My SPECIAL squier

[Happyguy]

Ok, so this is my first post here and I just wanted to talk about this guitar I modified. When i was um 12 or sumthing i got my first guitar, but this year i bought a new jackson(great guitar by the way) leaving me free to work on my old cheap squier strat.
heres what i did:

-heavy duty aluminum foil on back of pickguard
-scalloped fret board
-hot rails humbucker in the bridge position
-dan armstrongs super strat mod (3 switches, 12 combinations, series/parallel)
-repainted it pchychedellic style (lol im no astist)
-cut/sanded tremolo where the strings always broke
+all of the usual ajustment (trem,pickup height,intonation,string hight,neck)

now i think it is perfect. It has loads of different sounds along with all the original ones and the fret board goes great. I especialy like all 3 pickups in series.
thanx to all of the info on the site i now have my personal unique guitar. ill put up pic when i can ;D

[RandomHero]

Congratulations, guy, and welcome to GuitarNuts.

Sounds awesome! Did you do a full scallop or only from the 12th up? I've been interested in scallops for a long time but never had the cash to invest in one. How does it feel to play?

Welcome to the world of DIY! XD

[Happyguy]

I can't see to put up pics but anyways,
I almost did a full scallop but stopped at the 3rd fret because it semed pointless because the frets were so wide. Didn't cost anything i followed

www.projectguitar.com/tut/scal1.htm

www.projectguitar.com/tut/scalloped.htm

I didn't buy that sander thing just used the file and sandpaper all the way up. It plays great! Its like nothing is holding you back. Great bends and it just overall plays better.

Ill put up the other adresses I followed while im at it

www.dominocs.com/ToneWorks/armstrongstrat.html
Oh, my <strat> has a master tone, seemed useless to me to have two tone controls and leave the bridge without one. Humbuckers *do* sound good in a strat, hot rails are great with it in series it makes fuzz boxes usless.

stay happy

[FenderFan]

Im freakin broke
Im gonna go to a local guitar shop and have the guy who works there but in more expensive pickups mor expensive tuning keys just a total tune up but it will be cheaper than a new guitar and i get to keep my current body which is awexome

[StratLover]

I really suggest you break open your guitar and do it yourself. Not only will it be cheaper it will educate you on the electronics and particular aspects of your guitar in particular. This is frightenig the first time only, and this site is where you can acquire ALL the information and assistance needed to do any and ALL modifications you see proposed for your instrument. First and foremost the QUIETING THE BEAST modification or shielding of your guitar should be the first thing to consider as silence is GOLDEN. Fallow this link and read through the process.



Ask questions and build a plan of attack, then bless your AXE as it was, because it will never be the same ever again, and you will truly KNOW the in's and out's of YOUR AXE.

Anyone else out there that could give some encouragement to FenderFan.........PLEASE post information as needed.

GOOD LUCK and ROCK ON ;D

[bam]

silence is golden .. Nice words ! :lol:

[damian]

dude do it yourself way funner and very informative nothing is undoable. i just made the sickest strat from scratch ive ever played. i carved the neck from honduran rosewood. got a pre slotted frtboard from stewartmacdonald and carved an alder body. I used mostly vintage hardware, kluson deluxe tuners one round string tree excetera. i went with a hard tail cause i wasnt using whammy bar much. it has texas specials that by the way are incredible pickups and i cant stress that enough. the point is, most people told me i was nuts or that i couldnt do it with my minimal tool supply. but i did it and it came out ridiculously good. now mind you i paint by trade so the laquer was a snap and just about my whole family are carpenters so i had good advice. i had also done my own frets and wired some pickups prior my point is anything is possible and there is plenty of how to info on the net. so go for it with no fear, peace, damian

[GuyaGuy]

hand-carved honduran rosewood neck? wow.

the thing i like about doing my own work is finding out about the actual workings of the guitar from inside out. it's not just about saving money or having fun fiddling around with a soldering iron and other tools of the trade, although that's part of it.
i think it gives you more of an awareness of your instrument, why things are made the way they are, how its put together, etc. that's not just true about electronics, but also about all aspects, as damian indicates. i recently made a shim for a guitar neck and learned a lot in the process of making and reading about neck-tilt angles. and then found out how the angles actually affects my playing, what angles i prefer, etc. the same goes for a fret-dressing i did recently. i never would have dared take a file to my frets a couple of years ago but now that i have taken on and completed the project, i've become aware of the importance of fret shape and size, fingerboard radius, etc., all of which affects playing.
so it's not just guitar-tech talk or arcane luthier jargon but stuff that actually plays a role in making music.

