Mods on your Squier strat?

[ch0pz]

Hey everyone,
I was just wondering what (if any) mods have u done to your squier strat. Whether youve changed your pickups, got a custom paintjob, changed pickguards, done a relic job or anything else let us know here...
and also post pics of your mods if you have any!!

[bek]

Mine is dead stock except for a Deaf-Eddie Fat-O-Caster switch. I'll probably change the tuners eventually, but it's great otherwise so I'm leaving it.

[Stratosaurus]

Wilkinson EZ-Lok tuners, Mighty Mite pre-assembled pickguard.

People have told me that the Mighty Mite pickups sound great. When I tell them that they cost me $35 they don't believe me.

Great clean tone. And now it stays in tune much better thanks to the tuners.

[GotBoostVR]

my first electric git-fiddle.
black squire strat.

first mod, painted the PG.
about a week later ripped it up, and re routed it myself and droped a epi-bucker in the neck postion, made for a pretty good rythm guitar.

but then I decided I wanted to change it up some.

it got a set of overwound pickups on clearance from guitarfetish.com
and their superstrat wiring kit (3 in phase-off-out of pahse mini switches instead of a 5 way selector) in pearloid.

sounds AMAZING, so versitile. the pickups are HOT, and lmost dead quite.
the bridge is biting, and kinda twangy, perfect for cuttin through.
with the bridge and middle on just flat out great rythm.

all the mods cost me like 35 bucks I think after shipping.
people **** a brick when I tell them that.

[CAFeathers]

I had a 2001 Chinese made Squier Strat that I got new for really cheap. Great sounding guitar, the only thing I did to it was add a small toggle so I could add the bridge pup to the neck and and get all 3 on at once.
I shoulda kept it.

[photoweborama]

I put GFS Texas Premium pickups in mine. I wired the bridge to the bottom tone control, I also put in a push pull switch so I can get all seven switch positions.

I also shielded it, put a CRL switch in it, put a switchcraft jack in it.

[StratDal]

I had a SD Trembucker pup installed on my Bullett. The guitar rocks and is really fun to play. My friend who performs on a regular basis likes playing my guitar more than his own. I consider that a complement!

[jwsamuel]

I just finished modding my Cherryburst Standard Stratocaster. I replaced the rosewood neck with a maple Mighty Mite neck equipped with Wilkinson EZ Lock tuners.

I replaced the stock pickups and pickguard with Fender 57/62 pickups and a Warmoth pearl white pickguard. The pickups are wired with only one volume and one tone control.

I'll try to post a picture soon.

Jim

Edited to post pic:

[mustang_steve]

Hello folks, first poster.

I have a Fender Starcaster (the Target one, not the classic one)...from my understanding it's the same as a low-end Squier

I'm a guitar newbie as well (read my sig to understand my pain :P ), so all I've done is stuff that makes things easier for me.

Zeppelin strap locks, planet waves strap. I decided I needed these on my first day of ownership, when I had the strap fall off, and the rather undesired meeting between my guitar's headstock and my endtable ensued. The guitar won....the endtable has a huge dent in it

I also tightened the hex nuts on the tuners, as well as applied some blue loctite on them to assure they don't loosen up again.

I am about to also loctite the hex nut on my output jack, since it keeps coming loose.

Upcoming mod is installing an LSR roller nut....the stock one just doesn't seem right...no matter what I do the low E has fret buzz. The amp doesn't seem to piick it up, but it annoys the bejeebus out of me.

Once all that is done, I think I'm going to leave it as is, until I get good, then figure out where to go from there.

[djw]

Hi all,

First post, but been lurking around for a bit.
Very cool site, thank you.

Anyway the wife surpirsed me with a Squire HSS.
First was some neck fix'n, and new strings (I use 046-10's)
Then got a Trem-Setter and differnet springs. After a bit of
tweaking the tremolo works awesome.
Next was a sheilding up grade and add/replace the pickup mounting
rings with metal ones.
Plays nicley, and gives me some addtional tones to the collection. :D

A few Pixs

Oh yeah, blue loctight on that pesky input jack nut.

[mustang_steve]

Well, the updated mod list is:

Mighty Mite loaded pickguard (rails)
roller string trees (d-g tree is backwards, since I found that makes the string angle almost identical to the stock setup).
chrome knobs with M.O.P. inlay.
zeppelin strap locks
filed out the 6-hole backplate into a slot backplate (makes string changes easier).

I might not do the roller nut mod anymore, since I am starting to like the tone as is, so the replacement nut may be another white plastic or a bone nut....it still needs one badly though, it's cut too low.

[numeric]

Swapped the crappy neck out for a '51's. This'll be on there until I get ahold of a better maple strat neck. The very bad relic job is the reason I got this guitar cheap. Maybe a refin is in order, hmm?

