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Post subject: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 6:01 pm
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Im thinking moddong out my us highway1 strat. Any advice on upgrades?
i was thinking about switching out the pickups with noisless vintage. Also maybe some new caps.

Any advice?


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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 7:46 pm
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what kind of music do You play?depends on that

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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:27 pm
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I agree, it depends on your musical taste. I play Blues, Rock, Metal, and Alternative Rock. Here is my modded Highway 1:

From this:

Image

to this:
Image

White Pearloid Pickguard
Black Plastic covers and knobs
Dunlop Strap Locks
Dimarzio 500k volume pot
Dimarzio Super Distortion Bridge Pickup
Fender/Schaller "F" locking tuners
Copper shielding in pickup and control cavities
and last but not least--Graphtec Saddles

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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:39 pm
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vintage noiseless comes with new pots, for some reason the values have to change.
if you want noiseless, try the dimarzio virtual vintage line.
ive heard alot of good reviews here from forumites.
you can get 58/67/61
or 58/58 and a tone zone bridge for rock stuff.

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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:53 am
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I mostly play blues style mix.


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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:57 am
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Location: Land Of Misfit Toys
johnnyraff wrote:
Im thinking moddong out my us highway1 strat. Any advice on upgrades?
i was thinking about switching out the pickups with noisless vintage. Also maybe some new caps.

Any advice?



Well.........being the proud owner of 9 (!!!??!!) Highway One Stratocaster HSS's; all of which are heavily modded, (and are now AWESOME guitars!) I can possibly lend a hand here.
The FIRST thing to go on any Highway that I bought were the PICKUPS.
SINGLES: I have used a combination of Fender Vintage Noiseless and every DiMarzio Area series pickup out there. The Area 58 being my favorite for the neck position.

Humbuckers: I have used a combination of Gibson (498T, 490T, 57 Classic Plus, BB3)
and DiMarzio (Air Classic, 36th Anniv. P.A.F.) with FANTASTIC results!!

Next to go were the crappy PING tuners! Fender/Schaller locking tuners were a direct drop in replacement. H-U-G-E improvement!!

Next and last were the saddles. They felt cheap and flimsy. I put Graph Tech String Savers on all of 'em! Haven't broken a string in ages!! AND....has NOT affected my sound in any way!

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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:32 am
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Thanks for the advice, I might end up doing a combo of pickups also. I mostly play in the neck position, Im looking at the dimarzio heavy blues. I feeel the stock pickups are lacking on any overdrive I step on, so Im looking for a configuration that sounds nice and warm clean and a little hotter when I step on the OD.


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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 8:13 pm
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Here are the mods on my midnight wine Highway One:

920D Fender Hot Noiseless loaded, black pickguard with aged covers & tips.

Fender Schaller locking tuners (satin finish).

Black Schaller strap locks.


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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 8:17 pm
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johnnyraff wrote:
Im thinking moddong out my us highway1 strat. Any advice on upgrades?
i was thinking about switching out the pickups with noisless vintage. Also maybe some new caps.

Any advice?


I have Strat with a push/pull pot to connect the Neck & Bridge pickups. When activated in position 1, it gives nice tones. In position 2 all three pickups are working. It's a really lovely sound.

Paris

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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 8:53 pm
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While others make a good point about holding back suggested mods until they knew what style of music you played, one that could be done that doesn't change the basic tone of the guitar but adds 5 additional tones to it is adding an S1 switch like what you find on the Am Dlx. You get the 5 initial tones you started with, plus 5 others. :mrgreen:


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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:26 am
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I play alot of different styles, im probably going to start with 3 new pickups from dimarzio. Vintage 54,and heavy blues.


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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 11:26 am
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Location: Birmingham UK
Here's my modded HW1..

Image

Body shined up..
Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 Pro single coil set (just noticed, it needs parchment coloured covers)..
Graphtech Tusque nut and saddles..
Treble Bleed mod..
Dunlop heavy duty strap locks..
Extra deep control knobs..
It's all very conservatively done - The look of the guitar was one of the reasons I bought it, so I didn't want to change it too much.

Notice my highly trained attack labrador there to prevent any sort of theft (but only if she can be bothered - which is extremely unlikely, especially if you have a biscuit..)

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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:03 am
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Finally started modding im getting graph tech saddles to start, some new tuners and looking around for what pickup config i want. Maybe change out some caps also.


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Post subject: Re: US Highway 1 Mod
Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 7:48 pm
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Location: Laurel, MD
johnnyraff wrote:
Finally started modding im getting graph tech saddles to start, some new tuners and looking around for what pickup config i want. Maybe change out some caps also.


I have a Strat has push/pull pot that allows me to have the following pup configuration:
1. Neck
2. Neck & Bridge
3. Neck & Middle
4. Neck, Middle & Bridge
5. Middle
6. Middle & Bridge
7. Bridge

Since the guitar came this way I'm not sure how it was done, but two things come to mind. 1. When you activate the pot (pull out) it adds the Bridge pup to the circruit. 2. That it's probibly a complicated mess under the pick guard. I don't all the details, but I do love the sound I get.

To my Black '06 Hwy1 I hand buffed it to a soft shine and changed out all the white parts for black and added some CS '69 Strat pups.


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