[SGTLlama]

damian said:

dude do it yourself way funner and very informative nothing is undoable. i just made the sickest strat from scratch ive ever played. i carved the neck from honduran rosewood. got a pre slotted frtboard from stewartmacdonald and carved an alder body. I used mostly vintage hardware, kluson deluxe tuners one round string tree excetera. i went with a hard tail cause i wasnt using whammy bar much. it has texas specials that by the way are incredible pickups and i cant stress that enough. the point is, most people told me i was nuts or that i couldnt do it with my minimal tool supply. but i did it and it came out ridiculously good. now mind you i paint by trade so the laquer was a snap and just about my whole family are carpenters so i had good advice. i had also done my own frets and wired some pickups prior my point is anything is possible and there is plenty of how to info on the net. so go for it with no fear, peace, damian

Wow! Sounds like you know a bit about woodworking? Did you install a trussrod?

[bam]

GuyaGuy said:

so it's not just guitar-tech talk or arcane luthier jargon but stuff that actually plays a role in making music.

I know almost nothing about lutherie/woodcrafting but these words are definitely right.

[Happyguy]

here are the pics




I played far beyond the sun from malmsteen at my recital yesterday, all the colors grab ppls attention! lol

[StratLover]

Nice job..................----

I like the paint job you put togather, it is TRULY retro in it's style.--;D--

[jdtogo]

looks way cool to me .....great job

[rockinrory]

Hey Happy, that's a wild looking (and must be a pleasure playing) guitar! It reminds me of Clapton's (Cream era) Fool guitar and George Harrisons psychadelic guitar of the 70's. Also, I was just reading where Jack Bruce (bassman of Cream) converted a Strat into a bass (back in the day). Keep up the artistic endeavors..I might try my hand at painting my natural wood finish strat -that I put together with a seperate neck,body,and pickguard guts. Peace. Rory

[UnklMickey]

stratlover said:

I really suggest you break open your guitar and do it yourself...

but take that advice figuratively -- don't get literal and do a "Pete Townshend"!

[silverring233]

awesome work! I also enjoy doing this sort of thing to the CHEAPER guitars. I took my Squier and modded it as well.
It's a 50th anniversary Fender, so it dates to 1996. date stamped/burned into the heel of the neck verifies it. It started life as a Wayne's World strat,(white on white) with crappy everything. pick-guard assy was replaced with a newer Squier assy which went from 3 singles to a fat strat. Bridge pup was replaced with a Tokai explorer pup. All other hardware is original. The finish went from white to black with a paua shell tribal inlay. I did all the inlay work myself, so I know how you feel when you finally get to see to fruits of your labor. I'll put pics up once i figure out how.
Once again.........
AWESOME JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[silverring233]

hope this works


yay!!!!

[Happyguy]

NiCE!!! That looks very VERY difficult. Congrats on the nice guitar.

[jray]

hi everybody , i want to know if i can use cameleon paint for my guitar , or it cant be used on wood. thank you

[silverring233]

hey happyguy, glad you liked it. It was very much a pain in the a$$, but worth every minute of hassle. i'm gettin ready to start another one and when i get it done, i'll post some pics.

jray.......what kind of paint?? enamel, lacquer based?? either will work

[jray]

yeah , i am not sure if i want to use this kind of paint but if you have a picture of it send it on guitar nut, i will see there.
thanks

[UnklMickey]

silverring233 said:

... It started life as a Wayne's World strat...

There it is: Excalibur.

- WOW! '64 Fender Stratocaster in Classic White with triple Single Coil pick-ups and a Whammy Bar.

- Pre-CBS Fender corporate buy-out.

- I'd raise the bridge file down the nut and take the buzz out of the low E.

- Oh God, I love this woman !

[silverring233]

lol unklmickey!!!!!!!!!!