[Rob DiStefano]

Bullet Strat mods - AP SRO-FAT neck finished in orange butterscotch, Gotoh staggered Kluson tuners, vintage bone nut, new pups - Keystones for bridge and middle and L200 for the neck, CTS 250KA volume pot, no load 250KA tone pot, 1meg neck blender pot, CRL 5-way, Switchcraft jack. DaddyO 11-49 roundwounds. Sweet. My number one guitar.

[Phat-O-Caster]

94' MIM Fender "Squire Series" Fiesta Red,pearl white pickguard, texas specials with pearl white covers,cream pearl trem cover (off my Strat+) Sperzel locking tuners, and a few tweaks under the hood-I love this guitar. Brian
posted a front close up in main forum under Greetings if you care to take a look.

[epistrat]

I have red, silver and blue Lace Sensors on my '99 Squier, and I swapped out the stock maple fretboard neck for a rosewood neck that I got from my '01 Double Fat Squier Strat (which had a cracked trem post hole, and was unplayable).

I got a new tremolo from guitarpartscentral.com, but I still need 5 springs to keep it in tune. I was also able to replace the stock trem claw with the new one that came with the trem from guitar parts central, the holes in the trem claw cavity for the screws matched up just fine.

The stock hardware was really bad I still would like to replace the stock input jack with a better one.

[Duckus Ruckus]

Mine has a input javk upgrade and Lace sensors, blue(neck), gold(middle), and red(bridge). Oh, and strap locks.

[thaus]

Originally Posted by Duckus Ruckus

Mine has a input javk upgrade and Lace sensors, blue(neck), gold(middle), and red(bridge). Oh, and strap locks.

Hey cool that someone actually put IN some lace sensors! It normally reads the other way round; they remove them from a guitar! How do you like the tone? Are they as silent as I have read?

[thaus]

Here's my DiStefano modded Squier Bullet; basically Rob turned it into a new guitar!! Love it.....



1. New nut - vintage unbleached cow bone
2. Squier logo removed and neck and headstock tinted
3. Keystone pups installed
4. Complete rewire with blender option
CTS 250KA master volume
CTS 250KA no load master tone pot w/.022uf cap
CTS 1MA neck volume blender
CRL 5way
Switchcraft jack
5. Kluson tuners installed

[StratDen]

Thaus, that photo is catalog quality! And the look is pure candy!

[StratDen]

Originally Posted by Duckus Ruckus

Mine has a input javk upgrade and Lace sensors, blue(neck), gold(middle), and red(bridge). Oh, and strap locks.

Nice! The strap makes it all look fast! Just curious, was the jack problematic (scratchies, etc.)?

[StratDen]

Originally Posted by thaus

Hey cool that someone actually put IN some lace sensors! It normally reads the other way round; they remove them from a guitar! How do you like the tone? Are they as silent as I have read?

Good point. My guess is if they were swapped out of something else, then it's a great call on Duckus' part to put them in the Squier. The cost, or lack of it, would be right that's for sure!

[thaus]

Originally Posted by StratDen

Thaus, that photo is catalog quality! And the look is pure candy!

Thanks! I am indulging in my other expensive hobby.......photography. Lot's of fun taking these shots and a couple have been printed to poster size for framing.

[Duckus Ruckus]

Originally Posted by thaus

Hey cool that someone actually put IN some lace sensors! It normally reads the other way round; they remove them from a guitar! How do you like the tone? Are they as silent as I have read?

Putting the lace sensors in was just an experiment that stuck. The original pups started going bad and I found some lace ones cheap...

Tone-wise, to me, they're a little a odd. They sound good, but they just aren't capable of the standard strat sound. Also, they really color your sound, so adding effects is more difficult. I can see why people don't like them, they're limiting. However, I find them good for odd bits and pieces so I've kept them. They are silent but nothing a good shielding job couldn't do with other pups.

Originally Posted by StratDen

Nice! The strap makes it all look fast! Just curious, was the jack problematic (scratchies, etc.)?

Yep, it kept coming loose nearly falling apart. The upgrade was really worth it.

[StratDen]

Originally Posted by Duckus Ruckus

Yep, it kept coming loose nearly falling apart. The upgrade was really worth it.

Ok thanks for that info. The 2 I ordered haven't shown up yet to check, but that was an area I was considering to change out too.

[SteveWoodward]

How can one contact Rob? New here but being in Northern NJ I'm very interested in finding someone to set up my Squier Vintage Modified...thanks!

[StratDen]

Originally Posted by SteveWoodward

How can one contact Rob? New here but being in Northern NJ I'm very interested in finding someone to set up my Squier Vintage Modified...thanks!

Rob posts here on occasion and his contributions here and on the TDPRI over the years have been priceless to many. His webpage is http://www.frettech.com/

[SteveWoodward]

Thanks StratDen!