Conference napalm::guitar

Bolt on to pickups??? you can replace the pickups, there are lots of pickups
you can choose from but the only reason I can see to replace them is the hotten
up the sound and/or get the hum and noise under control. So check out stacked
single coil pickups they don't hum at all (as they are actually a humbucker, 
where the two coils are 'stacked' on top of each other, helping to maintain the
single coil sound). Semour Duncan (my choice) makes them, Dimarzio makes them,
EMG makes some low impedance active pickups that also help  with this.

Bridges: lots of bridges out there including tremelo bridges that lock, 
depending on what you need/want out of a trem you may have to do some routing.

I dunno what are yuu looking for?

dbii

    
    re: .1
    
    Do you have suggestions on non-locking trems?  I want to be able
    to put the guitar back to normal if necessary someday.  Don't want
    to replace the nut either.  Also, are there different models of
    the seymour-duncans in the stacked variety for the strat?  
    
    thanks,
    -pat

    Thanks Dave,
    Like Pat said in .2, keep going. We don't know what we want, we
    just wanna know what's available.
    
    By "bolt on" I meant replace without cutting drilling, etc. It's
    a motorcyle industry term for accessories. I realize you don't "bolt"
    anything to pickups. Sheesh. 8^)
    
    Steve

    re:  Steve, .0
    
    As a fellow Stratocaster owner, I am curious to know why you would
    not modify your Strat in any permanent way.
    
    I have had a larger nut installed and new mini-Schaller tuning pegs
    installed.  A look at the back of the headstock would reveal some
    tiny screw holes remaining from the original Fender (plastic) tuning
    pegs but it doesn't look bad.
    
    Additionally, I replaced the original, noisy, Fender pickups with the
    Seymour Duncan Classic Strat replacement pickups.  To my ears, it still
    is a bright and clean as a traditional Strat, without the humming, etc.
    
    My guitar appears perfectly stock at a glance.  There's nothing wild
    about it.  The modifications have been well worth it, however.
    
    The reason I raise the question is this:  There appears to be a
    "vintage guitar mania" going on right now where people are afraid to
    alter their instruments in any way, lest the instrument lose its
    "vintage" status.  Is this true in your case?
    
    Perhaps there is a note on the topic, or perhaps I should start one,
    but the vintage thing is out of hand.  My 1980 Stratocaster (American)
    isn't going to be a vintage guitar for a LONG time.  The accurate
    tuning, better feel, and quieter electronics are useful to me right
    now...more useful than any possible vintage value the guitar MIGHT have
    30 years.
    
    I know for a fact there a people playing horrible instruments that they
    refuse to modify in any way because of the perceived vintage status
    the instrument allegedly possesses.  To me, that's just plain missing
    the point of playing and enjoying an instrument.  
    
    We live in strange times when people consider production line instruments 
    that cost well under a grand vintage relics and then proceed to inflate the
    value of all instruments by creating a market for these instuments.
    It inhibits the basic player who wants to USE the instrument but is
    afraid he is somehow compromising it.  Your average 70s-80s American
    made Stratocaster is not a Stradivarius violin (crafted by Atonio
    Stradivari in the 1800s).
    
    Please don't take this as an accusation!  You may well not want to
    alter a brand new instrument, and I certainly understand that feeling.
    
    I just thought I'd raise the issue.  Well, ladies and gentlemen, do
    we buy to collect 'em or to play 'em.  And where do you draw the line
    on a given instrument?
    
    Brian
    
    

    Stewart MacDonald offers a new device which replaces the middle
    spring on a Strat trem, which, they claim, is supposed to
    prevent the trem from driving the guitar out of tune. It is
    an inexpensive thing that can be installed in minutes. It
    might be worth checking out. I doubt it will transform a
    stock Fender bridge into a Floyd, but it may improve it
    somewhat. 
    
    I assume that the stock tuners that come on your guitar are
    not precision tuners. You could improve the guitar 100% by
    replacing the stock tuners with precision tuners (ie. Schaller,
    Grover, Gotah, etc), but I would recommend you go one step further
    and replace them with precision *locking* tuners. These were first 
    introduced by Sperzel and have been copied and used on other guitars
    (PRS for one). Unlike regular tuners, which require you to wrap the 
    string around the tuning post, Sperzels have a pin inside the post 
    which is cranked up against the string. Since the strings are not 
    wrapped around the post there is no potential for slippage when you 
    dive down on the trem bar. Sperzels sell for about $50, and are
    available in Stainless Steel, Brass, or Black. This is an excellant
    alternative to a locking nut and you don't have to loosen set screws
    to tune your guitar.
    
    	I understand that Paul Reed Smith has incorporated the locking
    feature into their tuners, and have done Sperzel one better by adding
    an integral fold-out crank to each tuner. PRS sells their pickups
    separately, and I would guess that they also sell the tuners separately
    as well. Check with a PRS dealer for availability.
        
