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Post subject: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 9:49 pm
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I apologize deeply if this is the wrong section for asking questions. I searched for a spot to ask questions, and this seemed the most appropriate.

First a little bit about me, my name is Joshua, as my username states. I am 15, and I listen to "harder" music. I have been playing Guitar for around 6-7 months or so. That's pretty much all.

Anyways, back to the point, I have a Fender Squire Bullet Strat Electric Guitar. (And it's green. I love the thing to death.) Anyways, I am sort of on a budget. My Guitar is not very high end, and I am unable to afford a rather good one. So I am sort of "shopping it," you might say. I want to upgrade it at home for under around $300. I am looking into new pickups, and new strings, and just some over-all maintenance gear. (Such as Fretboard Cleaner, polish, etc.) I am not very knowledgeable in the field of Guitar maintenance, though I am doing my research.

So far, my "research" has led me to this; I am looking at these strings and these pickups. I enjoy playing harder music, suck as Skillet and Three Days Grace. I have a Fender Mustang 1 amp, and I am wondering if these would be a good combination. (Just a tiny bit of info, I have replaced my Guitar strings once with Ernie Ball Super Slinky Nickel Wound Custom Gauge strings. Would those strings be an improvement?) (Also, does anyone know if those pickups would even fit my guitar?)

(Again, I apologize if this is the wrong section for asking questions. This is my first day on the Fender forums.)

Edit: Accidentally put the seven string version of the Guitar Strings I listed. If anyone saw that, ignore that. I meant to put the Six String version.


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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 10:34 pm
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The Ernie Ball Cobalts are good strings, but not for everyone. I use them on several guitars, but they have their ups and downs.

They sound fatter than they are.
You get a lot of sustain.
They are nickel free.
They are round wound, and give a lot of friction sound when sliding.
They are very elastic. They start to bend easily. Unless you have low frets, you can bend a note sharp without meaning to by pushing down too hard. They can also get kinks from the frets.
They're not really cobalt, but iron/cobalt. This also means that moisture can cause your fingers and fretboard to blacken.

From what you describe, you might be better off with less elastic strings.
At any rate, change strings often. I probably change strings twice a month on my favorite guitars.

As for pickups, that would not be my first choice for changing if on a tight budget. Tools for adjusting the guitar would be my first priority, followed by a pedal or two. Sure, your amp is modeling, but the "pedals" you add in software are really not much like a real pedal on a clean channel.


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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 11:15 pm
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Decent string choice. Appropriate gauge. Nickel is great, better than nickel plated steel in my opinion.

The SH4-JB is a good pickup for the bridge for rock but I'm not so certain about the Jazz at the neck. I've tried Jazz pups. They have a very bright sound and they are pretty low output and they also have a little bit of a harshness to them that I disliked. They didn't stay in my guitar for very long. I like the idea of having a softer and smoother pickup at the neck. I think it makes a versatile combination but if it were me I'd try to find something else than a Jazz, maybe an Alnico Pro II. Still acceptably bright and on the low side for output but smoother than the Jazz.

My 2 cents.

I thought the Squier Bullet was a 3 single coil guitar?
Welcome to our forum.

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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 11:40 pm
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Here are my thoughts for you.

On a limited budget, those are pretty expensive. Unless you have all of the soldering tools and the know how to swap pickups, you should factor in paying a tech to do it. Ask around for prices.

That being said, do some research for some of the cheaper sets first. The Duncan Designed HB-102b and HB-102n are modeled after that exact same set and I would challenge you to be able to tell the difference between those and the expensive ones. I have 3-sets of them myself. Two of them came stock in my Schecter Tempests, and one came stock in my Squier Esprit.

Other options like GFS and Guitarhead I have no experience with.

Another option would be to find a used set of Gibson 498t and 490r. I've bought used sets in the past for under $100 and they're perfect for that style of music.

You might also think about just swapping the Bridge first. Most hard core stuff uses the bridge pickup 90% of the time. Save up more later for a neck pickup. If I remember correctly, my Squier neck pickup wasn't half bad anyway.

That's a good way to bypass the urge to quickly make a change by using the lesser valued stuff in favor of the more expensive stuff. If you're a little patient, you'll save money in the long run.

Your pickup choices depend on what your own ears like to hear. Whether its high treble or more midrange stuff. My ears like a more midrange and bass sound. I'd only be able to give suggestions based on that. I never got into high powered treble humbuckers.

