Squier Fat Strat HSS Walnut Stain

[SuperSwede]

Personally I think that the black LP speed knobs looks fantastic. Easily the most good looking knobs.

[warren0728]

i have those speed knobs on my ibanez GAX...they are good looking knobs

just don't get those knobs shaped like dice....man those things bug me

ww

[ShortBuSX]

Thanks for the suggestions But I thik Im leanin more towards the regular black strat knobs...I'll get em the same time I get the switch. Oh yeah...and links/references to a good Fender small parts site?...I want some nickle plated brass saddles for this as well.(I had seen a great site with fender amp parts too, but I never book marked it, great site...anybody???)

[ShortBuSX]

I fixed the humbucker wiring this last night! And now it sounds great!!!

I still wanna swap out the 5 way switch...its a little static-y and flimsy. Im deffinately swapping it when I get the knobs.
Now Im just trying to find a quality switch, thats not all complicated.
I saw a Stew Mac but the schematic made me second guess gettin it.

[ShortBuSX]

Update...I didnt fix my humbucker connections as well as I thought I had....I was playing at low volumes on my amp and was hearing the dreaded hum at idle....so I spent all day yesterday researching hum and pickup noise, shielding and wiring...even considered buying all new electronics(shielding first)....but I got home last night and cracked the back plate off and refered to the SD schematics...followed my Hbucker leads, realised I only had 4 showing(unlike the 5 in the schematic) and then remembered the heatsink around the black wire was drawn up and it looked like the inner wire had been cut exposing some of the strained...and then realised this must have been the sourse of my ground noise! (DUH!) I plan on fixin this later today...I really wish I could take pics of this(I still might)....and I still want another 5 way*shrug* (OAK or CRL???)

Also last night I stumbled across a few other Strat pics...Id almost forgot about this "style" headstock graffic...
http://www.strat-central.com/pics/st...now/180299.jpg
http://www.strat-central.com/pics/st...hmstratone.jpg
http://www.strat-central.com/pics/st...ow/hmblack.jpg
http://www.strat-central.com/pics/st.../hmblackhs.jpg
And I kinda dig the Floyd Rose too...in an 80s metal kinda way

[edit]What the hecks it take to post pics around here??? And does the Fret have a recommended image uploader?[/edit]

[ShortBuSX]

Bought some new hardware, got the black Strat knobs...dont really care for em now that they are on, and am now thinking black Tele knobs Also bought a black jack plate and a new CRL 5 way but gonna hold off on installing that just yet till I get all the shielding supplies and possibly some new pots.

I fixed my ground issue and made a couple of other observations...I was kinda surprised to find 500k pots(all 3) by Alpha...but when I put on the knobs I kinda got the impression they are mini pots...and then got to thinking(wondering) if full sized pots would fit actually fit in this little chamber?

Ive got a couple of questions about shielding my pickups and the lack of a pickguard to hide the copper tape...any suggestions(besides the paint stuff)? Anybody seen any guitars without pickguards shielded??? All the instructionals are pickguarded.

I'll keep posting...maybe somebody will respond to my newb posts *shrug*

[ted s]

Isn't there some adhesive backed foil available, let me check Stewi-Mac...

maybe this .. http://tinyurl.com/yv38o

[duhvoodooman***]

[edit]What the hecks it take to post pics around here??? And does the Fret have a recommended image uploader?[/edit]

Use the "Attachment" editor button (), if you want to post pictures here, meaning that the graphics files will actually reside on TheFret.net.

Alternatively, if the files reside on a publicly accessible server, use the "insert image" button (). Doing this for one of your posted image links works nicely:

[Spudman***]

Those are photos of the highly prized HM Strat. see Heavy Metal Diva http://www.lorilinstruth.com/

The tremolos are Kahler Spyders. I've gt 3 of them. Kahler is now back in production of some sort. At least you can get parts from them, but I don't know if they are making tremolos any more. The Kahler Pro is/was way better than the Floyd IMHO.

[ShortBuSX]

Thanks for the pic tips DVM! I guess its a little different than the other forums I frequent.

SpudMan, I actually ran into one of those HM strats the other day...it was heavily used(needed frets and paint)...they wanted $300 for it...anyways, that chic is one SMOKIN shredder!!! Thanks for the link.

Teds, Im familiar with the copper conductive tape...Im just curious about using it for around the pups since I dont have a pickguard.

[ShortBuSX]

Can someone talk me out of doing this or help re-enforce the idea that itll make a good wiring mod for my HSS?

Im looking to shield it and rewire it with new pots, caps, shielded wire and a new switch...I just figure, hell, if Im going through all the trouble to remove everything to shield it, I might as well rewire it(I gotta desolder most of it anyways)...so why not try a different wiring mod?

