Question For All The Strat Users Out There......

[eSGEe]

Sure if it helps others...... Im golden baby

 

[Inspector #20]

Sure if it helps others...... Im golden baby

Ok!

So on this Frankenstein Stratocaster, I had DiMarzio build me a custom humbucker that would equal the EMG81TW for output, but with the warmth and clarity of a PAF.

The result was the creation of the DiMarzio Neanderthal. A 53mm spaced, 16.5k AlNico9 humbucker with nickel-silver baseplate and 44AWG.



The Neanderthal is paired with 500k pots and the middle tone is wired to work on the bridge/middle pickups. Tone caps are 0.0.01uf on both controls.



Artec Bar Maget, Screw Pole Piece Hum Canceling Single Coils are used with a standard 5 way switch.



A custom blackyellow/black pickguard was custom made for me by Chandler in Chico, California.



The main advantage to the Artec's is they can be moved right up to the strings without oscillation.

It's hard to beat this guitar for versatility...

 

[eSGEe]

Ive seen your shielding prowess first hand --- damn impressive

 

[Ebidis]

Well actually two;

(1.) Who actually uses the whammy bar?

(2.) What mods have you done?

I do use the whammy bar, and it does stay in tune. I make sure the nut slots are cut correctly, and lube them with some pencil lead.

The trick with a vintage type trem is to use it subtly. Just some easy vibrato, and little pitch bends. It's not a Floyd Rose.

I also have it set to float, so if I do a crazy dive bomb, and one or two strings do go slightly sharp, I can just pull up on the bar, or bend the strings, and everything goes right back to normal.

As far as other mods, I have swapped the pickups, and wired the bottom tone knob to the bridge pickup.

 

[Inspector #20]

Ive seen your shielding prowess first hand --- damn impressive

You gotta do it down here!

 

[smitty_p]

1) I do use the vibrato fairly often. It stays in tune quite well. By using locking tuners (see below), using Big Bends Nut Sauce, and not running the strings under the string tree, I can do rather serious dives with it. It’s pitch return isn’t quite as perfect with deep dives as with a Floyd Rose, but moderate vibrato use works nicely.

2) I’ve done very few mods, which include the following:

a) Installed locking Fender machine heads. I find that this is better than the self-locking stringing method.

b) Soldered a 180k resistor across the bridge pickup to tame some of the spiky highs.

c) Affixed a 1/8” thick steel plate to the bottom of the bridge pickup. This is an idea I ran across elsewhere on the interwebz. I can’t really say how much of a difference it made; it certainly didn’t hurt anything.

d) Copper-shielded the guitar.

 

[heltershelton]

Well actually two;

(1.) Who actually uses the whammy bar?

(2.) What mods have you done?

i use the whammy bar and use the frudua method to set them up.
as far as mods, ive done a few.
1987 strat plus...installed graphtech saddles and an lsr nut.
2006 mim and 2013 mim(ebidis' strat) i changed the string trees to the kind found on mia guitars.
2010 mia standard.....changed pickups to a hotter set a friend made.
thats it for mods.

 

[syscokid]

1) I do use the vibrato fairly often. It stays in tune quite well. By using locking tuners (see below), using Big Bends Nut Sauce, and not running the strings under the string tree, I can do rather serious dives with it. It’s pitch return isn’t quite as perfect with deep dives as with a Floyd Rose, but moderate vibrato use works nicely.

2) I’ve done very few mods, which include the following:

a) Installed locking Fender machine heads. I find that this is better than the self-locking stringing method.

b) Soldered a 180k resistor across the bridge pickup to tame some of the spiky highs.

c) Affixed a 1/8” thick steel plate to the bottom of the bridge pickup. This is an idea I ran across elsewhere on the interwebz. I can’t really say how much of a difference it made; it certainly didn’t hurt anything.

d) Copper-shielded the guitar.

Jeez, Dude.... Where the Hell have you been? Welcome back...

 

[aon]

1. Yes.

2. Hmm let me see...
- Schaller strap locks
- Neutrik/REAN input jack as the original got too loose
- Gotoh steel block vintage tremolo
- Gotoh "barrel" string tree
- Reverse taper CTS pots, master volume / master tone / neck&bridge blend wiring
- Rautia 63F pickups (left handed vintage stagger)

To be done: replace the 5-way pickup selector switch with a 3-way switch. Since starting to use the "AC15" I find myself using the different pickups more often rather than just the bridge (or bridge with a slight neck blend). But I don't use the in-between positions.

