M29
April 19th, 2007, 07:52 AM
Hello,
I decided a while ago that I would mod my Squier SE-100 Strat and this is where I am currently at with the project.
I really like the Squier '51 that I have and I thought it would be an interesting experiment to mod my cheap Chinese Squier Strat to be similar to the '51.
One thing that bothers me to a small degree is the thin sound and somewhat too bright sound of my '51. I thought that maybe my darker sounding agathis wood Squier Strat body might provide a somewhat fatter sound which would be more pleasing to me. The body on this Strat is the same thickness as a standard Strat too, which might provide a somewhat different tone.
I had already modded my Strat with a Squier '51 neck that I got off of ebay. I got this neck for a good price and I am very happy with the way it feels. This is the guitar I grab to play the most. I also added U.S.A. Fender reissue vintage pickups to this Strat which really brought it to life. Now the neck and middle pickups will be used on my Jazzmaster project and the bridge single coil I will use at the neck on this project.
I removed the Strat pickguard and pickups and installed a new Pickguard from WD Parts which I ordered with no holes except the mounting holes and one bridge hole for a humbucking. I used an original '51 pickguard to mark where I wanted the single coil to be on the new guard.
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51a.jpg
I transfered the selector switch location from my Strat pickguard, which was changed from a 5 way to a 3 way to the new pickguard and used my hobby modeling drill to get started. Using a small bit I rough drilled the location out and finished up with a sharp utility knife and a very small hobby file.
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51b.jpg
Next I started work on the single coil mounting hole by drilling many small holes and then cutting them with a wire cutter. This is crude way to go about doing this but I have a limited amount of tools and this gets the job done.
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51d.jpg
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51e.jpg
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51f.jpg
At this point I used various files to even the opening out.
This view shows where I am at right now with my U.S.A. 2006 Fender bridge vintage reissue pickup in the neck position. I ordered a Dimarzio Classic PAF humbucking pickup off of ebay but they sent one that was not F spaced to fit the Fender pole spacing and I had to send it to Dimarzio for a swap, which they agreed to and were very friendly to deal with. The wait is on...
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51g.jpg
I hope this helps
M29
I decided a while ago that I would mod my Squier SE-100 Strat and this is where I am currently at with the project.
I really like the Squier '51 that I have and I thought it would be an interesting experiment to mod my cheap Chinese Squier Strat to be similar to the '51.
One thing that bothers me to a small degree is the thin sound and somewhat too bright sound of my '51. I thought that maybe my darker sounding agathis wood Squier Strat body might provide a somewhat fatter sound which would be more pleasing to me. The body on this Strat is the same thickness as a standard Strat too, which might provide a somewhat different tone.
I had already modded my Strat with a Squier '51 neck that I got off of ebay. I got this neck for a good price and I am very happy with the way it feels. This is the guitar I grab to play the most. I also added U.S.A. Fender reissue vintage pickups to this Strat which really brought it to life. Now the neck and middle pickups will be used on my Jazzmaster project and the bridge single coil I will use at the neck on this project.
I removed the Strat pickguard and pickups and installed a new Pickguard from WD Parts which I ordered with no holes except the mounting holes and one bridge hole for a humbucking. I used an original '51 pickguard to mark where I wanted the single coil to be on the new guard.
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51a.jpg
I transfered the selector switch location from my Strat pickguard, which was changed from a 5 way to a 3 way to the new pickguard and used my hobby modeling drill to get started. Using a small bit I rough drilled the location out and finished up with a sharp utility knife and a very small hobby file.
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51b.jpg
Next I started work on the single coil mounting hole by drilling many small holes and then cutting them with a wire cutter. This is crude way to go about doing this but I have a limited amount of tools and this gets the job done.
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51d.jpg
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51e.jpg
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51f.jpg
At this point I used various files to even the opening out.
This view shows where I am at right now with my U.S.A. 2006 Fender bridge vintage reissue pickup in the neck position. I ordered a Dimarzio Classic PAF humbucking pickup off of ebay but they sent one that was not F spaced to fit the Fender pole spacing and I had to send it to Dimarzio for a swap, which they agreed to and were very friendly to deal with. The wait is on...
http://www.qix.net/~lmjbo/strat51g.jpg
I hope this helps
M29