FYI, those were white pup covers on MIM pups, not Lace Sensors.

Yes, the conflict between eras. I'm a vintage guy and the vintage history is what Fender bases a lot of its models. To me, a '69 Strat with a mint green pickguard is like a Giraffe with Zebra stripes.

But a guy can do whatever he wants with his guitar. I do like the white body with the mint green pickguard.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Sorry, I assumed they were Lace Sensors; but they looked good.

Well the stock pickups on that '70 axe are some of the scratchiest whiniest sounding PU's on earth. The 3 way switch only accentuates the "delicate clarity" of each PU. They are noisy, too. I used this guitar on the in between positions just to improve the sound. I would always knock the switch inadvertently to one of the three positions. Every Strat owner should listen to this guitar and know how improved the newer versions are.

That being said, this guitar is a precautionary tale of inane mods that do nothing to the sound. I kept this guitar as close to stock as I could, and got another Strat to avoid mods. The previous owner should have changed to a 5-way switch and that would improve the sound. But he did the most outward changes that an expert can see are modded, e.g., the bridge and tuners. I think I could get a vintage bridge and switch it out. But the tuners have new holes redrilled, and it would be a mess to fix.



Sorry about the size of the pics.

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2007 Classic Player Baja Telecaster
1991 Strat Ultra
1990 Gibson ES-347
1986 Yamaha SBG2100
1980 Gibson L6-S
1971 Stratocaster
Fender Stage Lead Combo
Marshall MOSFET 100 watt Amp

With the first batch of three-ply pickguards in 1959. They got worse and worse in terms of greenness as the years went by, with 1964 being the worst, and finally a change in plastic (and vendor too?) in 1965 when they got white again, whew!

I haven't seen very many 1965 Strats with mint pgs, so I think the change happened early in the year.

qblue, the pickups in my 1971 were sounding pretty bad too, squealy, etc. I "baked" them to reflow the wax and that fixed it. Repotting would have worked too, but I wasn't set up to do that at the time I fixed them. I love the sound of the pickups now.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I want to thank everyone here for talking me through this process. I built it with my father who is quite the handy man. I played it a bit today after we finished it but not much... It is a christmas present along with a new Marshall Amp (AVT 100) which will be a gigantic upgrade from my Peavy Blazer POS.

So, thank you to everyone here who helped me get this guitar finished... I love it love it love it love it!!!!!!![/quote]

If constructive criticism cannot be set in a positive framework, best say nothing at all. This was a labor of love, and a joint effort between father and son, which the OP was quite proud of, and proud enough to share with us. We can do better than this, and have done so in the past.

And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make. :wink

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"Another day in paradise!"

Here's the guitar you created, basically. Except your's hopefully cost a lot less!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLp9NQd_uNQ

That's probably my favorite guitar of all of the frettedamericana videos I've watched. That thing sounds unbelievable!.

Good luck with it.

Are there any sites describing baking? Repotting would be another way. But I don't have a trusted luthier.

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2007 Classic Player Baja Telecaster
1991 Strat Ultra
1990 Gibson ES-347
1986 Yamaha SBG2100
1980 Gibson L6-S
1971 Stratocaster
Fender Stage Lead Combo
Marshall MOSFET 100 watt Amp

I did the same thing with my Jimmie Vaughan strat except put a wbw pick guard on it and a rosewood neck from a classic 60s strat. I don,t like maple necks.

Are there any sites describing baking? Repotting would be another way. But I don't have a trusted luthier.

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2007 Classic Player Baja Telecaster
1991 Strat Ultra
1990 Gibson ES-347
1986 Yamaha SBG2100
1980 Gibson L6-S
1971 Stratocaster
Fender Stage Lead Combo
Marshall MOSFET 100 watt Amp

I can't believe some of you guys. Do you think Fender made a New Model on there own. NO. They made them because of modifications that PLAYERS were making to them. I don't care to see pic's of somebody's stock guitar I can look at a catalog anyday. Show me someones Ideas. Now that's Cool.

Maybe it's me . If you have a young man with the help of his father put together "imo" a very nice looking guitar ,why dish it? Are we as people so shallow that we cannot feel the experience that this young man had with his father and just be glad. Sometimes we really don't neet to critique a subject, allow this young man to enjoy his Christmas present and GTFU. In my humble opinion...

+100: No it's definitely not just you. It's the decent thing. Simply the milk of human kindness. Nothing more.

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"Another day in paradise!"

If constructive criticism cannot be set in a positive framework, best say nothing at all. This was a labor of love, and a joint effort between father and son, which the OP was quite proud of, and proud enough to share with us. We can do better than this, and have done so in the past.

And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make. :wink[/quote]

You got that right Doc!!!