Alright, so i have a Squier Affinity series HSS strat.
the one that came in one of those strat starter packs.

Is it possible to make this thing... really good (or close as i can). for under 150 bucks?

What kind of things would i need to replace? any interesting upgrades i should try out?

Would new pickups be possible in the price range?


Thanks,

Trukis,
That Squire is already a great guitar but can be improved upon. Everything that Fender makes or has a say in making should be good quality. The first thing you should do is to take your Strat to a local guitar tech and have it professionally setup (I'm assuming you don't know how to do this yourself ). Make sure this guy is respected by other clients of his so you can be sure that he will do a good job. A well set up Squire Strat will play and may sound better than any out of wack Fender brand Strat. The setup is VERY important. After you have the guitar setup properly play it for a few months to get the feel of it and to determine what you like and don't like about it. I don't have much experience with the Affinity Strat so I can't really say anything about its pickups. However, most people on this forum replace the pickups with a higher quality job. And when it comes to pickups there's alot out there. Many are tailored to a certain style while others are very versital. And yes many complete pup sets can be had for under $150. I have a set of Copperhead '59s in my '98 Strat that I love and they are under $150. The bridgeblock could be replaced to increase sustain. The tuners may also be relaced by locking tuners as found on the American Deluxe if you're having problems staying in tune. So my advise is to get the Strat professionally setup then play it for a month or so. After that you should have a better idea of what you're looking for. Then you can ask some specific questions so we will be able to help you out better. I do know that there is a forum member named texasguitarslinger that plays an Affinity with Fender Custom Shop Texas Special pickups. I believe I've heard his version of "Hideaway" (Search our forum) and his tone and playing were great. You may want to ask him what he's done to his Affinity. (If it was someone else, please, please forgive me) I hope I've been a bit helpful but if you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask. There are many forum members that know much more than myself and could help you further.

Russ

Yes, that was me, and thanks! Here's a link to it.

http://www.purevolume.com/Texasguitarslinger

It was just the Squier strait into my amp with no pedals.


Yes, it's definately possible to turn your stock Squier into something really cool!
I'm really into modding my Affinity Squier, and I can tell you a great place to start is the pickups. And if you like the more expensive pickups, buy what you can when you can and don't settle for a cheaper option that you'll regret later. So if you spend $100 on a humbucker and $50 on just the neck pickup, that's a good start, you can always save up for the middle pickup and get it later.
I looked into a lot of pickups, and eventually settled on Texas Specials.
The guitar went from sounding borderline acceptable to stinkin' awesome!

Replacing the hardware is more difficult than replacing pickups because standard Fender hardware probably won't fit. But if your guitar has a proper set up, it should compensate some for the quality of the hardware. (As in, it will stay in tune better.) I also replaced the cheapo plastic nut on mine for a bone nut, and that's helped some with some of the set up issues I had been having.

Replacing the pickguard is fun and it gives your guitar a really cool custom look, but it does nothing to improve the guitar further than that.

What kind of music you're into is important when looking at pickups. Some pickups are better for some styles than others. That's not to say you can only play a certain style on a certain pickup though. I play metal all the time with my Squier, but I'm sure an Ibanez RG or something like that would be more appropriate. Since I'm mostly playing anything from blues to modern rock, a guitar with EMGs or mega high output pickups wouldn't be my best choice.

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texasguitarslinger,

Just got to listen to your Texas Flood cover. Nice job on that as well. Keep on recording and posting them up man. What's the name of your band? Sorry to take this way off topic.

Russ

This is correct. Trukis, if you plan to replace the bridge at some point just check the spacing of the pivot screws on your current bridge against that on any replacement you are looking at, to be sure of getting the right one. Replacement bridges for Squiers can be had, but whether they are the ones you would ideally choose is a different matter.

Good points already been made: with $150 to spend on a Squier I'd look at the setup first, and then the pickups. That'll get you a long way down the road.

