I have an 05 american standard which I've refret, put a bone nut on, and 69 custom shop pickups. Naturally the last thing to upgrade was the block so I bought a Callaham block and saddle set. In their defense, the product was machined excellently, all parts fit like a glove. But I actually hated my tone with it on! The guitar got overly bright and lost its warmth. I decided to sleep on it and try it the next day and the second I picked the guitar up and played it still felt wrong. The sustain might've possibly increased but the tone was metallic and bright. Wasn't for me at all. Callaham allowed me to return for a full refund thankfully.

The funny thing is my stock block is pretty ugly. Painted silver and tapered on the back side to increase travel of the whammy bar. The holes are drilled deeper than the vintage style. On paper its all wrong - but I like the sound of it, in fact much better in comparison to having callaham's block.

As far as fender using cheaper materials in the MIM block - thats only natural for a large corporation making a high production item. Saving a little money on a guitar means big savings overall. It is their base model as well we're talking about. The custom shop stuff, american vintage models, and some artists models like the eric johnson all have great blocks from the factory.

Even my marshall plexi came with cheap tubes from the factory. Changing them made it sound like a whole new amp. Major attention to detail tends to only come in expensive boutique stuff. With the high production stuff I expect to need to tweak a little here and there.

You get what you pay for, luckily its easy (and cheap from GFS) to upgrade/customize. Thats my 2 cents on it anyway

Everyone has a preference, just because you used premium parts doesn't me you had to like it. I look at it all as a learning experience. I bought a little 59 stacked humbucker for a tele thinking I wanted a thicker sound and I hated it... I no longer had a tele sound at all. I took it in the shorts on that one and sold it cheap.

This weekend I bought a 50's Squier Classic Vibe Strat with maple and it has Alinco III pickups in it and sounds very glassy. I am not sure what pickups to put in it to smooth out the sound. This may turn out to be a deal like what you just did... go with a recommendation, with a good reputation and not like it at all... We shall see... Oh.. and if you have any recommendations I am open to listen.

TJ

I know what you mean about that glassy sound. I've heard it in a suhr which played amazing as well as a custom shop (I forget what it was called but its the custom shop's version of the american standard). Both played like absolute butter - tons of attention to detail in the fretwork, neck carve, etc. But that glassy sound kills it unless you like the real spanky 2 and 4 positions.

Personally I have the 69 custom shop set and love them. Plenty warm without any overly glassy quality about it. Flick it onto the neck and roll the tone knob back and its fat and jazzy, the bridge isn't overly bright, the middle is hendrixy, 2 and 4 are quacky. Its all a quality strat sound without any of the positions being OVERLY anything.

I don't think of Woodstock and hendrix when I play them, or any artist really. They're just a balanced quality strat sound which allows MY sound to come out, and at the end of the day thats what its all about right?

All my opinion of course. Pickups can vary from set to set probably and can sound different in different guitars. I'm very pleased with them to where I don't think about pickups anymore. The guitar just likes to be played now

Basile, I got the CV 50's cheap used at Guitar Center... They had it for $149 and it didn't have a scratch on it. That is less than half price. So, I may not be able to get rid of the glassy sound, but I got one hell of a deal. Maybe a heavy trem block and a good set of darker pickups would do the trick. Who knows...

That project is going on the back burner for a while, as it was not intended in the first place..

TJ

IF your getting a too bright sound try the brass block from GFS instead of steel.

_________________
I remember when we were free!

Okay, everything arrived this morning. Got the block in and the new saddles on. Going to re-string it but looks like I have to adjust the two allen screws on each saddle. I'm clueless here. Can someone tell me is there specs for this or just raise them to clear the pickup poles ? Hope I didn't do something wrong or was suppose to take a measurement before I removed the old saddles. Again, thanks in advance. So far, this has been REALLY simple.

Mike

_________________
"I like the way he puts Yngwie J. Malmsteen on his album covers. You know,....so you don't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business"


2008 Fender MIM Stratocaster
2010 Epiphone Masterbilt
2009 Fender Super Champ XD

Hi BTG,

I know it isn't the same as someone standing there helping you with the setup, but Fender has publishes setup guidelines. Here is the link to a strat setup from Fender.

http://www.fender.com/support/stratocas ... _guide.php

I hope this helps.

TJ

Just adjust them until you get the best balance of comfort and minimum buzz.

I set mine somewhat low/medium and then raise it equally on each side of the saddle until its high enough off the board to not buzz. I think a tiny bit of buzz is natural so don't drive yourself nuts. Don't be afraid to adjust them - you really can't hurt anything. Be sure to check intonation as well.