    	I wouldn't change the pickups unless you are looking for a 
    differant sound, or quieter operation. Does your Strat have a
    3 position of 5 position switch? If it has only 3 positions you
    should definately install a 5 position switch right away. Switches
    are cheap and the extra 2 positions are essential.
    
    	Another device that I have seen advertised is called a fathead.
    It is installed between the headstock and the tuners, is made of
    thin solid brass. It promises to add sustain, and eliminate
    dead spots. I am surprised these are still advertized, as I don't
    know of anyone using them, and I am sceptical as to whether they
    are worth messing with.
    
    	The Sustainic is a device which mounts to the headstock
    (can be installed on any instrument) and provides infinite
    on demand sustain. These are now being offered by Kramer, Hamer,
    and other manufacturers on special models. If you are looking
    for sustain (ala Carlos Santana) at any volume level at the
    touch of a pedal, the sustainiac is the best way to get it.
    
    	Another essential is strap locks. These are available in
    various differant flovors. I prefer the type that has a small
    pin you press in to attach/dettach the strap. Other stypes 
    have a donut shaped ring that snaps on over the strap, etc.
    Don't leave home without a good set of strap locks.
    
    	There are lots of toys out there. Some are good ways to
    improve your axe, others are a waste of money. Unfortuneately,
    sometimes you have to experiment with them to determine if they
    are worthwhile *for you* or not. 
    
    
    	I have a 1971 Telecaster. The modifications I have done to it
    include:
    
    	Seymour Duncan STR3 neck pickup 
    	Black anodized aluminum pick gaurd 
    	Strap locks
    	Brass nut 
    	Sperzel locking tuners 
    
    	The only mod that is non-reversable is the installation of the
    Sperzel locking tuners, which require the original holes in the
    headstock to be inlarged. Other than that, I could return the guitar
    to stock condition in under an hour.
    
    	The only other thing I would like for my Tele is a Fender gig
    bag, so I could tote the guitar around without the hard shell case.
    I understand they sell for about $30 to $40. I consider this a 
    good investment, since they allow you to sling the guitar over
    your shoulder for easy transporting.
    
    	Have fun,
    
    	Mark Jacques
    

    re .0
    
    Unless you're going to a locking tremelo system, I wouldn't replace
    the one on your American Standard.  IMO, it's the finest non-locking
    system around and blows the original Strat design right out of the water.
    You may want to look at upgrading your nut, either with a graphite
    or with Fenders own low friction design used on the Strat+.
    
    re pickups, the stock American Standard's seem to be really nice
    and I would only consider upgrading to some sort of humbucker for
    added quietness and/or gain.  In addition to the stacked humbuckers
    previously mentioned, there are also side-by-side humbuckers that
    replace the stock Strat pickups without modification.  Note that
    you always lose a little bit of the single coil sound when going
    to a humbucker.  I believe with the stacked designs, you lose a
    little high end, while with the side-by-sides, you tend to lose
    a little bottom.

    Note that the new American Standard and Strat+ already fix a lot of
    the things people were complaining about with their old Strats,
    like fingerboard radius (flatter) and neck feel.

    /rick

    RE:  .4/Brian
    
    No "vintage headtrip" here, Brian.  Pat and I are just looking for
    a Strat "notesfile catalog of goodies" if you will, and we wanna
    know what the "simple" mods are.
    
    Keep 'em comin'!!
    
    Steve  8^)
    

    Hi Steve, Pat,
    
    I re-read my note...boy, it sounds a little cranky!  Nothing personal,
    of course.  But it's good to know you're not on a "vintage headtrip."
    
    On Strat goodies, my best decision was going to the Seymour Duncan
    classic Strat replacement pickups...a decision I made after pouring
    over the pickups note here in Guitar.  I wanted to keep the Strat
    sound and eliminate the hum, and that's exactly what happened.
    
    Shielding and grounding is important, too, and if you decide to stay
    with the stock Fender pickups, it would certainly be worth doing.
    
    Cheers,
    
    Brian

    Thanks Brian,
    
    Are the S.D.'s you mention any "hotter" or are they merely for
    humbucking?  I love the tone I get especially in position 2, and
    5 on the selector.  Did you lose any of the "classic strat tone"?
    Would you recommend changing only one or two of the pickups?  Wer'e
    on an "info binge"!! |^)
    
