into that." Would be a helluvalot easier, with the Stratocaster already having a tremelo system in place, versus the extensive mods to a Telecaster.

What kind of a sound should I manage, given my own dare-to-be-different and unique choices for surf guitars? I'm figuring it should hit somewhere between a Stratocaster and a Jazzmaster. Or maybe somewhere between a Stratocaster and a Jaguar?

Matt

Fast Cars & Loud Guitars!

Italia has a model with a P-90 in the bridge position. It's actually quite a nice combination with the Strat style pickups in the neck and middle positions.

image

There is Surf east of Sepulveda.

indiana sg:

those gretsch-style TV Jones pickups should sound RAD!

The way I'm going, my guitar collection will either be DiMarzio or TV Jones equipped...save for the ones with the "leave well enough alone" factor, such as my Ibanez JTK2 Jet King, and my Fender So Cal Speed Shop Strat. I have a TV Jones PowerTron for my Squier Bullet Special, and GFS Lipsticks for my Squier Standard Fat Telecaster, and have just ordered DiMarzio Twang King pickups for my Fender Standard Telecaster.

With the latest purchace of the Twang Kings, my TV Jones equipped Fender Standard Strat HH project will have to wait a few weeks...even possibily until around this time next month. Still gotta get me a good soldering iron, and solder, so I can finally get around to installing pickups into their respective guitars.

Although I'll still be collecting guitars, a few more basses and various pickups, over about the next year, once I can actually do the TV Jones equipped Fender Standard Strat HH, my surf guitar sound will be pretty much in place. The TV Jones HiloTrons in a Strat HH should work well for surfabilly, as well as traditional surf guitar. It should be a perfect companion guitar to my Epiphone Les Paul Jr. 90, to which I should go ahead and add a Bigsby B5 (or B50).

Matt

Fast Cars & Loud Guitars!

PhatTele
My experience...a Strat with P90s will sound like a cross between a Strat and a Les Paul Jr.

A good option would be to get a dual HB Strat and put in Fralin TwangMasters (split coils with solid pole pieces in HB shape). They're the closest I've heard to a Jazzmaster.

+1

In the end it will also boil down to the material of which the strat is made. If is mahogany "for example" it will sound more like a cross between a les paul and a strat. If it's Ash or alder or basswood it may sound more like a jaguar or a jazzmaster. and if you have a maple neck it will sound even brighter.

Good luck.

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Last edited: Oct 14, 2006 12:35:24

_J_

PhatTele
My experience...a Strat with P90s will sound like a cross between a Strat and a Les Paul Jr.

A good option would be to get a dual HB Strat and put in Fralin TwangMasters (split coils with solid pole pieces in HB shape). They're the closest I've heard to a Jazzmaster.

+1

In the end it will also boil down to the material of which the strat is made. If is mahogany "for example" it will sound more like a cross between a les paul and a strat. If it's Ash or alder or basswood it may sound more like a
jaguar or a jazzmaster. and if you have a maple neck it will sound even brighter.

Good luck.

As many have suggested the fat strat humbucker changout with a humbucker sized P90 would be the easiest way to do the swap. As also mentioned, the material the strat's made of will have an effect on its tone. A strat with humbuckers still retains much of its strat-like qualities and a Les Paul with single coils still sounds much like a Les Paul. That's because, in addition to the materials used, the scale length and its relationship to string tension, is a substancial factor in the tone. There are several threads on SG101 proporting the tonal advantages of switching to heavier guage strings. It's true largely because it changes the string tension.

Anyway, I just wanted to weigh in on an often overlooked and easily changeable factor in tone. Can't wait to see the pics!

In Series switching with P90s gets a tone that's pretty heavy and overdriven. If you go that route, make sure you put in a "volume kit" or "treble bypass" mod to help clean up the tone as you turn down the volume. There are two or three of these mods that I've tried. I've always gone back to the one Lindy Fralin uses .0022uF cap + 220K resister in parallel.

http://www.fralinpickups.com/images/phazrev.jpg

Another wiring setup to try with two P90s and a Strat is a vol+vol+tone. That works really well.

Matt, putting normal P-90s or Gretsch style pickups in a strat is a ton of work. Gretsch pickups just can't slip in anywhere a humbucker goes. With the P-90s you are going to have to dig in a lot, unless you buy the P-90s that are humbucker mounting. And if you really want gretsch pickups get dynasonics. Hilo-trons are the least sought after gretsch pickup. I have TV-Jones Filtertrons in my Gretsch and it is fantastic but if I could I would want to try dynasonics.

Or you could Not pay $250-$300 on TV Jones pickups and instead put that money towards a higher quality guitar like a Jag or Jazzmaster, Epiphone Casino, American Standard tele, American standard strat, 50s and 60s Reissue Mexi Strats, Fender Japan stuff...

A strat with P-90s sound like a Gibson Firebird to me. The minibuckers aren't really humbuckers and have a low output.

Now that I've got an Epiphone Les Paul Jr. 90, and a Gibson Les Paul Faded Double Cutaway, I shouldn't have to worry about modifying any HH guitar to P90-style single coils. A modified Strat HH would likely sound like my Gibson. I'm still trying to decide if I want to try Lindy Fralin P92s in my Ibanez Artcore AG75, and IFF those single coils don't do anything positive for the Ibanez would I consider, once again, the HH to SS Strat HH modification.

Matt
(IFF = shorthand in Philosophy for "if and only if.")

Fast Cars & Loud Guitars!

I bought a new (MIC) Squier Jagmaster (black with white pickguard) and a pair of Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder Jazzmaster pickups to replace the feeble humbuckers in the guitar. I'd been considering the P90s, but I thought it would sound more like a Gibson than a Jag or Jazzmaster.

Yes, it took some work with a router to get the Duncan soapbars to fit, but the tone is really rich. The bridge is not AS growly as a Jaguar, but it's much moreso than a Jazzmaster. The neck is not AS deep and rich as a Jazzmaster, but it's in the neighborhood (and the sustain is much better).

So for about $400 (new guitar and parts) and some time, the outcome is REALLY a Jagmaster (a cross between the Jaguar's size and scale and the Jazzmaster round sounds).

don't panic!