Hi all, Im John. Iv been stalking these forums from the shodows for a while now so i decided to step out and introduce myself and my other half. She's a 1999/2000 MIM Strat in burgundy mist. I bought it a couple of months ago from a work collegue for 200pounds i think itsa good price seeing as its in excellent condition, fully set up, well looked after etc. After playing some brand new MIM's at my local guitar shop im definatly convinced she is well worth the money, IMO shes just as nice to play and sounds just as good.

http://img18.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=26072009085.jpg

and now i would also like some advice. I'm thinking of making a couple of modifications to her, cavity shielding and a humbucker in the bridge position.

I've heard with the cavity shielding that aluminium kitchen foil will do the job just as well as copper shielding, is this true?

Is installing a humbucker a good idea? I like to play rock music more than anything else and i dont really want to buy another guitar just yet. I know il have to buy a new pickguard for it to fit bu will i have to chisel out any of thebody to make the cavity larger for it to fit? I really dont want to be doing anything like that!

Cheers - John

Oh, and also, she doesn't have a strip on the back of the neck, my collegue told me he bought it like this and i have no reason not to belive him, just wondering if anybody knows if this is normal for a MIM of this age?

Hi John 1986, welcome to the Forum.

I don't know if there was a MIM Classic 60s model around the date of your guitar that came in Burgundy Mist. If so, that would explain the absence of the skunk stripe on the neck - the trussrod was fitted in a slot beneath the fingerboard rather than from the back of the neck on the '60s guitars such a model would be emulating.

But presuming it is a Classic 60s (or similar) then it is unlikely to have a bridge pickup cavity big enough for a regular humbucker, because the cavity routing on those MIM reissues is pretty accurate to the guitars being copied.

Though you would have to lift the pickguard and check to be certain - not difficult.

If the cavity won't take a full-size 'bucker and you don't want to carve out the hole there are many single-coil sized humbuckers you could go with, that will keep the look of a SC but give you the sound you want. That's the way I'd go in your position.

Shielding: are you sure it's worth the effort? Especially if you plan to fit a humbucker...

Cheers - C

Hi John 1986 and welcome to the forum. I think that you'll find it interesting here, hang around. Sorry I can't give you any advice on mods because I don't do intrusive mods myself. I only changed strings gauge, non floating tremolo, five springs, things like that.
Claude.

John 1986,

Welcome to the Forum. I started a similar post, check out some of the things posted:


http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... hp?t=25199

Ceri is very knowledgable and if it does have a SSS route job, is it something you want to tackle yourself or have a professional do. I am gettting a Dimarzio Super Distortion 100, much like the one heard with Ace, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith's tones. Just know that you will not sound like any one if you buy a humbucker, just like you with some punch. They also have what I call a Single-bucker like Ceri was talking about. Check out some of these websites, it will give you an idea what you may want.

http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/

http://www.lacemusic.com/pickups/pickups.php

http://www.emginc.com/products/category/1

There are other companies, these are just a few of my favorites. I hpoe this helps out a little. Nice looking guitar you have there, if you do modify it, post pics of the new stuff.

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

So the reason that 60's Strats don't have a skunk stripe is because the truss rod was installed from the top of the neck and then they glued the rosewood slab on top of that?

And all other Strat necks that have a skunk stripe do so because that covers up the hole that Fender used to install the truss rod from the back?

Hi 357mag: this pic might help:



Gotta get that trussrod in there somehow. On Fender's one piece necks they carve a channel down the back of the neck, drop the rod in and then fill up the space with a piece of walnut, which on the surface looks like a stripe - the "skunk stripe".

Most other manufacturers use a glued on fingerboard, so they carve the channel from the front instead and cover it up with the 'board. Fender took to making their necks that way too in the '60s, and still do on some Squier or Affinity models. Also on the '60s Reissues which replicate the necks of that period.

There is no particular design advantage to either method. But the skunk stripe is kinda Fender's special thing...

Cheers - C

Thanks for the input guys, its exactly why i signed up here!

I will look into the stacked buckers if the cavity isn't big enough, my local guitar shop only stocks Fender and Seymour Duncan pup's and the SD's he has are all the double sized ones. i would much rather buy from a shop than online, guess im just old fashioned that way!

As for the cavity shielding, I do think it needs to be done. I get much more hum coming from my amp in my bedroom than anywhere else in my house, im not sure why (wi-fi from comp and xbox 360 or cordless phone??? ) and this is where I play most of the time. While I am planning on installing the humbucker which i will use the most, there will still be two single coil pup's in there that will be used from time to time.

You are doing yourself a disservice if you only stick to buying locally. There is a much wider selection of everything online. Dimarzio specializes in stacked humbuckers. They are fantastic pickups.