NGD - My no-strat purity is gone

Cool! Congrats! It sounds like you got yourself a diamond in the rough. Oh, and it was nice of you to give the seller a little extra for it. :)
 
I'll have to look into those Wilkinsons. Good tip.

I picked up a set of Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups with a switch from a guy on Craigslist - $70. I may have to name this guitar "Craig" when I'm done. :tongue:

Got some shielding tape from StewMac. I already have good 250K replacement pots in the spare parts box.

Ordered a new tortoiseshell pickguard from Warmoth. I had them cut only the switch and last tone control. I'm going to locate and drill for the volume pot myself. It will just be master volume and tone. Using the Kisakae modeler, that layout looked the least awkward.

And I just bit the bullet and ordered a Callaham bridge. Yes, I've just ordered a $160 bridge for a $60 guitar. The way I figure it, though, good strat parts never go to waste. Plus I threw in a medium-length "64" arm for my other Callaham-equipped guitar.

I normally don't like working on guitars but I'm kind of excited about this. None of my other guitars get strat sounds so this will be special.

When I'm done, it will still look like a beat-up cheap guitar but it should play and sound like a monster.
 
USian Pie said:
...or how about this?

Keep all three pots but wire them like this:

master volume - master tone - middle pickup volume

Then replace the five-way switch with a three-way for the bridge and neck pickups.

That gets me the bridge + neck combo but also lets me roll in a pos 2 or 4 sound if I want it.

Plus it looks stock.
Click to expand...

Just take the normal five way and reverse the middle and bridge wiring. This will make it a telecaster for the first 3 clicks (N, N+B, B) and still give you M+B, M. Totally reversible, takes longer to heat up the iron than it does to actually do it.
 
dougk said:
Just take the normal five way and reverse the middle and bridge wiring. This will make it a telecaster for the first 3 clicks (N, N+B, B) and still give you M+B, M. Totally reversible, takes longer to heat up the iron than it does to actually do it.
Click to expand...

This is genius. Thanks!
 
Congrats! Like you I'm not a big Strat fan, but always try to have a cheapie in my stable, just because. For quite awhile mine was a red Peavey Predator.

Rare shot of Krash playing Strat:

l.jpg
 
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