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Post subject: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2015 11:35 am
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About three weeks ago I bought a classic series 70's strat. It was a trade in , is in excellent condition and I'm liking the way it feels and sounds. I bought it to modify and started planning some changes , I own a couple of other Strats , the newest one is to experiment with .

I have received some of the parts that are intended for this little experiment , a white pearliod pick guard and tremolo spring cover , an All parts wiring kit which includes 3 CTS 250k pots , a CRL 5 way switch , a bit of wire , a couple of tiny .047 capacitors and a wiring diagram. I have a set of Fender custom shop 69 pickups on the way , those should be here soon .

This is my first time changing out the electronics on any of my guitars . I have added a pickup /volume/ tone control to one of my Dean resonators , which went well .
I'm a tradesman , have been since the seventies , my soldering skills are strong so I'm not going into this as a total rookie.

I have not looked under the hood of this guitar yet , I have been playing it .

My choice of pickups is based on Youtube demos .

I wanted to remove the pickguard and electronics , leaving them intact , for future use , that's why I bought the wiring kit.

I do have a couple of questions ..................

The Capacitors that came in the kit ( .047 ) , they look very small , is this normal ?

should I go with something else ?

Here's a pic of the guitar
Image


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2015 1:18 pm
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bluesguy55 wrote:

The Capacitors that came in the kit ( .047 ) , they look very small , is this normal ?

Yes

should I go with something else ?

No

]


You may have same parts in your guitar .
Mexican made guitar could use same american made parts. I'm not sure of that .

Try you knob on new pots before.


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2015 5:39 pm
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stratele52 wrote:
bluesguy55 wrote:

The Capacitors that came in the kit ( .047 ) , they look very small , is this normal ?

Yes

should I go with something else ?

No

]


You may have same parts in your guitar .
Mexican made guitar could use same american made parts. I'm not sure of that .

Try you knob on new pots before.




Thank's for the reply

The control knobs are a good fit.


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 10:10 am
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I find that a lower-value tone cap (.022 ufd or .033 ufd) provides a smoother (ie: more linear) roll-off of the highs and with less volume loss than the stock .047 ufd cap.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:18 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
I find that a lower-value tone cap (.022 ufd or .033 ufd) provides a smoother (ie: more linear) roll-off of the highs and with less volume loss than the stock .047 ufd cap.

Arjay


Good to know , I thought those were intended for humbuckers ?


Go easy on me I'm a newbee at the technical side of this.


Last edited by bluesguy55 on Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:35 pm
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bluesguy55 wrote:
Retroverbial wrote:
I find that a lower-value tone cap (.022 ufd or .033 ufd) provides a smoother (ie: more linear) roll-off of the highs and with less volume loss than the stock .047 ufd cap.

Arjay


Good to know , I though those were intended for humbuckers ?

No, it is for single coil , Fender also use 0.1mfd and 0.022mfd.
To me, 0.047 caps work better than 0.022 on my Telecaster



Go easy on me I'm a newbee at the technical side of this.


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 11:28 am
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Different pickups often favor differing tone caps but the beauty is, changing a tone cap is not very traumatic and is easily accomplished. All it takes is some basic soldering skills and common hand tools. The caps themselves are not very expensive so you might pick up a selection of different values and start experimenting. The values that Stratele mentioned have all been used by Fender at one time or another and are still commonly found in contemporary instruments.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:49 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Different pickups often favor differing tone caps but the beauty is, changing a tone cap is not very traumatic and is easily accomplished. All it takes is some basic soldering skills and common hand tools. The caps themselves are not very expensive so you might pick up a selection of different values and start experimenting. The values that Stratele mentioned have all been used by Fender at one time or another and are still commonly found in contemporary instruments.

Arjay



Thank's

I've got the .047 that came in the wiring kit from all parts , they sent two of em , I've also got a bag full of .022 caps .

All are those tiny ones that are the size of a small pill.


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 10:34 pm
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The physical dimensions of the tone cap are of no import, only the value and (perhaps) the composition of the electrolyte. Ceramic discs types are pretty prosaic with production guitars but I favor the axial, paper-in-oil types.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 2:15 am
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bluesguy55 wrote:
[
Thank's

I've got the .047 that came in the wiring kit from all parts , they sent two of em , I've also got a bag full of .022 caps .

All are those tiny ones that are the size of a small pill.


These work great and are a standard (?) in modern guitars.
Like many high end parts for guitar you can use a better one.

Retroverbial is right.
I use old style cap on one of my guitar, sound better to me but it is subtile.
I do AB test with many caps , it is easy with a Telecaster and I have a lot of parts at home to do tests.


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:24 pm
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It's done and man , what an improvement ! It sounds exactly how I had hoped it would.

Image
This morning when I started out , all stock .


The custom shop pickups.............
Image

Image
The new pickups mounted into the Warmoth pick guard.

Image
All wired and ready to drop in.

Image

I used a set of Fender bullets for strings , 9's . All Parts wiring kit & the .047 capacitor that was included , a Warmoth pick guard & back cover , Fender Custom shop 69 pickups.

It was easy , I'm very happy how it turned out


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:55 pm
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Get it strung up and let her rip!

8)

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:06 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Get it strung up and let her rip!

8)

Arjay


I have been , Man , it's the purest sounding strat I own. Happy !!!

Image


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 12:28 am
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Looks great and sounds too! Congrats on a job well done!

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Post subject: Re: Mods to my classic series strat
Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 12:05 pm
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Thank's everyone for the advice and the compliments.


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