Yup follow the steps in the guide above and all you really need is a steel rule that can measure in 32nds and 64ths and the allen wrench and you'll be good for string height. It's really not difficult. Time consuming but pretty straight forward.

Now, adjusting the saddle height is different than adjusting the pup height.
The saddle height adjustments is so you can match the strings to the contour of the neck for better playability where the pup height is to adjust more for the sound and volume.

If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

And as the guide says, these are only recommendations. You might find you like the pups lower or higher than what they recommend.

-T

_________________
-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

I installed a Calliham block in one of my strats and it made a big difference. Unfortunately, the GFS id for the vintage bridge only... nothing for the two-point trem.

_________________
Robert Moog - "Hey... where do all these patch cables go?"

Okay, got the block and saddles installed (guess I should have measured the height of the old saddles first...my bad), adjusted the saddles to what I think looks right (about 4/64 across the neck), got it restrung and set the intonation (still have to tweak it a bit). I only had a few minutes to try it our before going to work. I think there seems to be a bit more sustain but I have to say that (I hope this makes sense to someone) the guitar has a "cleaner" or maybe a "brighter" sound. Anyway, I'll get her tweaked and get some play time in her. I have to say that overall for the $35.00 in parts, that it is money well spent. IMHO, it makes a good guitar sound even better and there is nothing like being able to do this type of work to your own guitar. I swear, sometimes I enjoy working on them just as much (if not more) than playing them. Thanks again to everybody who offered help and advice. This is a great forum with a lot of knowledgeable folks.

Thank you
Mike

_________________
"I like the way he puts Yngwie J. Malmsteen on his album covers. You know,....so you don't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business"


2008 Fender MIM Stratocaster
2010 Epiphone Masterbilt
2009 Fender Super Champ XD

Nice work Mike.
Check the intonation in a couple of days too just to make sure it hasn't crept away due to the strings stretching.

-T

_________________
-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Will do. Thanks T

_________________
"I like the way he puts Yngwie J. Malmsteen on his album covers. You know,....so you don't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business"


2008 Fender MIM Stratocaster
2010 Epiphone Masterbilt
2009 Fender Super Champ XD

Another tip is to keep the Trem Cover off the guitar.

One thing about tone and the guitar is that all the parts are involved, so neck, nut, saddles, screws (how tightly they are in place - loose screw can make buzz or be a tone killer), plastic to metal to wood...meaning the guitar basically resonates on the wood and metal, neck to body density and cavity to bridge saddles and trem block and of course the nut and its material.

By tightening all the screws including your strap holders (mine was loosening a lot and I had this rattle didn't know what it was, thought it was fret buzz, but it was the loose strap holder screw - elmers glue and a tooth pick split and put on both sides of the hole and presto!) and removing the trem cover you might find a slight difference, reason is the trem cover adds another dynamic to the body neck and bridge on how they resonate. Also who sees the back of the guitar.

I took my MIM 2009 Standard Strat and put the S1 switching system in it plus SCN pickups and its sounds so much nicer, nice and chimey with great tones!
I have just ordered the GFS brass block two days ago, did so much research on block on the MIM, mine has the full size, but not steel, good ole magnet test. Next up is the nut and the new modern saddles, I have researched that the more surface of the saddle effects your tone for the better, but some players enjoy the sound of the classic bridge sound.

Well my Strat sounded awesome just with the S1 and SCN, like night and day, IMHO an electric guitar starts with the electrics, hell its a metal string vibrating over a magnet to produce an electronic signal, so make sure your pickups are the best of what you want. Then start with the tweaking of nut, saddels and trem block.

I think once I am done with block, saddles and nut, including the S1 system and SCN's, that I have the $1799 Amercian Deluxe Strat (sans the contoured neck and upscale paint) for about $600-$700....had guys play it that have played for 40+ years just with the pickup upgrade and they loved it!

_________________
2009 Fender Standard Stratocaster
- S1 switching system insatlled w SCN Pickups
- GFS Brass Trem Block
- Lake Placid Blue w Maple Neck

www.crunchyflower.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsVfv2OSEKw

I have also considered the S-1 switching for 2008 mim. The gentleman that I take lessons from installed on his mim and I REALLY liked the results. He used the actual fender push switch and said the soldering took quite a while. I'm pretty sure this is something I would to have done by someone with more experience in the soldering field than myself. I've done pups but this looke to be a bit more intricate.

_________________
"I like the way he puts Yngwie J. Malmsteen on his album covers. You know,....so you don't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business"


2008 Fender MIM Stratocaster
2010 Epiphone Masterbilt
2009 Fender Super Champ XD