I've been reading a lot on the forum about tone upgrades. For example, a lot of posters recommend upgrading pots and caps, tremolo blocks to higher quality stuff.

Now I am wondering what's the quality of said parts on my stock American Special? Are they pre-loaded with switchcraft pots, orange caps, etc, or lower grade components?

I was also wondering, how I can fatten up the sound on my strat (SSS). Would changing a a cap value or wiring in series make a noticable difference?

If it's not already thus configured, you can try wiring your bridge pickup to the lower tone control -- that will allow you to roll off some of the "bite" and, coupled with some volume boost from your amp or an OD pedal, give the perception of a "fatter" tone. A Fralin base plate attached to the bridge pickup's bobbin may also help.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I rewire and upgrade parts on all of my guitars. Why? Because I like to. However, I have noticed that Fender used the same general parts (pots, switches, caps, etc.) in my $1500 AVRI 52 Tele as were used in my $500 MIM Standard Strat.

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Bill