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Post subject: Mods to my Strat
Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 1:27 pm
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Location: West Monroe, La.
I have a MIM 60th anniversary Strat That sounds pretty weak. I decided to mod it and see how much it could be improved. So far I have installed a ToneShaper in the guitar. Very easy to install, set up to the blender configuration. Makes for some interesting tones. I need to have the body routed out in the back to allow for easy access to the board. The stock pickups still sound thin and I want to replace them with David Allen StratCats, but next I am going to install a Babicz tremolo. Has anyone here installed one on their guitar? They make them for narrow string spacing as well as Fender American. I get an annoying rattle/buzz from some of the strings. Neck relief and action are good, I spent an evening setting up the neck following Fender's recommendations and using machinist rule and StewMac radius gauge. The guitar plays well but it sounds thin. The guitar came with 9 gauge strings, I had a local shop do a setup on it and change to 10s, the problem may be with the nut slots, I do get a "TINK" from the strings after it has set a while and I have to retune. By the way, I think the pickups are TexMex.


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my Strat
Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:36 am
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Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:31 am
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Location: Province de Québec, Canada
Why don't you find why the guitar sounds pretty weak before put mod on ?

Is it your first Stratocaster ? If yes, what is your amp ?


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my Strat
Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:33 am
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The buzzing and rattling you're getting could be down to having too low an action with incorrect neck relief.
Equally it could be down to too heavy handed an approach with your playing - I've noticed this with inexperienced players.

As to things sounding thin, that could easily be your amp, or the way your amp is set up.
What are you using?


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my Strat
Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 5:44 am
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I can't help you with the pickups and trem, but the tink you refer to is the string sticking in the nut as you tune. the nut holds the string as you are tuning and the tink is it letting go and hence you have to retune.

It may be a poorly cut nut, but you could try lubing the nut first. This can be done by rubbing some pencil lead into the nut. the graphite acts as a lubricant.

As for your set up the dimensions on Fenders website are only for guidance and don't work for every guitar.

If you have buzzing then it is strings hitting something. There are a number of possible reasons for this.

You could have too much relief in the neck if this is the case the strings will buzz when you fret the middle of the neck, around the 7th fret.

You could have too little relief this buzzes on the frets closest to the nut.

It could be a raised fret that needs dressing you can check this with a straight edge that spans three frets if it rocks you have a high fret. Stew Mac has a fret rocker with a number of different length sides for this job.

Your buzz could be coming from elsewhere, the strings may be hitting the pickups, or it could be resonance causing something else too buzz. I once spent weeks chasing a buzz on a g string caused by the pickups being too low and rattling on the springs.

As for pickups if you are looking for a fatter sound have you considered mini-humbuckers that fit in a strat without routing, I had a Seymour Duncan set in a strat once and they sounded great.


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my Strat
Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 5:51 am
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stratmangler wrote:
The buzzing and rattling you're getting could be down to having too low an action with incorrect neck relief.
Equally it could be down to too heavy handed an approach with your playing - I've noticed this with inexperienced players.

As to things sounding thin, that could easily be your amp, or the way your amp is set up.
What are you using?



+1

Check neck relief first ; This move with years and wheather


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my Strat
Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 9:18 am
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+1 regarding setup first, mods later.

Have your guitar set up well by a pro. Take it to your 'local' guitar shop and have them set it up for you, after discussing how it is you like to play. You may be very surprised at how much better your guitar sounds. NEW STRINGS can also make a huge difference, especially if you don't know, or can't remember, when they were last changed.

Good luck, have fun, just PLAY.


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my Strat
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:52 pm
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Location: West Monroe, La.
Update on mods. I installed a Babicz FCH Stratocaster tremolo for narrow string spacing. It was a drop in fit. At first I could not get the string height high enough to prevent string buzz the entire length of the neck, the E-cam screw would bottom out. I thought I had messed up because I did not order the vintage style trem. After looking things over I decided to go for broke and shim the neck. I removed the neck and discovered a factory installed shim at the front of the neck,which would have raised the neck joint at the body. I removed it and cut a piece of a business card and shimmed the rear of the neck joint. I was then able to adjust string height and get intonation. I played the guitar for a while and then checked the neck relief and had to loosen the trussrod. This evening I tightened it up 1/4 turn and have .010 relief and the guitar sounds good, no buzz, action is to my liking. The guitar does not go out of tune when using the tremolo like it did with the original bridge. I have it floating a little less than the thickness of a quarter. I have some David Allen StratCat pickups on the way. I had to lower my pickups very low because they were pulling on the strings(super bullets) so much.


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Post subject: Re: Mods to my Strat
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 7:19 pm
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Hey playznotgood,

You've done a great job of modding on that guitar, congratulations.

The fellas are right about getting the setup done to your satisfaction. That's really job one with every guitar. Don't forget leveling frets either. When it's done right they play like butter.

The bit about finding a shim under your neck, removing it and replacing it towards the back of the neck pocket was terrific.

The relief of .01 sounds like a lot, maybe that's off by a digit? I'm not there to see it, just guessing.

Keep working on it till it sounds right to you, brother. Sounds like you're on the right track.

BTW, I lived in Monroe back in '76 and enjoyed the abundant 'shrooms!

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Took me a long time to learn that a Good Set-Up is the best Parts money can buy


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