I think it will look really nice myself, but I didn't want to say so. Now that you've made your opinion I'll say I agree.

Thanks man. I had a $@!&* of a time today wiring this thing. I'm trying a Super Strat type setup. What a freaking pain. The wiring diagram is vague and suspect anyway. The switches came with really small terminals. Some of it worked, some of it didn't. I think I'm gonna scrap the diagram, get better switches, and start over. As much as I hate the thought of doing it, I want this to be pimp. I'm just going to trust my own intuition this time around and do it my way.

Thanks again for the response.

You're welcome ang good luck!

_________________
You dig?

Ok phase 1 of the face lift is done. I went from this:



to this:



Only one problen, the tip for the Tremolo bar does not quite fit, but it will work. Next week I order the other pieces, and I get to finish it up when they come in.

RK

_________________
RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Cool man! What's in store for phase 2??

I just reworked some wiring on my Hamer today. I know it's not a Strat, but I'm practicing to see what I want to do with one of my Strats later. Not sure I'll go through this process again though. I probably should have just went with the 3-volume knob setup. I got lazy and added another 440 cap for the tone middle knob instead of what was shown on the diagram. The way the diagram showed, it did literally nothing. It works now, but it's overkill for the middle pickup. I don't even know why I bothered anyway, I just wanted to give the tone knob design a try, but in general, I never mess with tone knobs live. I'm still just gonna use it with the tone knobs wide open. This kind of thing is how you learn what you like I guess.

Some pics:







It's not pretty, but it does work great now. Not bad for a hobbyist I guess. Everything is dead quiet, and all parts are functioning properly now. The Duncans sound great!

Phase 2 is adding a Dimarzio 500k pot, Dimarzio DP 100 Humbucker (black) for the bridge, a white pearloid pickguard, and copper shielding for the pickguard and guitar cavity. I am also considering adding a "F" neck plate. I am hoping a diagram comes with my HB, this will be my first time doing this type of work (installing a pickup myself). The Dimarzio website does not cover HSS configuration, only HSH and HH configurations. I just need to order the remaining pieces next week.

I guess phase 2 is the meat and potatos of my modification.

RK

_________________
RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Nice!! You are entering the world to where there is no return. Hahaha.

What you should probably do is write down the way the guitar is wired now, or possibly take pics.

When you add the 500k pot, it should be wired up the same way you have your guitar wired now. And for humbucker, you just solder together the black and white wires (and tape over them), and it should install the same way your single is wired up. The red is the hot lead, the green is the ground (along with the bare wire)..

The first big lesson I learned when I did my first wiring, was not to trust my mental picture of how it was wired before ever again. Hahaha. Write it down or take a pic.

I can tell you though that I have a Super Dist. in 2 of my guitars and they are really great sounding pickups. I think you made an excellent choice there.

Pics it is. Very good advice.

RK

_________________
RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

The rest of the parts are ordered, now its a waiting game. Parts should be in within the week. I hope to unveil the final upgrade in a couple weeks.

RK

I am so excited, all my parts are in. I got a pleasant suprise when I opened the box. I ended up with a 2nd "F" neck plate. I'll keep it for now, never know when I might need it in the future.

I will not be able to start on the mod this weekend, my wife wants me to do a bunch of honey-do's:
1. Paint an accent wall (WTH is an accent wall? )
2. Mow the front and back yard (do this every weekend)
3. Clean both cars inside and out
4. Clean the outside windows (she was stretching for that one)

She says it's my penance for such an expensive modification.

I may take the pickguard off and get the pics of the orginal wiring just so I have it when I am ready.

RK

So how's the project going RK?

Is it working out for ya? I'm still interested in seeing the finished look.

_________________

HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

All parts are in. I only had time to shield the cavity and put the "F" neck plate on last weekend. My wife had lots of stuff for me to do around the house and did't have much time to work on the guitar. I'll be working on it this weekend and hopefully finishing it. All that's left to install are the Pickup, pot, resistor(s), and change out the pickguard (you know, the hard stuff). I'll snap shots ASAP.

RK

_________________
RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Martin,

Tomorrow is the big day for the the soldering and changing the bridge pickup. Had a question about this reply. Did you mean to solder the wire(s) to the resistor and then the resistor to the terminal on the toggle for the single coils pickups, or am I reading this wrong? BTW very anxious to do this, but I have to learn some time.

RK

_________________
RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

I thjink you might enoy this: http://www.tubedepot.com/solder.html

These guys are great and you can get the tools and supplies from them too.