The spec sheets of the Fender Strat and the (Japanese-origin) Jackson Dinky have got me thinking. Yes, the Dinky is 7/8th the size of a Strat, with a 24-fret neck, and no pickguard, pickups seated in the body, with a single tone knob, but they've got a lot in common-

• Bolt-on neck joint
• Alder body
• Maple neck
• Maple/Rosewood fretboard
• Scale length 25.5"

I have left out the pickups, electronics and hardware, because they can be changed (except the Floyd Rose trem, which would require a lot of wood routed out). That makes them more or less the same breed of instrument. Someone actually called the Dinky a Strat on steroids. What makes them different? And can we get one to sound like the other with the right electronics and hardware? One genuine difference would be the wood base used for either guitar.

The Dinky is a superstrat because of the 2-octave fretboard, drooping headstock, radical offset cutaways, Floyd Rose tremolo and humbucking pickups. Superstrats cater for aggressive musical styles which require high-gain overdrive/distortion and heavy tremolo abuse. Some came with HSS pickups while others feature HH, HSH and even HHH configurations. Certain superstrats (such as the Ibanez JEM/Universe and a few RGs) sport a pickguard.

The Dinky is the bolt-on version of the thru-neck Soloist.

Fair, superstrat may also include design elements like the pointed wings and drooping headstocks, but without the electronics and hardware, they may be very similar. The Dinky, with its wood base, would be more or less the same as the Strat, with a clear difference being two extra frets. The Ibanez and ESP guitars, on the other hand, are either made in basswood or mahogany, which makes a big difference, or have set-in or neck-through or in some cases, set-through constructions. Then there are some bodies that are built light, some necks built thin, which may also affect the tone.

If the Strat and the Dinky had the same pickups, electronics and hardware, and even the same strings, how much of a difference would it make?

Not all superstrats are neck-throughs.

Of course bolt-on superstrats with more Strat-like bodies exist. These guitars were made by Charvel.

Dinkys use the same radical body shape as the Soloist, except they utilize bolt-on construction as opposed to the Soloist, which is a neck-through guitar.

Not all of the two guitars are passive. Certain Soloists sport an active mid boost circuit while a few Dinkys boast a Sustainiac infinite-sustain system.

We've got two guitars that have almost the same construction here, it's just different electronics and hardware fitted on each. What if a Strat had the same pickups and hardware as the Dinky? Same woods, same shape, same construction. Would they sound the same, or at least similar?

Like a Fender Strat HSS with STK-1, STK-1 and JB?

From what I see you want put the same Seymour Duncan pickups and hardware found on the Dinky into a MIM or MIA Strat HSS.

I suggest you asking experts like Martian and Andy. Sorry for the inconvenience, I can't help.

They would be pretty close - there will be some tonal differences because the Dinky has a smaller body and not having the pickups mounted in a pickguard (and the corresponding routing differences). Probably the biggest difference will be in the sounds you get from the neck pickup - because the Dinky has a 24-fret neck the neck pickup will be under a different "node" than it would be if the Dinky had a 22-fret neck.

Would you be able to tell the difference in sound? Someone with hyper ears like Eric Johnson could probably tell the difference in all positions a mile away but I suspect that most players (myself included) are only going to hear the difference when you play something with a lot of open harmonics while using the neck pickup.