[duhvoodooman***]

Don't expect me to talk you out of it! I have an S-S-S Strat and did THIS MOD to it, as chronicled in THIS THREAD. I really love the combo of the bridge p'up in series with the middle--I call it "super quack"!

P.S. Unless you're getting a lot of hum from the guitar, I'm not sure I'd bother with all the GuitarNuts shielding stuff. Newer Strats tend to be a lot quieter than the old ones were, and you may not hear that much difference.

[ShortBuSX]

P.S. Unless you're getting a lot of hum from the guitar, I'm not sure I'd bother with all the GuitarNuts shielding stuff. Newer Strats tend to be a lot quieter than the old ones were, and you may not hear that much difference.

Well it can only get better, and Im not convenced the thin black paint on the inside is anything other than black paint...and well they messed up the humbucker ground, so who knows I could be missin another one...Im just gonna gut it, shield it and rewire it for bout $50 and see where that gets me. I know Ive got the gain up high, but if I can reduce some of that hum without replacing the pickups...then I'll be happy. Im not lookin for silence, Im just lookin to improve what I got...have fun and learn somethin all at the same time.

Im kinda curious what effect having 2 tone caps is gonna be like? Like pictured in that link. And wheres a good source for caps?

Im also curious whats thought of "ring terminals" for the grounds...and I kinda get the impression that guys saying to mount the rings between the pickguard and the pots??? Is that right???
And why not use a ring terminal on the spring claw??? Between the bolthead and the claw. *shrug*

[ShortBuSX]

So Ive got everything on order to do this wiring mod...but Im stuck on the capacitors...I really dont know enough about them to buy em. And Im starting to think the cap values are just unusual...I dunno.

"Lone Star" Style Wiring
"Real" two-pole switch is required.
The split tone controls (separate capacitors) must be used to avoid coupling the pickups.
A four-wire humbucker is required in the bridge.
See note below regarding phasing.
Suggested capacitor values are .02uf with 250k pots, .033uf with 500k pots. Use approximately half that value on the bridge tone control (if you move the mid control to the bridge). You can also experiment with capacitors to suit your taste.

So Ive got the 500k pots...so where can I find (2) .003uf caps? I wnet to Radioshack...but .033uf didnt seem common...and what volts? 400? Like the 1uf 400v used on the ground???

Details that I just dont have figured out

[Spudman***]

I'm laughing lol, partly at myself and mostly at the Indonesians that put my guitar together.

At first there was the issue of the out of phase sound when the bridge and middle pups were selected. After I wired the bridge correctly I still had some issues. Anyway... I went to the Squier site and looked at how these were supposed to be wired, this is where my big chuckle comes in. They had the neck and middle pickups in the WRONG place. The middle is where the neck should be and the neck was put in the middle. Oh my! No wonder these were recently blown out from Overstock.com for cheap.

I am now correcting those issues. LOL

[ShortBuSX]

When I looked at Squiers PDFs for the wiring it had appeared that the pickups were backwards....but upon further inspections the pickup leads colors werent jiving with the schematic...Ive recently checked the polarity and in fact mine are in the proper location.

I think your best bet is to remove the pickups and look and see what the sticker on the back of the humbuckers says, thatll tell you if they are in the right spot.

In reguards to the wiring, did you make certain to seperate the ground shield from the mixed up wires? Its a very fine wire sheild, and if you arent careful its really easy to miss...and will make all the world of difference.

[ShortBuSX]

Well I finally got my home computer hooked up, so Im able to post pics now.

I purchased an OAK 5 way swtich, 500k mini pots, new caps, cloth covered wired, Strat knobs, Switchcraft jack and a black jack plate...as well as all the cooper foil needed to shield her up.

Before:


Stock switch, pots and wiring(corrected, but sorry so blurry):


All hardware removed:

[ShortBuSX]

Pickup cavities carefully shielded, so it doesnt show when the pups are mounted:


Id made a templete so I wouldnt be confined to the control cavity while soldering:

[ShortBuSX]

This is almost finished, just about ready to drop in:


After I got it dropped in and everything buttoned up I plugged her in and immeditately noticed I needed to make adjustments to my pup wiring, but it wasnt difficult to figure out what needed to be done. The Lonestar diagram had trouble shooting tips that were helpful.

I dont have any real good finished product pics...but I can take some...Id really like to get my vintage Strat saddles on first too, but will wait till I need new strings.

Im really pleased with the results though, sounds great and splitting the humbucker really works out better for me. Pretty damn quiet and tone is real clean...love it!

[edit]After all this, Id have to say that modding/wiring/soldering is far easier than posting pics in this damn forum!(and I already knew how to post pics in a forum!)[/edit]