Thanks JTE, I'm not really looking for a new guitar. I enjoy every sound I can get out of it, even though I want another, without losing any that I have 
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How to beef up a Strat?
- Thread starter Electricblue
- Start date
- Aug 21, 2008
- 10,386
- 252
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- Owner, SGD Music Products
That's true, but I'm used to bending bass strings, so that's not a problem. I like the tone of 9s, and sometimes 10s on shorter scale length guitars. I just don't like the tone of very heavy strings. They don't had the same snap.
Guitars shouldn't have a lot of low end anyway. It muddies up the sound and doesn't leave enough space for the bass.
Big +1 to what JTE said overall, and I forgot to mention the tone knob swap that SGD Lutherie mentions, it sounds really good on the hotter strat pickups to roll off a bit of the highs on the bridge pickup. Works great in the realm of Rats, Fuzz Faces, Marshalls, and whatnot.
Cool to see a lot of you double on guitar or maybe even are primarily guitarists like me ( it's about a 70/30 split), and have the same knowledge and passion for the 6 string. I wish there was a guitar forum as good as TB for guitar.
Cool to see a lot of you double on guitar or maybe even are primarily guitarists like me ( it's about a 70/30 split), and have the same knowledge and passion for the 6 string. I wish there was a guitar forum as good as TB for guitar.
- Nov 8, 2010
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- Unofficial Endorser: Ibanez, D'Addario, Zoom
+1 I have Lace Sensors in mine as well ('75). Over the years I've been through a bunch of pickups including humbuckers (yes, routed the body because I wanted to change the tone but keep the guitar) and my absolute favorites were EMG SA's, but removing the pickguard to change the battery sucks and I didn;t want to add a rear hatch. Currently I have a mismatched set of Lace Sensors and they get close the glassy sound of the SAs without the active preamp. All in all I'm not a Fender guitar guy, so given a choice I'll play my Les Paul Std instead (stock PAF in the neck, SD Super Distortion in the bridge, no I do not want to sell the stock bridge PAF).
Another cool mod (that I think is why Strats are so popular, they're great bases for hot-rodding!) is to simply reverse the middle and bridge PUP hot leads to the switch. Instead of having the typical switch arrangement of N, N/M, M, M/B, B you'll get N, N/B, B, B/M, M. You give up N/M but gain N/B. This will also give you the tone control on the bridge PUP, but you won't have one on the middle PUP, so go ahead and wire that in too.
I get an emulation of a humbucker by using the bridge/middle with the tone control rolled off and a little judicious use of a simple compressor. No, it won't sound like a real humbucker because the coils are so far apart, but in the real world it's close enough to Clapton's Cream-era "woman tone" that it works for my pitiful rendition of "Sunshine Of Your Love"...
John
I get an emulation of a humbucker by using the bridge/middle with the tone control rolled off and a little judicious use of a simple compressor. No, it won't sound like a real humbucker because the coils are so far apart, but in the real world it's close enough to Clapton's Cream-era "woman tone" that it works for my pitiful rendition of "Sunshine Of Your Love"...
John
I like 10s on Strat-scaled guitars and 11s on GIbson guitars. THese days. used to run 12s on a strat scale metal neck Kramer . . . .
Different pickups are the obvious way to go. The But trying out a ZVex SHO or Xotic RC booster may get you where you want to go with a little judicious EQ in the boost.
Or, for a ballsier single coil tone, get an LP (or SG or whatever) with P90s. Abraxas-era Santana tone awaits . . . (although I'm pretty sure he's playing a Tele on one tune off that album . . .)
Different pickups are the obvious way to go. The But trying out a ZVex SHO or Xotic RC booster may get you where you want to go with a little judicious EQ in the boost.
Or, for a ballsier single coil tone, get an LP (or SG or whatever) with P90s. Abraxas-era Santana tone awaits . . . (although I'm pretty sure he's playing a Tele on one tune off that album . . .)
fwiw I'm a strat guy when it comes to guitars, but I do like me a bucker. I have a pearly gates plus in the bridge on my strats (fender designed, duncan made, NOT the same as the pearly gates) and I can get most strat tones and get a LP killing bucker tone. It's bright, for sure - but it kills in a mix!
Here's one of my strats:
also don't care much for tone knobs and the placement of the volume and pup selector. my solution was to kill the tone, move the volume down and put in a rotary pup selector.
Here's one of my strats:
also don't care much for tone knobs and the placement of the volume and pup selector. my solution was to kill the tone, move the volume down and put in a rotary pup selector.
- Aug 21, 2008
- 10,386
- 252
- 68
- Disclosures
- Owner, SGD Music Products
+1 I don't understand why so many guitarist don't use their tone control! My former partner in SGD is a talented guitarist, and on the guitars he builds for himself, he doesn't even include a tone control!
