Hey guys, I'm planning out my next purchase I want to make sometime this summer, and I figured I'd get some input from people who might know things about the different Strat models. I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing before I allocate money to it.

Right now I've got a Mexican Standard Strat, stock pups, tone 2 wired to bridge.

I'm looking at getting the Deluxe Player's Strat, and swapping its noiseless pups into my MIM. I want to put Texas Specials into the Deluxe and wire its tone 2 to the bridge.

I figure this will get rid of the hum on my mexican without shielding, and give me the bluesy pups I want in my #1. Also, the Deluxe comes pre-wired with a 7-sound mod, which I really want.

Will swapping the pups require extensive soldering knowledge / skill? I don't have much practice with it. Do you just swap it wire-for-wire, or do the Noiseless and Texas Specials have distinct wiring methods? Will the 7-sound button on the Deluxe complicate things?

Anybody have any comments, warnings, suggestions about the guitars, pups, or the scheme on the whole?

Thanks much

Hi Brian.

Well soldering isnt that difficult if your methodic about it. You can always practice on old rubbish pots with bits of wire. My big breakthrough was realizing that often less is more with soldering.

On your pickups, you may want to rethink your choice of vintage noiseless. They didnt sound like a typical blues sound to me, more a piezo/acoustic sound. They are silent though, if you've tried em and you like em, get em. Its far cheaper to just buy a set of pickups than a whole new guitar though. If not be wary, I bought em unheard and ended up midboosting the guitar just to get em to become usable. I scrapped the bridge pickup completely, no matter what I did it sounded wrong.
Just my experience of em, nothing set in stone. Some people love em.

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No no and no

I had a MIM Deluxe Players Strat and found it lacking in tone. I was thinking of upgrading pick-ups and adding locking tuners, but decided to get an American strat instead. Add up the cost of the Deluxe Players + parts + labor and you are in American strat territory, which is a better investment in my opinion. Fenders prices have recently been rolled back, so I got an American Mahogany Select "Special" HSS Strat and am super pleased with it.

Go to Guitar center and play a bunch of different models and you'll probably find one that you like without changing out parts.

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'10 Fender American Select Mahogany HSS Strat
'07 Fender Custom Shop Vintage Heavy Relic HB Tele
Gibson ES-345 RI
Gibson Les Paul Studio
Schecter California Custom Hellcat
Squier Bullet/Seymour Duncan HB/LockingTuners
Breedlove AD25/SR Plus Acoustic
Hohner ECA 612 12-String Acoustic

The texas specials were for the blues sound. The noiseless were to replace the stock pups on the mex standard. Do noiseless sound like the stock pups?

Also, my original plan was to get a black American Standard and load it with a tortoiseshell pickguard, texas specials, and some wiring mods. But the deluxe is cheaper by 400 bucks and prettier. I'll go to guitar center and hope they have both in stock.

Well I have no problem with what you want to do, but I would definitely put sound before looks.

Have you considered an SRV Strat ? A bit pricey but it may come with the mods your looking to make on a different model.

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Anybody have experience with the Kenny Wayne Shepherd signature strat?

If you are sold on the Texas Specials for your new guitar, take a look at the Deluxe Roadhouse Strat:

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/prod ... sku=515525

Here's mine (but it comes in black and sunburst too):

I'm not exactly sold on the TS pups, but I've watched some videos where they sound pretty awesome. I hadn't seen the roadhouse yet, but I'll definitely have to put it on my list of guitars to try on the next trip to guitar center.

dude, they make those in black w/texas specials and a tortoise pg for about 599.00 last i checked.
fyi.

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"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

I've never spent a good amount of time with a maple neck, but it's always felt weird to me. I like mah rosewood I'm looking at the Kenny Wayne Shepherd signature strat too. Hotter bluesy pups, but I don't know if they're TS hot.