Hey all I'm new here, so please forgive me if I'm posting and asking the same question someone else did last week or yesterday

I bought a 2009 Highway one Strat in sunburst 2 days ago and am very impressed with it except for the pickup's. Don't get me wrong i think they sound ok, but seem to be going for a high gain sound, which my countless mahogany loaded with humbucker guitars do much better. I was hoping for more of a gritty blues sound right down to sparkling cleans and this is what i thought about.

Change the pickup's to the custom shop Texas specials
change the pots to CTS
rewire with better quality wire (i can get from work, real expensive stuff, i do electrical design)
Replace input jack with better quality
Change the machine heads to sperzal locking(my fav for gigging and fast string changes)
and finally upgrading the cap's to orange drops

Do those upgrades sound like i got everything covered to turn this thing into a great sounding blues guitar? or is there anything i may be missing? or do you recommend different pots/pickup's, etc?

if anyone is wondering this will be a gigging/recording strat for low gain rhythm and leads and cleans.

Thank for the help in advance and Merry Christmas everyone.

Though I haven't much experience with the guitar in question (tried a few in shops) the general opinion is that the tone controls do the pickups no favours. You may do better by chopping out the greasebucket arrangment and using a regular couple of tone controls. I didn't find those pickups to be needlessly high output, not really much different from texas specials in how much they put out.
Try cutting out the resistor, .1uf capacitor and .02uf capacitor off the tone controls. If your carefull you may be able to use the .02uf capacitor as a regular tone capacitor.

Diagram of the guitars wiring here.
http://support.fender.com/service_diagrams/stratocaster/011-1100_02Bupg1_SISD.pdf

Try it more like this

http://support.fender.com/service_diagrams/stratocaster/011-7400_02A_SISD.pdf

If you don't like it as a normal strat tone control, you can always put it back to stock.

if you bought it 2 days ago, was it at guitarcenter?
and, if so, why dont you return it and exchange it for an american special and pay the 100.00 dollar difference vs 20 dollars for pots and switch, and 130-180 for texas specials,
and the time to rewire the pickups.
the special is basically the same specs except for the paintjob and texas specials loaded into it.

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

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

Well that a simple answer. Basically the Special here is about $400.00 more then I paid for the Highway one, also I get all the wire, switches and pots for free, I would only be paying for pick-up's. I hate the newer fender finish's, it's a thick as a toilet Love the nitro.

But to be even more honest when i buy guitars i never go wanting a specific type of brand or guitar. I played 25 Stratocasters from the Usa deluxe down to the highway one and special. The best playing/sounding guitars was a red special and the highway one, yup beat out the standards and deluxe's for me. So when i narrow down the few guitars i like i plug em in and try em to see what i want, and i came home with the Highway one. Upgrading for me is an easy thing to do when you pick out a gem rather then just go for the one with better quality electronics, it all start in the Feel/Wood/Finish for me, electronics are dime a dozen so to speak.

and Guitar center...nope I live in Canada, don't have one here.

So back to the question, are those upgrades good enough to cover everything.

thanks

I think your wasting your time with a pickup swap.

can you expand on why that is?

I happen to own 8 (!!??!!) Highway One Strat HSS's (the ENTIRE color spectrum of the series, PLUS one F.S.R. Highway)and I'm with you on this one!
The stock pickups, without a doubt,....SUCKED!!!
I changed ALL of the pickups on my guitars, as well as the tuners (Fender/Schallers are a great drop in replacement) and NOW....they are excellent guitars!!
Best move I've ever done was to change the pickups! No regrets WHATSOEVER!!!

I, personally , for the singles...went the NOISELESS route. I have Fender Vintage Noiseless in 2 of them. I also LOVE the DiMarzio Area series of pickups......UNBELIEVABLY 'Stratty'.....I didn't lose ANY quack!
I've gigged out with them many times and have gotten many a compliment on my 'tone'.

_________________
I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

Thx HWY1Strat. are there different type of sounding pick-up's in the Noiseless set, or are they just one type of sound?

If their one sound what other type of pickup would you compare there sound to?

you have alot for sure, you must really like them, or are you a collector. I really like the center one, is that Sonic blue?

have you changed your pots or caps in any of those guitars?


Merry Christmas!!

I wept over vintage noiseless, a purely useless pickup that only works with a midboost on it, in my experience. I prefered the MIM ceramics they replaced in my guitar. Eventually I put decent noiseless pickups in the guitar and kept the midboost that I'd previously used to mask them. Utterly weak unbalanced affairs. I much prefer them alnico 3's. Far better, more even response.

