What changes or improvements have you made to your Strat, or plan to make?

I'm building my perfect Strat for hard rock. It will be:

- Black MiM Std body
- US 22-fret maple neck
- Gold anodised scratchplate
- Two SCN pickups in neck and middle, diMarzio rails single-coil-sized humbucker in the bridge (yet to choose which one)
- White pup covers and knobs
- Locking tuners
- Earvana nut
- Vintage-style trem with Callaham block and Gilmour arm
- Straplocks

_________________
( 8^( | )

The only original Fender part on my Strat is the neckplate. I modded it so many times, that's all that's left.

- Warmoth chambered mahogany "Hollowcaster" body, finished in Danish oil and beeswax
- Warmoth "Clapton" profile soft-v neck, 10-16" compound radius, 6105 frets, ebony board, abalone dots, tinted satin
- Warmoth black pearl plastics
- Schaller locking tuners and straplocks
- Callaham vintage trem assembly (custom arm)
- EMG SV (Strat Vintage) pickups, pots, jack (wired with the second tone as a "blender" pot)
- Genuine Fender neckplate

It started out as an MIM Standard. Honest.

thats what i'd do if i got an MIM

I *like* my MIM strat. Mind you, it weighs about 6lb 12oz and plays like no other MIM I ever held. But that's a nice Warmoth strat you have Jim.

I swapped PUs (GFS non-stagger grey bottoms) and electronics, guard, cast steel saddles, Wilkinson tuners. May eventually bung a wilkinson trem + steel block in there. It's also wired with the lower tone control as a blender for the neck pickup in pos 4 and 5.

Yup, it's missing a string from a gig the weekend before this pic was taken.

_________________
Like having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon wrapped around a gold brick.

http://tertl.blogspot.com

Look - I'm a Hall of Fame member on Harmony Central. Do I care how many posts I make? I'll go for quality over quantity here, OK. ;¬)

Om my Late 2006 Upgraded Highway 1 I replaced the tuners, bridge, jack plate, neck plate, string trees, strap buttons, pickup covers, knobs, switch tip, and all the screws with black parts. It also has a black pearloid pickguard.
On my 1986 MIJ 1972 RI I replaced the pickups, wiring harness, knobs, switch tip, trem arm tip, strap buttons, and screws. The pickguard is silver/black paisley.

_________________
Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

American Series Mods:
Fender Tortoiseshell pickguard
Rio Grande pickups
Bone nut made by luthier

Jimmie Vaughan Strat
Neck and Middle pups are Rio Grandes (bridge stock)
I bought it used with Graphtech saddles, the old black ones.
It doesn't have the back trem cover. Really the nut of this guitar is cut a little too low, but it still plays pretty well.

My '04 American Deluxe Strat HSS only needed one modification. And that was the addition of a Hipshot Tremsetter to stabilize the Tremolo bridge system. With the Tremsetter installed, tuning stability and sustain equal that of a hardtail bridge.

I have 3 Strats, soon to be 4. 2 of them are for the most part Stock Clapton Strats. My 3rd is a '87, 57RI. This was my first Strat and the EC Strat is my goto guitar. The 57RI has a RW fb neck, a set of Duncan Texas hots, Graphite nut and saddles and Sperzel locking tuners. My EC Strats just have graphite saddles. My next Strat will be setup with Duncan Surfers and the rest will be pretty much left alone. I will also put Ferraglides on this guitar.

http://www.1728.com/guitar2.htm

That wiring is in my Squier Strat with a TBX as the master tone and a Fender Lace Sensor Red bridge pup (stock neck and middle pups).

I m going to change the white knobs on my strat to green...

Its a small, but nice change

On my 60th anniversary strat I swapped out the Della Tone pickups with a set of Texas Specials. I then removed the white 3-ply and put a Tortoise pick guard in its place....

Does anyone know if the tremolo block from a vintage (or reissue for that matter) Stratocaster with the shallow ball-end cavities will fit on an American Series Stratocaster bridge plate?

I believe the spacing is different between vintage and Am series.

_________________
Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

All right, thanks.

I have one of those Custom Shop Closet Classic Stratocaster and I just a pickguard of one of the new Vintage Hot Rods. The one with the DiMarzio Tone Zone in the bridge.

I figured I would not lose the nice sound I get from the Samarium Cobalts in the neck and get a little extra power in the bridge.

I have to say that I did LOVE the CC Pro with the SCN's with the Greasebucket pots. However, I know that the Tone Zone will make this guitar even more versatile.