Best inexpensive strat to mod from??

sunvalleylaw

sunvalleylaw

Yep.
I have a Dimarzio Virtual Hot PAF bridge pickup I have been holding onto forever. I tried selling it, but not that hard. I want to put it into an inexpensive, but decent strat, and pair it with some kind of single coils, thinking maybe P90 style or something that will keep up with the bridge. I might want to dump the middle pickup altogether and have some single coil up with balls to blend into the bridge hum bucker. kinda thinking of trying to get some Weezerish sounds out of it. Just a pop/punk guitar more or less.

The Squier Affinity thread looked interesting as a possibility for cheap. http://markweinguitarlessons.com/fo...y-tele-are-they-worth-the.76579/#post-1290429

But the squire custom deluxes have really nice necks. I have a buddy who has two and the necks seemed nearly as good as my MIM.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Squier-Stra...890084?hash=item2eef46cc64:g:Gc4AAOSwAvJXBH5A

http://www.ebay.com/itm/REDUCED-FEN...322577?hash=item1a113c6d91:g:wvcAAOSwqrtWpsyI

Classic vibes appear to be too expensive.

Thoughts?
 
As with the Affinity Tele, the Affinity Strat has non-standard dimensions...as a mod platform that makes it less than ideal...

A quick search of "Squier Strat" on Reverb turned up a number of standards in the 250.00 range...
 
I've had really good success with my fender deluxe players strat. I picked one up used in fantastic condition from Guitar Center for less than $300. I've probably put another hundred or so into it for mods and it's one of my favorite guitars.
 
There are a bunch of vintage modified Strats on reverb for $250.

I can't remember when Squier upped their game but 99 may be to early for a good one.
 
Yeah, I will look at the vintage modifieds, or a deluxe for $250 or under. I know I like the deluxes, and they come in Olympic white, which is along the the line looks I would be going for. Put a tort guard on it, with the zebra Dimarzio, figure out something for the neck, change out the pot for the humbucker, either remove or ignore the middle pup, and call it good. But a vintage modified HSS would probably have the electrics done well enough for me already, so should look at that too, if the neck would be similar in quality.
 
The Duncan Designed SC101 singles in the modified Sunvalleylaw posted are good (alnico 5) pickups and may not need to be changed out.
 
Here is the pickup I want to put in. I could sell it, but looks like best I would get would be around $75.

Dimarzio.jpg


Edit, probably not even that. Maybe $64 based on one sale on Reverb.

 
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I would look at the G&L tribute series Legacy. I've been impressed with those I've tried thus far. They can be found quite cheap, used. I'm not sure how interchangeable the parts all are with standard Fender parts, nor what the routes look like under the pickguard.
 
speakerjones said:
I would look at the G&L tribute series Legacy. I've been impressed with those I've tried thus far. They can be found quite cheap, used. I'm not sure how interchangeable the parts all are with standard Fender parts, nor what the routes look like under the pickguard.
Click to expand...

I don't think anything would be interchangeable with Fender parts on a G&L
 
I was under the impression that the squier series was, for lack of a better term, a cheap more or less crappy guitar?
Is that not the case?
 
gtrjunior said:
I was under the impression that the squier series was, for lack of a better term, a cheap more or less crappy guitar?
Is that not the case?
Click to expand...

In the past, they were pretty bad. Maybe 10 years ago, they really upped their game. The electronics aren't the best but those are easy to replace.
 
Also check the used section of the GC site. Quite often, you can find a used but good condition or better Squier Standard or higher-level model for $99-150.
 
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