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Post subject: How have YOU hot rodded your strat?
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:21 am
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I have a great stock Highway 1 that I recently re-wired so that it has the 5-way switch with just a master volume and master tone (thanks to this forum!) so that I don't have the volume knob so close to the bridge. I can now palm mute much more comfortably!

Anyway, I'm looking to upgrade/hot rod it some more. What tuning machines have you all found to be best? What about the nut (can a replacement really make that much difference)? Or the bridge? I do admit the bent metal bridge pieces look a little hokie, but they seem to work okay. Any suggestions? I don't use the trem at all, but I do A LOT of bending and vibrato with my left hand. What about pickups? Are active pickups any good? Better?

I play mostly ZZ Top, SRV, Clapton style bluesy stuff (although not nearly as well as Billy, Stevie or Eric). :-)

Thanks for any thoughts/ideas, etc.!
Keith :-)


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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:58 am
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All I did to mine is add a black pickguard. It was already hott.


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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:18 am
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You could go for Schaller or Sperzel locking tuners, a graphite or LSR roller nut and a Callaham trem kit.


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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:30 am
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Thanks, Sandwich. Do you see significant difference with these additions? Sustain, tone, staying in tune, etc.? What does the Callaham trem system do? I've never heard of it?

I mean, I dig the Zen-like simplicity of groovemongrel's response, and I accept that all the additions in the world won't mean a damn thing if I can't play the guitar worth a hill of beans.

That said, I appreciate any input on how to make the instrument better, more playable, more enjoyable, etc.

Thanks again, all! :-)


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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:51 am
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grover makes some great tuning pegs, but i've never had an issue with the tuners on my standard hss strat. be careful if you install a new nut, if you do it improperly it can make playing a lot more difficult than it should be.

best of luck

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:06 am
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Thanks tmfxjohn. Yeah, I won't replace the nut myself. There's a lot I'll do, but if it involves something that's glued to the body or neck, I'm pretty reticent about messing with it. I have no problem unscrewing parts and putting in new ones, though! :-) Thanks for the thoughts on the Grovers. I'm just getting ideas, pondering my next move. Keeps me young. :-)


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:10 am
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The graphite/ LSR roller nut helps the guitar come back to pitch apter trem use. The locking tuners also help keep your guitar in tune, because there is barely any string wrapped around it, so there is no further string stretch at the tuning pegs. And the Callaham tremolo is just a high quality trem system with superior performance compared to the ordinary Fender Vintage trem. (it's got things like improved saddles, trem. block, etc.).

Here's the link to their comparison page.

Hope that cleared things up a bit.


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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:37 am
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Whoa! Nice bit of stuff on that site. :shock: Thank you, sandwich, yes, that clears it up quite a bit. Thank you!


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:09 pm
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No problem! :wink:


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:01 pm
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I switch the bridge pickups, adding coil splits and changed the pickguards in my Highway Ones, my Sunburst has a Pearly Gates with a Pearl pickguard and my Surf Green has a Hot Rails in the bridge. I had a shell pickguard on it, but I switched it back to mint green. I may try engraving the pickguards too.

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:15 pm
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I had an MIM that I installed Lace Sensor Blue at the neck, a Lace Sensor Silver in the middle and a Seymour Duncan Lil Screamin Demon at the bridge. The neck pup was wonderfully thick and bluesy, the center pup was one of the few center pups I've ever played on a strat that was worth using and the Screamin Demon was a monster at the bridge. I really did enjoy that guitar, but my Am Deluxe Ash got more attention. When I traded up to the EJ strat the MIM became a lonley axe in the corner. I gave it to a deserving young man in exchange for some yard work. He loves it, it gets played often and I got some work done that my lazy middleaged $@! would have never gotten around to. All in all a good deal for everyone and another modded MIM finds new life with an angry young man looking for a way to express that teenage angst. That's the 4th guitar I've given to kids in the last 6 years. Makes me feel good.

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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:47 pm
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I bought a MIJ HSS used that had a similar set up to cryingstrat. Lace sensor Blue- neck, Gold- middle, double Red- Bridge. The blue has an awesome bluesy sound. I like the Gold but I would like to hear a silver in the middle. I don't like the double red at the bridge. Just not the sound I am looking for. I like that SRV, Clapton sound too. It also has the Floyd Rose II locking tremolo. Which has the locking nut system. It stays in tune but its kind of a hassle for re-stringing and maintenance. The Callaham system looks great.

My MIM strat just has a black pearl pickguard on a black body. I am thinking about Tex Spec pickups, shielding under the pickguard, and possibly a warmoth neck with jumbo frets.


elessar820- How do you like the pearly gates?


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:50 pm
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I don't know If it would be a Hot Rodding, but I replaced my Vintage style saddles for big brass suckers I found on a Hardail strat bridge from the 80's. I just wanted the string to stay put when I bent 'em, they tended to roll on the vintage style (A problem that didn't occur on my Buddy Guy Strat With vintage saddles :? ). The improvement in bell-tone was noticable.

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:03 pm
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I like the Pearly Gates, but it's not my favorite humbucker. I like high output pickups mainly, but I wanted something for a different sound. It has a nice clean tone and is awesome with my TS7, but I don't like it with heavy distortion. Just for comparision, my other guitars have a Screamin' Demon, an Invader an SD Custom single coil and a Hot Rails. I may wind up changing it out to a Distortion or Custom Custom.

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:10 pm
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cryingstrat wrote:
I had an MIM that I installed Lace Sensor Blue at the neck, a Lace Sensor Silver in the middle and a Seymour Duncan Lil Screamin Demon at the bridge. The neck pup was wonderfully thick and bluesy, the center pup was one of the few center pups I've ever played on a strat that was worth using and the Screamin Demon was a monster at the bridge. I really did enjoy that guitar, but my Am Deluxe Ash got more attention. When I traded up to the EJ strat the MIM became a lonley axe in the corner. I gave it to a deserving young man in exchange for some yard work. He loves it, it gets played often and I got some work done that my lazy middleaged $@! would have never gotten around to. All in all a good deal for everyone and another modded MIM finds new life with an angry young man looking for a way to express that teenage angst. That's the 4th guitar I've given to kids in the last 6 years. Makes me feel good.

that is truly awesome :D


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