But with distortion you can get those cool "woman" tones with the tone rolled off! If the roll off is too much, use a smaller value cap. A .02 or .01 on a Strat single coil takes off the top end sheen without clobbering the mids. Sounds a bit like a way cocked back a bit.
I actually played guitar before bass, and started out my musical life as a drummer. Guitar and bass are very closely related, and the electric bass is in fact bass guitar. It's tuned the same way. Playing guitar helps you visualize your chords and stuff on bass.
A lot of the great bassist started out on guitar, like Paul McCartney, Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn, Ray Shulman (Gentle Giant) and others I can't remember at the moment. And then there's the guitarist that double on bass like Price and David Gilmour.
So guitar isn't a bad word, it's just a lot of the people who take up guitar.
My main guitars:
But playing guitar is fun. All the tracks at my personal Link Removed are me playing all the instruments.
One thing I did on my Strat is install a push/pull knob where the volume control is. I have it wired up to turn on the neck pickup when I'm playing on the other pickups. I have all seven possible pickup combinations on my Strat - N, N/M, M, M/B, B, N/B, N/M/B. I also float the bridge so when I use the whammy bar I can go up or down a step.
A tip for never going out of tune when using the whammy bar - install a good quality set of locking tuners (I use Grovers), and apply some automotive grease with molybdenum-disulfide in it on each string contact point - bridge, nut, and string retainer. The string will slide effortlessly when using the bar and will return to tune every time.
A tip for never going out of tune when using the whammy bar - install a good quality set of locking tuners (I use Grovers), and apply some automotive grease with molybdenum-disulfide in it on each string contact point - bridge, nut, and string retainer. The string will slide effortlessly when using the bar and will return to tune every time.
I always thought the strat ultras with the lace sensor pups were awesome. A strat when you want it, and a very different animal when you don't. But that's a pup + change. A Cap change as mentioned would be an easy start. Maybe a tone block for the bridge ( big chunk of metal that bolts to the bridge) how about wiring in a boost circuit? Like the emg Kerry king set has. Other than that pups gotta go.
First, before anything, get a solid metal block for the trem. I got a solid brass block from guitarfetish. They have a deal with a nice new bridge mated to the block for cheap. It was the single best upgrade I could have made to the guitar. The notes sound a lot bigger.
I also got some pickups from them, that was the next part of the sound. But the block, very important.
I also got some pickups from them, that was the next part of the sound. But the block, very important.
Heavier strings, bleh!
You never said if it's a Squier Strat, or what-did you? Among your options, consider a new bridge pup, or possibly replacing all 3 pups. There's the heavier trem if yours has a lightweight, or zinc trem.
My Fender Standard sports a bone nut, and a set of EB slinky 9's. With the great setup on it, joyful!
You never said if it's a Squier Strat, or what-did you? Among your options, consider a new bridge pup, or possibly replacing all 3 pups. There's the heavier trem if yours has a lightweight, or zinc trem.
My Fender Standard sports a bone nut, and a set of EB slinky 9's. With the great setup on it, joyful!
The Hot Rails is a fantstic bridge pickup replacement, and I think you'll love it. Also, you might find a wired Carvin pickguard with their singles for 60 bucks or so on eBay. I think they're 110 or so new. Carvin's singles have more mids than the typical Fender singles, but still give you that nice Fender single coil sound. You gain more depth to the sounds without giving up the sparkle. That's a cheap and very nice upgrade. If you get a wired pickguard (I did, no regrets at ALL) it's a very easy install too. Master Vol, Master Tone, and on/off for the bridge pickup which is kind of cool too.
Looks like this (it may come with white pickups now as well, I'm not certain):
Looks like this (it may come with white pickups now as well, I'm not certain):
You could get a push/pull to put the middle and bridge pickups in series. In fact, I believe Fender's S-1 switch does that and other things.
A bridge humbucker is an excellent way to go, either full sized or single coil sized like a Hot Rails. If you do this, add a coil splitter for the humbucker so you can retain the classic "quack" in the bridge/middle position. Make sure that, in single coil mode, you're using the humbucker's coil that cancels hum when used with the middle pickup. Some of Fender's MIA "Fat" Strats with bridge humbuckers have a five position "super switch" that splits the 'bucker like this in position two, and it's really cool. I have a 2001 HH variant of this with the Duncan Pearly Gates Plus at the bridge, which has the following positions: (1) bridge HB; (2) both pickups split for "quack"; (3) both HB's on full; (4) one coil of neck HB; (5) neck HB on full. It's incredibly versatile.
My other Strat has Hot Gold Lace Sensors, with the overwound 13.2k hot bridge pickup, which seriously rips through the right amp. It still sounds like a Strat, but with more thickness and punch. The Hot Golds are amazing.