Good luck - C

The band I'm in plays modern rock and praise and worship. When I want to play blues I have to find other musicians to sit in for me, or try to get my band to play blues. I had a blues/rock band that lasted for one gig, called Rising Water.
For Texas Flood I rounded up some musicians who hang out at the music store and for Hide Away I brought my guitar to my drum lesson and had my drum teacher play with me. It was the first time he'd ever played the song, hence the couple of screw ups.

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Alright thanks, i have had the guitar professionally set up already, and yes it makes a huge difference in playability

i should of clarified this...

i've been playing for around two years or so now, and i have been in the market for a new guitar, but times are tough and my financial situation isnt the greatest for a whole new guitar.

The main thing i really dislike about my guitar is the bridge position Humbucker... i just really dont like the sound (it just sounds bad, with distortion and without), but i'd like to stay with a humbucker in this position.

thanks for all your help, il keep looking around for possible pickup options.

This helped my quite a bit, and what you got there sounded great =]

alright so since i already have the pro setup, i should look into pickups.

I said earlier that i really dislike the stock humbucker, but im alright with my neck and middle.

Would it reasonable even if i just invested in a good bridge position humbucker for now, and then saved up later and replaced my neck and middle?

and yes the pickguard idea is unneccessary, regardless. its cool, and il probably replace the plain white for a chrome (worried about finger prints) or even just a white sparkly one? (pearloid i think?).

And yes i have heard the music i play is important, but seeing as i dont really have a favourite genre or style of playing, and i like to experiment with a little bit of anything. I want pickups that would be versatile across many genres.
I am very fond of the Eric Clapton sound though.
Any ideas what would be a good pickup option to give me a similar sound?
I know EC plays with an SSS strat. is it possible to get a similar sound. ( not looking for exact copy) with an HSS config?

Yeah this is a reasonable solution.

_________________
I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Alright, i'll start looking into humbuckers

Any idea what will give me a good, no buzz distortion but still give me a standard strat bridge postition sound when played clean?

That sounds like a good choice, this way you have a whole bunch of options for the humbucker you want.

Even though Clapton plays a S/S/S guitar, he has a mid-boost built in that gives him a little more of a humbucker type sound.
I don't really know of any humbuckers that sound like single coils though.

I'm going to throw a few options out for you, just whatever I can think of offhand.

DiMarzio's are good. Look in the lower right corner of the screen and you'll see a button labeled "pickup picker" click that, it might help you find one you like.
http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/e ... humbucker/

I have a Gibson Burstbucker 3 in the bridge position of my Les Paul. It sounds really great, and it's probably my personal favorite when it comes to humbuckers. You might like a Burstbucker 1 or 2 better though, if you want a more vintage type sound.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Divisions/G ... r/Pickups/

I have guitar with a set of Rockfield Zebra pickups in it. They sound really good, you should check them out too.

http://www.rockfieldpickups.com/

Also, you can go to http://www.harmony-central.com/ to read reviews and you can listen to demos of nearly any pickup you can think of on youtube.

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Trukis,

You probably aren't going to find any humbucker that will give you a real Strat sound, however that doesn't mean a humbucker won't sound good in your Strat. Fender makes a couple of humbuckers, the Atomic Humbucker and the Pearly Gates model which I believe was developed with Seymour Duncan's help. I don't know much about these but you can check the Fender products section to see which guitars come with these pups and then go check them out at guitar stores. If you're looking for something with a traditional humbucking sound I would look at a PAF type. Most pickup makers have versions of this design. Also, as mentioned by texas you can view demos and reviews of almost any piece of gear, guitar, or pickup on YouTube. However, be advised that whatever you are hearing is also being influenced by the amp, guitar, guitar player, recording method, etc.. The best thing to do is to go play as many guitars as possible that are similar to yours that have humbuckers. You may have to do some traveling to find more than a few since Strats usually don't have humbuckers but thats the only way you will get an approximation of how it would sound in your guitar.

Russ

Alright, thanks everybody for the help,

I'm going to look into the gibson burstbucker 1 and the dimarzio tone zone and air zone.