 

[guitarweasel]

Out of all my Strats, this is the only one I've ever modded. 1982 Sahara Taupe Custom Color Strat.

Schaller Tuners.
Seymour Duncan J.B. Jr. - Bridge.
Seymour Duncan Virtual Vintage -Middle.
Seymour Duncan Hot Strat - Neck
CTS 500K Pots

This is the heaviest Strat as well 8 lbs 8 oz

 

[guitarweasel]

Wowwowwewow

I really like that color, but im not sure its coming across so well here. I would like to see that in the sunlight.

 

[Inspector #20]

I think that I never really stop modding my Stratocaster.

I had a solid brass sustain block and brass saddles custom made for it...

 

[Inspector #20]

Custom made Warmoth neck...

Big headstock, 1-3/4" at the nut, 1.00" from nut to heel and three separate neck profiles carved into the back...

From 1st to 5th fret, the neck has a "Boat" profile, from 6th to 11th, it has the "Fat" profile and from 12th to 22nd it has the "SRV" profile.





The radius is a 10" x 16" compound with Jescar Gold Evo Frets, .047" x .106" and it has cream side markers with black face markers.





I just had a custom bone nut made for it.

 

[Inspector #20]

And, if I press the bar all the way to the body, I can drop 11 semitones. If I pull up on the bar, I get 2 semitones...and you absolutely cannot make it go out of tune, period, just as good as my Floyd's.



The key is the barrel profile cut into the nut by Chris Callans.

The floor and walls of the nut slots are cut with precise rat-tail files to correctly mimic the cross sectional profile of the string.

The slots also have an hourglass profile, which keeps the string from binding and each nut floor drops off on the tuner side.

No nut sauce or graphite is used...

I'm also using Gotoh vintage tuners...

 

[SG John]

I’ve always wanted a beat up hard tail Strat like Bonnie Raitt’s ever since I first heard her back in the seventies. The story goes when she first played it, it had the sound and feel of smelling bacon being cooked first thing in the morning. You can’t get any better than that.

 

[Inspector #20]

I've never understood the lure of a hardtail Stratocaster. I can't see having a Strat without a Tremolo. To me, seems like a car without A/C living in Arizona.

Now, with a Les Paul, I am better able to execute unison bends and multi-string bends with notes from unbent strings, so those two guitars allow me all the versatility I need.

The bacon thing would kill it for me. I do not eat any kind of pork.

 

[Mitch Pearrow SJMP]

Yes I use the whammy bar they stay in tune, but I have always shot a touch of PB blaster in the nut upon restringing.
Most of my Strats get a humbucker in the bridge, an exception would be a JB jr, then in my MIM I put a hotrails in the neck, one is tuned in drop C one in D standard, the others are A440 , I have changed pickgaurds on most of them, and I do set them up to float just a bit.
Cheers

 

[SG John]

I've never understood the lure of a hardtail Stratocaster. I can't see having a Strat without a Tremolo. To me, seems like a car without A/C living in Arizona.

Now, with a Les Paul, I am better able to execute unison bends and multi-string bends with notes from unbent strings, so those two guitars allow me all the versatility I need.

The bacon thing would kill it for me. I do not eat any kind of pork.

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

 

[SG John]

OMG!!!! That is how I would imagine my own personal hell.

I'm going to go cook up a whole package of applewood smoked. thick sliced, center cut bacon right now just in case I die tomorrow.

Had thick cut bacon, eggs, and potatoes for breakfast (same as yesterday). Just made some nice pork chops for lunch. Since I grew up in Germany, I eat a very pork-centric diet. When I'm not eating fish, of course. Living so close to the ocean, and having many very good, small fish markets in the area, gives me a lot of good options for seafood.

 

[Inspector #20]

OMG!!!! That is how I would imagine my own personal hell.

I'm going to go cook up a whole package of applewood smoked. thick sliced, center cut bacon right now just in case I die tomorrow.

The smell of cooking pork has a certain unsavory thing for me. I've never liked the smell or taste of any kind of pork product.