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WR,
Your comments are all valid and duly noted, but not applicable to my earlier
posting, in which I made very specific recommendations for the ultimate
"Surf-Strat" guitar, for the musician on a tight budget.
I'm aware of three guitars that fit the bill, it's really a matter of personal
taste which one you'd use for the modifications and upgrades. (If you can do
all the work yourself, you'll save about $150-$200 in guitar-tech labor)
1. Wilson Bros, Ventures Model VM10 (Strat Copy) $149.00 through most
Internet sellers;
2. Mexican Fender Strat Standard $250-350 used on ebay;
3. Wesley San Diego, $260 shipped from UK
Items 1 & 2 need no further description, they are both traditional
Stratocaster-type guitars. The Wesley San Diego, uses a Jazzmaster-style
off-set body, with a Jazzmaster-style cream M.O.P. pickguard, with 3 Strat-style
pickups, a Strat-style tremolo bridge assembly, one volume and one tone, and a
5-position pickup selector switch. The mods I recommend apply to #1 and #2,
with the exception that on #2 I wouldn't bother replacing the tuning machines, I
think they're of sufficient quality to do the job.
Mod 1: Bridge: A Mexican Strat Standard bridge fits either of these guitars,
with the correct string and mounting-screw spacing. To that bridge, substitute
a Calaham forged steel inertia block for the crappy cast zinc block that comes
with all 3 of these guitars from their respective factories. Improved
ballsiness of sound, more note separation, and greater sustain. Some additional
routing of the wood under the bridge plate is needed to provide clearance for
the new Trem block to be able to move back and forth, so you have a workable
whammy. My Dremel came in mighty handy here!
Cost: Mexi Standard Bridge: $35 - $50; Calaham block $55.00
Mod 2: Pickups: The Wesley San Diego uses Strat-like pickups which are just
a tiny bit smaller than the pickups listed here. I used my Dremel to slightly
enlarge the pickup cutouts, and the new pickups went in without a hitch. There
are 3 pickup types I've used with excellent results. Seymour Duncan Antiquity
II Surf Pickups run about $250 per set of 3, and are wonderful. Fender produces
a Dick Dale Surfer pickup at about $200 owe set of 3, and I've not used these,
but have heard very positive things about them. Fender also produces the "Fat
50's" Strat pickups that many players have raved about on Harmony Central, about
$150.00 per set of 3. On my Wesley San Diego, I used a $50.00 set of Fender US
57 R/I Strat pickups, and the guys in my band all agree this guitar is one of
the sweetest sounding surf guitars they've ever heard.
Mod 3. Wiring: The Wesley comes with only two control pots, but 3 are needed.
I used my Dremel, and channeled the holes for the outer two pots, to create
little more distance between them, and added the 3rd pot right in between them.
The 5-position switch needs to be replaced with a 3-position switch, and the
ultimate change is that you can now get all standard pickup positions plus
neck/bridge and all-3. Additionally, the tone control is now Master tone for
ALL 3 pickups, another big improvement.
Cost: pot and 3-position switch About $20-$25
Mod 4: Tuning Stability: First, althought they look like "dead ringers", the
tuning machines on the Wesley are NOT Klusons, nor are they Gotoh copies. They
need to be replaced with a better tuner. I chose to use a $37 set of Fender
"Kluson" Reissue Tuners. The holes already drilled in the headstock are not
large enough to accomodate the real Klusons or Fender versions, so they need to
be reamed by approximately another 1mm diameter. Second, the nut, like all the
above, is a cheap generic plastic nut. I much prefer the slightly more
bone-like hardness and the self-lubricating qualities of the Graph-Tech "Tusq"
nut, so you need to pop the old nut out, and set the new Tusq nut in place, with
just a small dab of white or carpenters glue. Tusq nuts, pre-notched with
correct string-spacing are available from Stewart MacDonalds (www.stewmac.com)
at about $9.00 a pop. Buy 2 or 3 just in case you blow it with the first one.
Costs: About $64.00 ( with 3 Tusq nuts purchased)
Cost of each guitar with recommended mods:
Wilson Bros VM-10 $380.00 (plus guitar-tech labor if applicable)
Mexi-Strat $475.00 (No-tuner replacement; plus guitar-tech
labor, if applicable)
Wesley $500.00 (plus guitar tech labor, if applicable)
Of the above 3, any of these will become an excellent surf-axe with the
suggested mods. My favorite though, is the Wesley, with it's Jazzmaster style,
and Stratocaster guts. I've been playing one modded exactly as I recommend
above, for about 10 weeks, and it is now my primary gigging guitar and the one
the rest of the band prefers to hear me playing.
In fact, our 3rd guitarist, (who's been playing a '64 Jaguar for the last 15
years) gave me the $500.00, and told me to deliver him a clone of my Wesley
ASAP, he's THAT impressed with how much BETTER my guitar sounds, vs his vintage
Jag!
Regards,
Bruce D
mono_tones_1 <> wrote:
--- In , "wipeoutboy63"
<jerry.soetewey@b...> wrote:
> "In past posts, I was slammed by another surf guitarist because I
> said that when
> you play a Strat on the bridge/neck pickups together, you get
a "very
> Jaguar-like" sound. This guy said that "he couldn't respect me if I
> honestly
> believed that a Strat could sound the "same" as a Jaguar".
> (!) "Like" and "the
> same" are NOT synonymous!"
>
> I to feel/hear that a strat when rewired to bridge/Neck together
> does sound like a Jag/JM. I think that is one of the main reasons
> why many surf players rewire their strats to get the "brigde+neck
> sound", this seams to add something "extra" to the reverb sound imo.
> And I also like a rewired strat more, but that's just me
well, there might be a point to the comparison ('like' and not 'same
as') in some cases. but consider that there are about three different
jag pups out there (US fender, Jap fender, seymour duncan, or just
MAYBE a few more) - and even the jap jag pups get into jag sound
territory at least. rather consistent sound we're talking about.
on the other hand, there must be thousands of 'strat' pups out there
on even more strat type guitars. and, a vast lot of these DON'T SOUND
LIKE A STRAT in the first place. and esp since rewiring a strat is a
budget option. (no one is going to get a $1500 strat and then rewire
it to get a 'jag sound')
so, the notion of "a" rewired strat sounds so and so (in a good way)
has as much meaning as claiming that "an" undressed woman looks so
and so (in a good way). Cause really, just like I'd need to know
which woman we're talking about befor I 'concur, I'd need to know
what strat it is we're talking about.
evaluating my own experiences on plenty budget strat configurations:
- two jap jag pups in the outer positions sounds jag-ish, but not
jag. more like a maple neck trad strat sound with some extra
metallicish bite, added drip on the tank, and a bit less mid-tone.
- two seymour duncan vintage staggered ssl-1 in the outer positions
doesn't sound anything like a jag (not even close) but DOES provide
more drip.
- two old tokai stratpups in the outer position don't sound near jag
and don't give extra drip. sound useless actually.
and my estimate is that that covers about 0.001% of the possible
pickups - so ther eyou go. says zilch about what marty or anyone else
has heard.
btw, I still mostly use the sound of one seymour duncan in the centre
position - but this particular one measures exactly 6.66k - with that
and the favorite tank setting combined, it has to get sorta mean ...
WR
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