hi ive had my mim strat for a few years, and i have modding in mind. i just don't know where 2 start. if this helps i play indie/punk/grunge. all comments appreciated!!!!

Start with the heart and soul of your axe! the pickups. A good set of vintage wound pups in the bridge and middle will give you some good high end sizzle and played at lower volumes will give a nice clean tone, you will with your 5 way have 3 choices with this pickup combo. In the neck my favorite position a hot pup wound at 9 or 10k will give you a lot of bottom you will find this a lot more versatile than one might think great for a lot of bump and grind. Don't be afraid to mix and match the pups!

I think that the single best improvement that you can make to a MIM Strat would be to change the bridge to something much better than the stock pot metal (or zinc) bridge block, and cheap stock saddles. I like Callaham myself, but there are others too. Almost any new type of bridge would be a big improvement in tone. At minimum, change the block as that will be the majority of the improvement.

http://www.callahamguitars.com/partsstr.htm

http://www.specialtyguitars.com/callaham-strat.html

Guitar fetish has inexpensive upgrade blocks also.

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Upgrade-Steel-and-Brass-Tremolo-Blocks_c_216.html

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

thanks for that guys, i will deffinetly replace the bridge (would hardtail be an option) i will look into the pickups, a guy down by where i live can get discounted bare knuckles, emg's, ect.

If you have a trem on your Strat, you would have to fill in the hole where the bridge block was, in order to switch to a hard tail bridge. It would be better to get a hard tail body if you want to go that route.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

pay no attention to nevin, hes cold up there.

look, you have the perfect platform to do whatever you might want to do.
MIM's are perfect for modding and the sky is the limit.
get a few books on strats and wiring first. i suggest the following:

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Rep ... pd_sim_b_5

http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Guitar-G ... pd_sim_b_1

http://www.amazon.com/BEGINNER-INTERMED ... =1-1-spell

all 3 killer books, easy to understand, and worth every single cent.
what this will allow you to do is know all the possibilities of whats possible,
and how to do it. bench manuals for guys like you and me.
i still ask questions on the forum here from time to time just to clear up a thought
i might have about something ive read or an idea i have in mind.
like i said, you have the perfect guitar, now the names of the perfect books, and your on the perfect forum to get anything done to your axe. i do warn you, this shiot is addictive bro. be ready for it.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

thnks man

your welcome

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Hi Jack:

Oh yeah? Well then you probably need to smash your Strat to bits like Kurt and then buy yourself some sort of Thinline or Custom Tele instead. Anything you see on this page with a humbucker or two and more than the usual assortment of knobs:

http://www.fender.com/products/search.p ... itars&pg=3

Really I suspect that's all completely unnecessary - but it's the indie look, right?

Cheers - C

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thats a cool definition, man, and believe me my strat is pretty beat up, 3 saddles snapped (and repaired) and my bro drew a smiley face on the tuners

I started cosmetic with my own MIM, just changing the pickguard. It's the easiest way to change the look of your strat to make it really "yours" even at first glance. If you're talking more functional mods, a pickup swap is definitely in order. My favorite mod that I'll be doing on all my future strats is the 7-sound mod. Install a push/pull pot on one of your knobs and wire it so that it turns a particular pickup on when you pull it up. I have mine wired as a neck-on, so in position one (bridge only) and two (bridge-middle) I can pull the knob up to get a bridge-neck combo that sounds almost like a telecaster (my favorite tone I get from my strat), or all three pickups at once. I THINK you can also do in/out of phase on a push-pull as well as series / parallel. How convenient that you have three knobs too I also rewired my tone knobs so that tone 1 controls neck and middle while tone 2 is bridge.

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[08 MIM Standard Arctic White] > [Danelectro Fish n Chips EQ > Radial Texas Bones OD > Tonerider British Distortion > Electroharmonix Russian Big Muff Pi > Vox V847 Wah] > FM65R

Most of the above except the transformation to a 3 string tenor guitar.
My MIM is a 2002, began life as a Deluxe Player was modded to SCN pups and push/push switch deleted




2nd pic is two years old but one of only three portraying the MIM original layout
( The others have also been revamped )

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

53

Whats the one on the far right of the picture? A friend let me borrow his one of them 23 years ago.

Nice guitar, hard to balance.

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No no and no

love that blk and chrome.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Nik...
I cannot remember as the sands of time have clouded my memory.
Best I can recall I bought it back in 75, about the same time as I had bought my 59 LPC, of course yours truly sold the later in 93 just before the values went thru the roof. At the moment it is in transition as the pic shows.( soon to be reinstated ) It needed a refinish once again as I had long ago urethaned it as well as experimented with abalone inlays

But thru the Magnatone it just screams

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "