I have a Squier Stratocaster Affinity and am considering buying a new guitar. I'm wondering if it's worth customizing, or If I should buy a legitimate Fender.

Thanks!

They are very easy to mod and Fender hardware generally just drops straight in...............so you could mod it with Fender CS pickups, Fender hardware etc and you have a full on Fender!!!!!

It's fun and educational modding the guitars too.........

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

How would I fit in a bigger pickup like the EVH Frankenstein pickup?

The body should be routed already to fit an HB in the bridge position.........anyone can correct me if need be .....it would just be a case of getting an HSS scratchplate and switching everything into that........

I don't know the EVH so don't know if its an active or passive pickup..........different wiring is needed for both but schematics and diagrams are readily available and there are some AWESOME guys on here will give you all the advice you will need if you ask politely!!!!

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

I have no idea what the difference between an active and passive pickup is.

Active pups are higher output which require batteries. Passive are our good old fashion pups that most of us use. EVH frankenstein apparently is a limited edition passive humbucker w/a single conductor wire. IMO over priced, but it should just drop into a pickguard designed for humbuckers.

Alright. What should I buy instead of the EVH that will give me the same sound?

Everyone should own a thousand-dollar Squier.



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

Personally, I never try to emulate anybody elses sound, so I couldn't say for sure, but here's a guy that gave a review on that pup, & he mentions a few others there that are more affordable. Seems like a fairly honest review. Good luck
http://www.woodytone.com/2009/03/30/rev ... ery-penny/

Take a look at a cheaper alternative for more a more PAF sound:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics ... ckers.html

Machine wound pickups cost no more than a few dollars to make, hand wound pickups $25-$30 depending on the complexity of the winding and the volume of wire used.

If you can get a hold an electric drill geared to run really slow and a bobbin of wire - consider hand wiring your own pickups. The denser the core the harder/dynamic the tone, handwire pcikups generally sound better because of the variations in wire density and paths for wire, generating a more random electric field.

I've experimented doing hand wiring on a Michal Kelly which used Korean copies of Rockfield pickups - nice pickups that were somewhat dark, I removed all the original wiring hand wound and the HBs - maintained the split coild configuration and added 40+% wire to the bridge and <60% to the neck, they now snarl. Results I turned a boring MK Patriot into a beast, with an eight siren voice combinations.

Damn! And here I thought I was smokin' with my $800 Squier!

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

As a serial Squier modifier, well, semi serial, I can say that I got three humbuckers and two genuine Fender singles for less than £15 on eBay. Two of the humbuckers are unbranded and sound great, nice and clean but well crunchy too. So you don't have to spend mega bucks on a Seymour or whatever to sound good.

Also, the affinity that I have has a swimming pool rout, so you should be ok in that respect, and chopping some plastic out of the pick guard isn't a hard task.

But I will always stand by my modified cheap guitars, because they are 99% of the 'real' thing and cost much much less, plus you can have it how you like it.

Finally, I like an affinity strat because of the thinner neck (1.5mm at the nut), which is a bit more comfy for chunky rhythm parts.

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Black Fender Jaguar HH Special
3x Black Squier Affinity Strat
Black Partscaster
Sunburst Jim Deacon JDST57
Tobacco Burst Westfield E4000
Redburst Hondo H180A
White Ibanez JEM 555
Brown Ibanez SX60
Black Encore Superstrat

Let's put it this way. Upgrading a Squier does not mean its going to be worth more. In fact, you'd be better off parting it away rather than selling it whole if you chose to upgrade it. Besides, who doesn't need another guitar? You can never have enough!

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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why not mod the squier and also buy a fender....best of both worlds

I would buy a Fender. The problem is that I have no money right now and am going to get the money with a summer job.