I have an old squire-strat with a 3-way-switch.
has anyone any cool suggestions to modify it?

I'm thinking about something like DD so that I can play it more like a jag.

other suggestions or experiences???

Last edited: Dec 09, 2007 13:51:34

I mean he wired it so he can play bridge and neck pickup together. Something impossible for a normal strat. May I should have written "like a Jazz".

Or just written so you can play bridge and neck pickup. You will have to rewire the guitar. If you are going to do that might as well swap out the pickups and some of the hardware, and all of the wiring.

I wouldn't worry about the wiring so much as just changing out the pickups and maybe the tuners. If you are going to use the trem a lot I'd suggest getting a graphite nut. I have one on one of my strats and I love it. Personally I'd keep the 3 way switch. I don't see a need for the out of phase positions unless you are Hubert Sumlin or Robert Cray.

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A stock strat is unplayable to me, volume knob's in the way. I take out all the pots, like the sound better too. Also I want 5 springs in the back, not 3.

Not sure if DD ever played with bridge + neck, though I know he sometimes uses all 3 at once.

Matter is just energy waiting to happen.

SGF
A stock strat is unplayable to me, volume knob's in the way. I take out all the pots, like the sound better too. Also I want 5 springs in the back, not 3.

Not sure if DD ever played with bridge + neck, though I know he sometimes uses all 3 at once.

how does it sound without the pots? more thin, harsh, aggressive, full, louder, or how would you describe it?
the tremolo works quite well with 3 springs, doesn't go out of tune.

JakeDobner
JP, Squier wiring is going to suck. No point in putting in new pickups if you are going to have cheap wire and horrible pots.

I'm not gonna invest a lot of money for some fancy pickups. It's a plywood-guitar!
I just wonder how I can change/improve the sound with an other wiring.
Maybe a strangle-switch?

I have a plywood Jazz bass with completely replaced electronics and pickups that sounds better than a 60s classic MIM Jazz Bass with stock electronics.

Strat pickups don't cost a lot of money, you can get decent ones for cheap. And wiring is really cheap as well.

I spent $90 on my bass and another $100 for custom shop pickups and the electronics.

I have a plywood strat too and better pups made a lot of difference. A LOT... depending on what you want, you need just one or two better pups. I have seynour duncans *(vintage staggered) in neck and middle, I mosty play mid pup only anyway. (which is ironic cause my other guitar is a jag.)

btw, the easy mod... depending on whether the wires are long enoug .... is to simply screw out middle and neck pup and have them change position ... or bridge and middle. you loose one of the funk settings (mid+) and you gain the neck+bridge. AND you keep the hum bucking effect if you have a RW/RP midpup. easy fast and solderless way to see if you care for the sound. personally I dont care for it, but it's an easy and reversible mod so try it and see.

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bomboraboy
how does it sound without the pots? more thin, harsh, aggressive, full, louder, or how would you describe it?
the tremolo works quite well with 3 springs, doesn't go out of tune.

It sounds slightly more "hi-fi", more clear with a tiny bit more output and oomph. There's really no need to get rid of the pots IMO...in fact it greatly limits your possibilites in backing off the volume to get a cleaner tone. You can mod your existing pots so they're "no load" tone pots and effectively out of the circuit when dimed. ( http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/pots.htm ).

JakeDobner
JP, Squier wiring is going to suck. No point in putting in new pickups if you are going to have cheap wire and horrible pots.

I sort of disagree with this one. The main limiter with the Squier guitars are the cheapo Korean pickups. I just don't buy that the cheap wiring affects tone that much. Also, the CTS pots I've used in guitars recently have sucked worse than any Alpha pots I've used (I've got several bad CTSs recently).

I'd be willing to bet that if you installed Alpha pots and cheap wire on a Strat witih great wood and pickups, it would still be a great guitar.

Now, for the 3 way switch...some of the import switches really are terrible but if it works and isn't noisy I wouldn't replace it unless you want to go with a 5 way.

bomboraboy
I'm not gonna invest a lot of money for some fancy pickups. It's a plywood-guitar!
I just wonder how I can change/improve the sound with an other wiring.
Maybe a strangle-switch?

Some plywood guitars sound just fine! (Danelectro, etc)

As for the mods, you might try the no-load pot mod, wire it so you can use neck and bridge at the same time, and if you're wanting to get really crazy you could add a steel plate (like on a Tele) to the bridge pickup along with moving the tone control from the mid pickup to the bridge.

The bridge pickup (especially on Squiers) can sound really thin. By moving the tone control you can roll off some of the 'icepick' and the steel plate gives the bridge pup a slightly more 'saturated' sound with maybe a bit more sustain, fatness, and character.

www.apollo4.com

If you listen to the Jesters stuff it sounds like Messina has the neck & middle sound going most of the time.

I don't claim to know much about Strat history, but I didn't know that Fender even offered a 5 way switch at the time that the Jesters recorded. I know that Sumlin and a lot of the Chicago guys stuck matchsticks into their 3 way switches to get the out of phase sound on the Strat. Do you think that Jim Messina did that too or am I wrong about the advent of the 5 way switch.

In any case I have had, and still have some cheap guitars. From my experience, if the neck is straight and and there are no other real issues with the guitar the best success that I have had with modding the instrument is upgrading the pickups. You don't have to spend a bundle. There are good pickups on ebay all the time for good prices. Even if you scored some pickups from a regular old American Strat you would be making a huge improvement on the Squier. I suggested new tuners as the few Squiers that I have played had pretty gnarly tuners. I don't know much about wiring etc. My belief is that one's money is best spent on pickups and amplifiers. That is where you will make the biggest impact on your tone.

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