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Post subject: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2016 9:02 am
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I have an American Deluxe Plus Strat like this one (couldn't find it on Fender's site anymore):

https://www.amazon.com/Fender-American- ... B00I5QXYIG

I love the way it plays and the overall quality of the guitar. The thing I am not in love with is the sound of the pickups. The neck and middle are actually not too bad but I hate the sound of the bridge pickup, its thin and not high enough output for my taste. The two sounds I'd love to be able to get out of this guitar are a post-Roger Waters David Gilmore, and a high gain, distorted bluesy hard rock tone.

My conundrum is whether or not I should try to replace the pickups in this, because I do love the guitar and would rather not go through the process of selling it, buying another and modding that. If it were any other Strat I probably would have already bought one of these and popped it in:
http://www.emgpickups.com/dg20-davidgilmour.html

However, this model has the whole "tone card" thing, which frankly I am getting no use out of, so its not the end of the world for me if I end up making that not work. I took it to a local Guitar Center tech and got a kind of vague "yeah you probably should just get a different Strat and do that" answer. My real questions are:

-Is the internal wiring of this model such that I can easily pop in a full faceplate replacement setup like that without doing some drastic work?

-Will the battery easily fit inside without doing any routing?

-Could this be done in a way that the original faceplate and pickups could be re-inserted without an insane amount of effort?


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:17 pm
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jfred1979 wrote:

-Is the internal wiring of this model such that I can easily pop in a full faceplate replacement setup like that without doing some drastic work?

-Will the battery easily fit inside without doing any routing?

-Could this be done in a way that the original faceplate and pickups could be re-inserted without an insane amount of effort?



1- Yes *
2- Yes *
3- Yes *

* Did you read instructions ?

http://www.emgpickups.com/media/product ... -0100B.pdf


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 1:50 am
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I've not looked inside a Plus but assume the card module will have a ribon cable or other form of connection to "talk" to the face plate. One assumes this cable will have a plug connection.

This being the case you should be able to simply unplug it and swap in a new loaded faceplate.

If the card module is hard wired to the faceplate I would think long and hard before proceeding.

That said, wasn't the whole point of the PLUS that you could have what ever switching you wanted and thus achieve Gilmore switching without having to change anything other than the card?

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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 2:10 am
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John Sims wrote:
I've not looked inside a Plus but assume the card module will have a ribon cable or other form of connection to "talk" to the face plate. One assumes this cable will have a plug connection.

This being the case you should be able to simply unplug it and swap in a new loaded faceplate.




You said a Fender module ribbon connector will work with EMG pickup module ?

I will not say that


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 9:57 am
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From what OP says, I'd suggest he's bought the wrong Strat.

I'd sell or PX it for one with the required spec. And I'd play it before I buy it!

Cheers - Peter.


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 11:00 am
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Peter S wrote:
From what OP says, I'd suggest he's bought the wrong Strat.

I'd sell or PX it for one with the required spec. And I'd play it before I buy it!

Cheers - Peter.



+1


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 11:48 am
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stratele52 wrote:
John Sims wrote:
I've not looked inside a Plus but assume the card module will have a ribon cable or other form of connection to "talk" to the face plate. One assumes this cable will have a plug connection.

This being the case you should be able to simply unplug it and swap in a new loaded faceplate.



You said a Fender module ribbon connector will work with EMG pickup module ?

I will not say that


Perhaps I was being ambiguous. I meant that you might be able to unplug the card module and leave it in place, in a redundant state, should you wish to reinstall the original Fender PLUS functionality in the future.

I don't imagine for one minute that the Plus Card module will plug into anything other than a Fender Plus face plate.

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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 11:56 am
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stratele52 wrote:
Peter S wrote:
From what OP says, I'd suggest he's bought the wrong Strat.

I'd sell or PX it for one with the required spec. And I'd play it before I buy it!

Cheers - Peter.



+1


Ditto.

I'd get rid a.s.a.p while Plus cards are still available and the guitar has some residual value.

I wasn't convinced by the whole Plus concept when it was released. Considering it has been discontinued after such a short period of time obviously others thought the same and it wasn't selling.