My bridge suggestions for that style would be:

Dimarzio Super Distortion
Duncan Alternative 8
Gibson 498t
Duncan designed HB102b

Neck
Duncan jazz or Alnico II Pro
Duncan Designed HB 102n
Gibson 490r

Never liked Dimarzios "Air Bucker" type stuff for neck positions. But some do.

Honestly, you should just try the bridge first. Don't worry about the neck right away. That would be my advice. Swap the Bridge, have a tech do it, spend the $6 on an Orange Drop cap too. You don't want the red or green chicklet tone sucker floating in there at that point.

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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 12:05 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
Decent string choice. Appropriate gauge. Nickel is great, better than nickel plated steel in my opinion.

Except that the strings he asked about and linked to aren't nickel - they're one of very few string sets that are completely nickel free. The nickel ones are the ones he has now.


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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 12:18 am
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Do you know the difference between a single coil pickup and a humbucker? (serious question, don't take that the wrong way)
If so, is your Squier a HSS (humbucker, single coil, single coil), or a SSS (single coil, single coil, single coil)?

If you need single coil pickups I would maybe look at this combination: http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/pre-wir ... -pickguard
I'm not sure if the pickguard would fit on a Squier, but you could buy the pickups without the guard.
You might also want to look at Seymour Duncan Hot Rails if you need single coils.

Jah Soldier had great suggestions for humbuckers.


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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:05 am
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Certainly not on the wrong Forum and you've asked intelligent questions I might add.

Several here have given good, poignant, advice to your questions.

But, from someone who's in it a total of 13 mos., I take a step-back view and ask why do you think you need new pups?

No offense (and in a few months you'll agree with me), but right now, you don't even know what you don't know... nor should you.

New pups or different strings right now aren't gonna make a hill of beans worth of difference.

Suggest waiting until you grow into the instrument you already have.

I'm semi-retired and fortunately I have the means to afford gear far beyond what I could have afforded at 15.

In truth, the gear I have acquired waaay exceeds my current abilities. In fact, in all the hobbies I've had in my life (photography, race cars, classic cars), this is the first time I'll be growing into, instead of growing out of, my gear.

I sense that you feel these 'upgrades' are going to somehow make you a better player, or make your sound better.

With just 6 -7 mos. in, there's only one thing which is going to improve your playing and your sound, that is to practice until your fingers bleed.

Learn your basic chords, basic scales, modes, fretboard, learn notation & tab, practice technique (hammer Ons/ pull Offs, string bending, string skipping, alternate picking, arpeggios, sweep picking, legato, rythm, etc.).

Right now, the reason your guitar may sound 'bad' isn't because it's a Squier, or because of the pups you have, or the strings you use... it's you !

That's not a criticism, I'm still there myself. It's a phase everyone goes through until they're a 'competent' player.

With practice, there will come a time when your instrument will no longer do what you want it to do.

That's the time to think about upgrading it, or even moving up to a 'better' model.

Suggest tucking away that $300 until that day.

Hang in there Dude !!

cheers!

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Last edited by Lightnin MN on Mon Nov 18, 2013 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:29 am
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couple of thoughts here ...

Ernie Ball strings; I used to use them because they sounded the best when you first change them, but found they broke easier than my old brand (D'Addario). So I ended up going back to D'Addario. Check them out if you ever get bored with the EB's or end up not liking them. Strings are fairly cheap so you can try things out.

Modding guitars; to me that's all about tuning stability the first time around. I'd look at replacing the nut and saddles with the equivalent GraphTech or similar (see below) to get better tuning stability. These mods are cheaper than a set of pickups too.

GraphTech nuts: http://graphtech.com/products/product-categories/nuts

GraphTech saddles: http://graphtech.com/products/product-c ... ic-saddles

If you want to improve your overall tone, (IMO) there is way more bang to be had for your buck by upgrading your amplifier instead of your pickups. What amp are you playing through now?

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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:41 am
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strings..... ive always used fender 150s onmy guitars . but thats what i like. as to pickups i tryed texas wounds in my strat they were ok but ended up with fender noieless pickups. i believe there is a new version of these . i mention this because im getting the idea you dont like the noise you may be getting from the single coils and if thats the case then its easier to do than having to alter your pick guard to go to humbuckers. both these things end up being personal preferance. maybe if you post more info on what your looking for in sound would be helpful.


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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:53 am
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Lightnin MN wrote:
Certainly not on the wrong Forum and you've asked intelligent questions I might add.

Several here have given good, poignant, advice to your questions.

