Conference napalm::guitar

    Having tried a customized strat with 3 toggles (that accomplished
    thee same end) I found that a couple of the sounds were interesting
    but not so dramatically different from what a 5 position switch
    would give you to make it worth the hassel of installing it. Personally
    I *hate* the much praised 'out of phase' sound...too much treble
    and little else... and that's a majority of the 8 'new' sounds.
    
    dbii

    I did the same, and hated the results. I had problems with the
    pickups getting loaded down. The sought after Strat sound that 
    every one thinks is out of phase really isn't. If you heard
    a really out of phase sound, you would say "yuck" !! Give me a 
    5 position switch any day.  
               
    Mark
    
    

    Sounds like a mod that Dan Armstrong sent to me years ago...it uses
    a rotary switch and yes it is more than worth it. I did it to my
    '56 strat and it sounded incredible. When I sold the guitar I had
    to put everything back to original and it sounded terrible again!
    The added sounds that you get are much richer and thicker which
    I liked because I was always more of a rythum player. Three toggle
    switches do not accomplish the same thing as they do not allow you
    to put the pickups in series with one another.  

    i know this is an old note but.....
    
    two strat questions
    
    1. I carried out the mod as described in GP strat mania copy on my
    Tokai strat (3 toggle switches). it was absolutely terrible. could it
    be down to the components/wire gauge or something (i'm sure my
    soldering and wiring was spot on)?
    
    2. I own a '88 US fender strat and to be quite honest, i've never liked
    the overall feel/playability of it (the action is quite high but i
    still get some string buzz low down). I've tried everytthing, truss rods
    and the like. the last thing left to try is the neck tilt. has anyone
    tried this? how high can you go.? 
    
    i checked out a standard for sale in my local music store and the neck
    postion markers at 17/19 etc were well clear of the body. on mine, the
    dots are about halved
    
    any other ideas on setting up the guitar would help. 
    
    or, is it just the neck radius? my "vintage" style Tokai blows the std
    strat away 8(.  
    
    someone please help.
    
    thanks jim.

    
    Jim, it sounds like you've touched all the bases, but with no luck. 
    Why not find a good shop and let them set it up for you?  It won't cost
    that much, and if there's some fundamental flaw with the axe, at least
    you'll know...
    
    \John
    

    \john
    
    i'm not sure about local shops here in the UK,when you say not much,
    how much $ would it cost. I have a fear (about most things like this
    cars etc..) that the repairer will find something terrible (woodworm or 
    dutch elm disease 8^)).
    
    what about neck tilting...i'm a bit worried about doing some
    irrepairable damage (but some new strats have large tilts).
    
    jim.
    
    

    
    I had my Rickenbacker 4003 bass set up in a local shop (The Guitar
    Shoppe in Laguna Beach) and restrung (well, actually restrung & then
    set up) for $50 - oh, yeah, they put a bone nut on it, too.  Set up by
    itself is only $25 or so.  That's probably only two or 3 pounds in
    English dollars, right?  *8')
    
    If your axe has Dutch Elm, wouldn't you want to know?  At least you
    could unload it and get on with something else...
    

    thanks,
    
    i'll let you know how i get on...hopefully DDT will not be a
    requirement, i'm sure that will cost more than �15 8^).
    
    jim
    
    
    

    re: Jim
    
    I *seriously* doubt that your guitar's problem is caused by the tilt of
    the neck.  It's a lot more likely that the frets simply need to be
    leveled, or the nut slots are too deep, or something like that. 
    Changing the tilt can be painful unless you just do it with shims.  You
    might get a similar result if you just shim the whole neck up higher
    without changing the angle.  
    
    If your problem is that the adjustment on the bridge won't get low
    enough for you to get the action as low as you want it, then shimming
    the neck up or changing the neck angle may help.  However, if what
    you're complaining about is buzzes and stuff when you set the action
    low, changing the neck tilt isn't going to do a thing.  If it's
    buzzing, fretting out, that sort of thing, then get the
    frets/nut/trussrod fixed.
    
    No offense intended or anything, but I've seen a lot of people that
    didn't understand how the truss rod on a guitar works and messed up the
    action by trying to  adjust it themselves.  I think this is because,
    unless you know how the thing fits inside the neck, you tend to have
    the opposite view of what it'll do (at least, I did, until I learned a
    little about guitar construction).
    
    Greg

    greg,
    
    on my std strat, there is a grub/allen screw on the backplate assembly
    which will allow slight tilting of the neck.
    
    everything else seems ok..the neck is straight (sighting from
    headstock), frets level etc. but it still is not as playable  as a friends
    70's strat or my tokai copy. 
    
    the only difference i can see is the angle at which the neck meets the
    body. as i've said earlier, i've looked at quite a few new strats and
    they seem to have a different tilt to mine (the position markers show
    the difference).
    
    i think i'll take everyones advice and have a pro setup though, i let you
    know what happens.
    
    jim.                       
    

>    on my std strat, there is a grub/allen screw on the backplate assembly
>    which will allow slight tilting of the neck.
    
    Yeah, I'm familiar with 'em.  Mine has that too.
    
>    everything else seems ok..the neck is straight (sighting from
>    headstock), frets level etc. but it still is not as playable  as a friends
>    70's strat or my tokai copy. 
>    
>    the only difference i can see is the angle at which the neck meets the
>    body. as i've said earlier, i've looked at quite a few new strats and
>    they seem to have a different tilt to mine (the position markers show
>    the difference).
    
    Like I said, if you can adjust the strings to the height you want at
    the bridge, the neck tilt is irrevelant.  If you adjust them to a
    moderate height and you get string buzzing, there's almost certainly
    something else wrong.
    
    Greg

    Raising the string height at the bridge and increasing the pitch of the
    neck are effectively the same thing. Since you want to maintain some
    margin of adjustment in the bridge, tilting the neck is sometimes
    required.
    
    My advice is before you complicate matters by changing the neck pitch,
    you or someone with greater experience needs to properly diagnose the
    problem. Some bolt-on necks develop a slight rise in the fretboard above
    the 12th fret (I'm told that this is caused by moisture being absorbed
    by the end grain) which can cause buzzing.

    If you're having trouble sorting it out yourself, by all means bring it
    to a real luthier. I learned a long time ago not to let the guy behind
    the sales counter hack around with my guitar.

    For what it's worth, I've changed the pitch with neck shims in two of my
    Fenders to eliminate buzz.

    --Ron

    Yeah, it could be doing the same thing as adjusting the bridge, but he
    didn't indicate that he had any lack of adjustment at the bridge.  I
    still say that if you have to adjust the string height higher then you
    want it to be to eliminate buzzing, that there's something else wrong.
    
    gh

    How do I modify my strat into the shape and sound of a Gibson Firebird?
    
    8*(