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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 5:17 pm
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Back when these were still on Fender's website I looked at the "Service Diagram"; John Sims is correct that the box for the personality cards is connected to the pickguard with a ribbon wire that plugs into the circuit card on the back side of the pickgard. In fact, everything on the American Deluxe Strat Plus plugs into the circuit card - the pots are sealed and plug in, the 5-way switch is sealed and plugs in, and the pickup leads terminate in plugs as well.

Considering the low cost that these were blown out at ($799 some places) I wouldn't give it a second thought about swapping out the electronics. I suppose my only concern would be being able to tuck the ribbon wire under the new pickguard without damaging it. Maybe it would be easy to unplug it from both the personality card box so you could remove it and store it with the pickguard.

EDIT: I found the service diagram through a google search - the ribbon wire does plug in on both ends, and I found a photo of the body that shows you could easily just remove the entire thing - but it looks like you would have to take the personality card box off, remove the ribbon wire from the box end, then put the box back on to fill the hole.

http://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Origi ... A_SISD.pdf


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 5:33 pm
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From what I recall from another thread, there shouldn't be a problem doing what the op wants. Leave the card box and cable in place should you decide to go back to using it in the future(maybe it'll be collectable in 40yrs).
Plug in the new faceplate and have fun......You may have to add a grounding point or two.


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 5:44 pm
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John Sims wrote:
Considering it has been discontinued after such a short period of time obviously others thought the same and it wasn't selling.


Much the same as the ill-fated Strat VG.

Most guitarists are leery of gimmicks and rightfully so considering that those who sell them don't seem to design anything that's logistically supportable over the long run.

+3 to dumping that lemon while it's still capable of producing lemonade then buying a guitar whose tone is more akin to what you really want.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:09 am
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Retroverbial wrote:

+3 to dumping that lemon while it's still capable of producing lemonade then buying a guitar whose tone is more akin to what you really want.

Arjay



+1000


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:50 pm
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Thanks for all the great info guys! This is my first Strat, and I think I was so blown away by the way it plays that I didn't really give the pickups the full consideration that I should have. Its really just the damn bridge one that I don't like much.

I'm going to see what I might be able to get for it and then weigh my options.


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 6:54 pm
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Dump a great guitar because you want to change pups? I'm not on that bandwagon. You know having one how good it is. Don't buy into it not being any good by the detractors that just don't like it. That and what *might* happen is no reason to trash a good guitar. They even make solder-less pups that can be plugged in. Or solder plugs to the pups of your choice and plug them in.
Much ado about nothing.
FWIW, I have one and I like the N3s just fine. However, I'm leaning toward getting Hot Noiseless, as I really like what I hear from them. And with the setting versatility of setting with the cards and all, I think that will do me just fine.


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Post subject: Re: Pickup Change on American Deluxe Plus
Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 3:36 am
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wmachine wrote:
Dump a great guitar because you want to change pups? I'm not on that bandwagon. You know having one how good it is. Don't buy into it not being any good by the detractors that just don't like it. That and what *might* happen is no reason to trash a good guitar. They even make solder-less pups that can be plugged in. Or solder plugs to the pups of your choice and plug them in.
Much ado about nothing.
FWIW, I have one and I like the N3s just fine. However, I'm leaning toward getting Hot Noiseless, as I really like what I hear from them. And with the setting versatility of setting with the cards and all, I think that will do me just fine.


I have no doubt that if you use and enjoy the guitar in the manner it was intended it is a fine instrument and I agree with you. We are not advocating dumping the guitar just because it is obsolete.

Where it goes pear shaped with the OP is he doesn't enjoy the Plus fuctionality and is looking to remove it. To do so would be a bit like putting a Cummings diesel engine in a Ferrari. Both great products, in the correct place, but joining the two wouldn't be quite so desirable.

Once you remove the Plus front end you are still left with the unholy vandalism of the card reader in the back. This would annoy the hell out of me. I'd perhaps go so far as to say if you were removing the Plus front end you would be best to replace the body.

We are at a tipping point in Plus values. It wasn't a bad concept but, on the whole, Strat buyers didn't accept it. You can still get them new (at a much discounted price) so now would be the time to sell if you didn't want it.

My main objection to the Plus was the card reader. If they could have (or do) produce a product which does the same but fits within the original body cavities it would have much greater acceptance in my opinion. Perhaps they could make the changes to switching using the same technology/magic that TC Electronics employ with their Tone print pedals?

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