But, from someone who's in it a total of 13 mos., I take a step-back view and ask why do you think you need new pups?

No offense (and in a few months you'll agree with me), but right now, you don't even know what you don't know... nor should you.

New pups or different strings right now aren't gonna make a hill of beans worth of difference.

Suggest waiting until you grow into the instrument you already have.

I'm semi-retired and fortunately I have the means to afford gear far beyond what I could have afforded at 15.

In truth, the gear I have acquired waaay exceeds my current abilities. In fact, in all the hobbies I've had in my life (photography, race cars, classic cars), this is the first time I'll be growing into, instead of growing out of, my gear.

I sense that you feel these 'upgrades' are going to somehow make you a better player, or make your sound better.

With just 6 -7 mos. in, the one thing which is going to improve your playing and your sound that is to practice until your fingers bleed.

Learn your basic chords, basic scales, modes, fretboard, learn notation & tab, practice technique (hammer Ons/Offs, string bending, string skipping, alternate picking, arpeggios, sweep picking, legato, rythm, etc.).

Right now, the reason your guitar may sound 'bad' isn't because it's a Squier, or because of the pups you have, or the strings you use... it's you !

That's not a criticism, I'm still there myself. It's a phase everyone goes through until they're a 'competent' player.

With practice, there will come a time when your instrument will no longer do what you want it to do.

That's the time to think about upgrading it, or even moving up to a 'better' model.

Suggest tucking away that $300 until that day.

Hang in there Dude !!

cheers!


+1
New strings are good, as is a pro setup by a tech. I'd not throw a bunch of dollars at it otherwise. No matter what you put into it, it is still a Squier Bullet.


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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:06 am
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do you have any friends who have been playing for a while?

it's amazing how the same guitar can sound different when other people play it. if 1 or 2 others play it, you can get another opinion on it, and listen yourself to the sound.

a good amount of people on this forum get an instrument, play it for a length of time, then decide what they need to do.

don't be in a hurry. you could waste a lot of money. spend more of your time practicing.

welcome to the forums- and don't be shy asking questions


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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:24 am
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And keep in mind that the lowly Squier Bullet you have now is still better than what many of the guitar aces had for the first part of their career. It didn't stop them; it shouldn't stop you.

If I were you, I'd save as much money as I could, to use towards a new guitar when that day comes. You'll know more what you want, and what the shortcomings of your current guitar is as time passes.
For now, adjusting the strings and action to fit your playing is probably going to do a lot more.
And don't neglect finger picking, even if it hurts :D


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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:14 am
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String guage is very much a matter of personal preference as well as their tone suiting the guitar. Go for a decent quality string though.

Fitting Humbuckers to a S-s-s Strat would involve a new scratchplate, switch and pots, and the body would need routing to accomodate them.
s-s-s
Image
h-h
Image
Of course such changes to the body will affect it's natural resonance, and not necessarily for the better.

IMO better to check your setup.....


Wait till your satisfied with the way your Squier plays before considering changes to pickups and wiring. As others have said save your money.

and you may be amazed if you try this tuning..
E A D G B E
324 432 576 768 972 1296


Mustang I is a great little amp for what it is. I use mine headphone out through desk. . Check some of the presets available online.


Last edited by DonX14 on Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:26 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:19 am
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arth1 wrote:
BMW-KTM wrote:
Decent string choice. Appropriate gauge. Nickel is great, better than nickel plated steel in my opinion.

Except that the strings he asked about and linked to aren't nickel - they're one of very few string sets that are completely nickel free. The nickel ones are the ones he has now.


Hmmm …. so he did. I coulda sworn ….. musta bin a misfire in my brain. Sorry.
Thanks for the heads up.

OK scratch that comment. I have no idea what those strings are.

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Post subject: Re: Questions about upgrading my Electric Guitar
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:29 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
arth1 wrote:
BMW-KTM wrote:
Decent string choice. Appropriate gauge. Nickel is great, better than nickel plated steel in my opinion.

Except that the strings he asked about and linked to aren't nickel - they're one of very few string sets that are completely nickel free. The nickel ones are the ones he has now.


Hmmm …. so he did. I coulda sworn ….. musta bin a misfire in my brain. Sorry.
Thanks for the heads up.

OK scratch that comment. I have no idea what those strings are.


I do - it's what I use on most of my guitars. And they're really great strings, but probably too elastic for his use (he's more into heavy). A good set of nickel strings like Elixirs or DM would probably do wonders.


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