    Steve

    RE: .9
      
    	I have a 1969 Fender Strat and while I "don't" want to ruin
    it as a older Strat, I did not like certain things about it. My
    stock pickups aren't really *that* noisy as compaired to newer
    ones. Personally, I can't believe that any guitar manufacturer
    would let some of those pickups leave the factory, but whatcha
    gonna do? 
    	I originally wanted a hotter pickup in my "bridge" position,
    so in ~1979 I replaced it with this "new" Dimarzio SDS-1. It sounded
    GREAT until I turned up the amp. It squeeked and barked and carried
    on. It was terrible! I put the original p/u back in.
    	I now have a SD Classic Stack p/u in the bridge position and
    I *love* it! There is also a mini switch option for different wiring
    on this unit which I like too. The volume in normal wired mode isn't
    any different from my other pickups either. That's important to
    me cause I don't want to have to think about volume levels in the
    middle of a solo or something. It's *extremely* quiet (in normal mode)
    and the tone is very similar to my original bridge p/u. I didn't want 
    to change the neck p/u to anything else cause I absolutely *love* that 
    Fender (SRV type) tone.
    	No other mods were made except a 5 position p/u switch and
    a new pickguard, cause I didn't want to put a hole for my mini-
    switch in my original one. I'd collect them, but only if I can 
    "use" them too! I *love* my Strat! That's one guitar I'd never
    get rid of. It has the tone I want and it plays great. I also have
    a ~1970 Les Paul Custom sunburst that plays great, BUT if the two
    are side by side... I play the Strat. It has alot more personality
    than the Les Paul. BTW... with the SD stack I have, when you kick
    in the overdrive on the amp, this guitar becomes a real animal.
    Plenty of sustain (for a Strat) and the tone is GREAT! 
    
    When it comes down to it... what else could you want in a guitar?
    It can be sweet and clean, or a real (controlled) animal when you
    kick in the saturation mode. Ya-Hoo!
    
    Fred (one very satisfied Strat owner for many years)
   

    .9  
    
    I love those Position 2 sounds, too!  That Knopfler-type sound.
    Position 4 is good, also.
    
    The Seymour Duncans I have (Classic Strat) retain all of the
    original sounds.  Seymour Duncan also makes "Hot Stack" replacement
    pickups for Stratocasters, and these would certainly have a hotter
    sound.  I recommend the pickups note earlier in this conference because
    I believe a few people have purchased the hotter pickups and have
    reviewed them.
    
    For what it's worth, the guitar tech at Wurlitzer's (Steve) told me
    that the SD Classic stacks greatly outsell the SD Hot Stacks.
    
    On strats in general:  I only wish it had one more fret!  I just need
    that 22nd fret once in a while.
    
    Brian

Duncan's hot stacks do not look vintage but will drop in with no mods to the
guitar. They are definately hotter than the classic stack which does look
vintage.

re: tremsetter from Stewart McD's

I tried one, installation and adjustment is tricky and takes more than a few 
minuites. After putting it on I saw no noticable improvement in the performance
of my floyd rose (which was far from perfect) and it was removed along with
the floyd during my last flirtation with guitar modifications...chances are
the floyd will stay off for good on that particular guitar...

The tremsetter is featured on all strat + guitars btw...

dbii

    On altering (or expanding) the sounds available, there have been
    several mods given in Guitar Player over the years. The most recent
    involved a rewire, but was "invisible" in that the appearance of
    the guitar is unaltered. It uses on of the tone controls to instead
    select one of seven (?) sounds... I don't know of anyone who's tried
    it.
    
    There's also a new product just on the market that's supposed to
    improve the sound from a stock strat. I can't remember the name at the
    moment (typical!) but I know that it fits inside the control cavity
    without any mods.
    
    FWIW
    
    Nick

    
    
    
    
    	A mod that I really like (on my home made mongrel Strat) is wiring
    the neck pickup through a pull-up switch pot so that I can select all
    pickups at once or just the neck and bridge pickups together.   On this
    guitar I also split coils on a Jackson Humbucker (wish my Jeff Beck had
    4 wires) so that I can go single or humbucking with the aforementioned
    switch (yup, used yet another pull-up pot)....  
    
    
    Steve

    This seems a good place to ask...
    
    I am refurbishing my '74 Strat, including a complete re-spray. Having
    stripped off the old paint and completely sanded it down, I also
    found a layer of what I believe is conductive paint inside the body
    pickup and control cavities. Unfortunately I had to remove/sand
    it out to get the body totally clean.
    
    I would like to replace the conductive paint or use something like
    copper foil/tape to help shield the body. Does anyone know of a
    source for either (NH/MASS area)?
    
    Thanks, Jimi.

    
    
    
    	Radio Shack used to sell copper foil, but they have discontinued
    it, the only source I know of is Stewart-Macdonald's guitar supply..
    they sell conductive paint for (gasp) $20 a can...   I bet one of the
    HAM radio places like EGE in Salem or Rivendal would carry some kind of
    shielding material...  
    
    	Regards,
    	Steve

Go to your local auto parts store and buy some aliuminum tape. Works great!

dbii

    
    
    
    
    	Dave, how did you connect the old Al3 tape to ground???
    
    
    Steve

I drove a wood screw with a solder terminal on it right through...wired the 
ground to the solder terminal and voilla!

dbii