The Dimarzio Area series is comprised of the Area 58, 61, and 67.
Each pickup has it's 'own' thing going on. Read the descriptions on the DiMarzio website and see which suits you. I can't speak highly enough of them!
I own all of them in various combinations.
The one in the middle is the discontinued DAPHNE BLUE.
I'm NOT a collector per se; I just REALLY like the Highway HSS....very comfy, easy playing guitar!
As far as pots and such...I didn't change a thing...just dropped the pickups right in!

As far as the FENDER VINTAGE NOISELESS pickups are concerned....I am enjoying them very much! I don't need any mid-boosts or any other such thing! I DINE on ceramics; I DO NOT want them in my pickups!
I don't know why people dump on them; utter foolishness!!
I find them to be very useful/toneful and have NO complaints!

_________________
I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

thanks, i'm going to check em out tonight see how they sound and read up on them. As far as the Alnico 3's there really not worth talking or arguing about, I'm just going to throw them in my Sears guitar i got in the closet and give it to my 5 year old to beat to death.

When i compare them to my 79 strat or my other 11 guitars they are very disappointing. the middle pick-up i don't often use, since i play a lot of rhythm on the neck pick-up and leads are mixed between the bridge and neck pick-ups, I've been blessed and after all these years of playing higher quality music equipment they overall just don't cut it tone wise, but thats the was guitars and pickups are right, just all preference to each person.

What amp are you using. You need to drive some tubes or get a overdrive pedal. I don,t know about high gain for blues. A slightly overdrive tone works for me.

I have a few different amps that I use depending on what I feel like hearing or what i am playing. but i generally only have three set-up up. As follows

Randall LB
-Plexi mod
-Marshall JCM 800 mod
-Blackface mod
-Mesa boogie dual rec mod
run threw a 4x12 loaded with V30's

Roland JC120 for cleans only(mostly when playing metallica or jazzy stuff and late night playing)

Randall RG100HT with a tube screamer in line
run threw Randal 2x12 loaded with Seventy 80's

When practicing I usually only use the LB with the Marshall and the plexi mod's, if you are not familiar with the amp, it is a tube amp, not a modeling amp that has a plug and play design. Very nice gigging amp.

but you do bring up a good point I haven't driven my tube amp very hard with the strat yet, and that's something I overlooked, I will have to do that shortly and let you know if it works for me

I'm also kinda comparing the highway one to my 79 strat sound wise. the 79 has more grit at my current volumes, but I'll let you know how it goes.

You really should separate Mahogany, HB equipped guitars from Strats in any comparison as they are two, totally different animals.

The Texas Specials are designed for grit and lean more toward the midrange/bass side of the Strat pickup spectrum. They are of ever so slightly elevated output by traditional comparison and due to same, you will indeed lose a bit of traditional Strat high end.

ANY guitar is a "Blues guitar" depending on the stylings and technique of the player. Notwithstanding, if the aforementioned Texas Specials' tonality fits your description of what a "Blues guitar" should be, these pickups should serve you well.

Your OEM pots should already be CTS.

There is nothing wrong with the OEM wire in your guitar and replacing it with an allegedly higher grade will achieve nothing.

The OEM input jack should be a Switchcraft if in fact, the electronics are American. There is no better jack.

The heads are of course, your choice and if they help facilitate your playing/stylings, then by all means go for them.

Superior caps will surely make a difference when plugging directly into a tube amp. However, if you are prone to utilizing a bunch of pedals and preamps, the caps will chiefly be irrelevant as the purity of the guitar's signal will be severely altered before it hits the amp itself.

I tend to agree with what nikininja has said thus far including reverting back to an original type Strat wiring scheme for best results.

As always, all the above is merely IMO where YMMV.

_________________
You dig?

Thanks for the reply Martian, that's the kinda of answers i was looking for. I was told the electronics were lower quality since it was the bottom end American made, but if it is american switches and wire then no need in changing it, because I'll be putting in what is already there.

And yes I plug directly into my main rig. No pedals, I love the raw sounds of a guitar and amp. Rarely use a wah if anything.

on my RG100HT I use a tube screamer(this is more for friends that come over to jam with me)

And reverting back to the original wiring by eliminating one cap set up on a tone should dramatically change my sound?