After 30 Years, I'm Back To A 1987 Stratocaster:

LOL....true.

I think the brown tortoise on the yellowed Olympic White has kind of become a tradition for me. I may stick with that in single-coil mode.

I need cream covers because the Dimarzio's won't accept Fender covers - they are different.
 
smitty_p said:
It's no use, eSGEe. Our guy has made up his mind.

I, however, am considering taking on a project with this. I floated the idea yesterday to my wife that I wanted to build a guitar. I want to build a Strat and see what I can do with it. She liked the idea and thought it would be a good father/son project. So, I'm mildly on the hunt for Strat bodies and necks, right now.

We'll see about what kind of fatness we can get out of a Strat!
Click to expand...

So here is the original 1987 pickguard and factory pots/wiring. The DiMarzio stacked single coils are vintage 1980's/1990's articles I installed over the years as new ones came available.

The middle is a 1984 HS3, the bridge is a 1998 Virtual Vintage Solo andand the neck is a 1995 YJM.

I'm debating on whether to throw it back on, as-is, or order up a brown tortoise shell pickguard for the DiMarzio's....

IMG_20170222_15309.jpg IMG_20170222_11512.jpg
 
Robert Herndon said:
So here is the original 1987 pickguard and factory pots/wiring. The DiMarzio stacked single coils are vintage 1980's/1990's articles I installed over the years as new ones came available.

The middle is a 1984 HS3, the bridge is a 1998 Virtual Vintage Solo andand the neck is a 1995 YJM.

I'm debating on whether to throw it back on, as-is, or order up a brown tortoise shell pickguard for the DiMarzio's....
Click to expand...

Personally, the only guitars I like with tortoise shell pickguards are large jazz boxes or acoustic guitars. In general, I'm not a fan of them on solidbody or thinline electrics.

But, my opinion on the matter is largely irrelevant, aside from the fact that earlier you solicited our opinions on pickguards. In the end, you have to do what you like. After all it's your guitar and you're the only one that needs to be happy with it.
 
smitty_p said:
Personally, the only guitars I like with tortoise shell pickguards are large jazz boxes or acoustic guitars. In general, I'm not a fan of them on solidbody or thinline electrics.

But, my opinion on the matter is largely irrelevant, aside from the fact that earlier you solicited our opinions on pickguards. In the end, you have to do what you like. After all it's your guitar and you're the only one that needs to be happy with it.
Click to expand...

I think because the other two Stratocaster's in the band have the same, boring, white pickguards...I just want to be different... :)
 
smitty_p said:
Personally, the only guitars I like with tortoise shell pickguards are large jazz boxes or acoustic guitars. In general, I'm not a fan of them on solidbody or thinline electrics.

But, my opinion on the matter is largely irrelevant, aside from the fact that earlier you solicited our opinions on pickguards. In the end, you have to do what you like. After all it's your guitar and you're the only one that needs to be happy with it.
Click to expand...

I came up with a decent looking thing that sets it apart from the other two Strat's in the band.... :)

This allows me to use the vintage 1987 knobs and my existing pickup covers....

White Strat Black Guard.jpg
 
A little work tonight. Brand new Fender S-S-S pickguard...a .015" aluminum RFI shield....and 1980's era DiMarzio's....in the original (white) 1987 pickguard shown in the background...

IMG_20170228_21554.jpg IMG_20170228_0336.jpg IMG_20170228_10349.jpg
 
Rear view of the original 1987 pickguard and wiring. Only the pickups were changed. Shown neck to bridge - 1995 DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Solo, 1982 DiMarzio HS3 and DiMarzio YJM...

IMG_20170222_15309.jpg
 
Unreal....

The 29 year old pots and wiring are dead quiet. the DiMarzio's are silent in all positions. All I need now is to enable a bridge tone control. The bridge is very sharp...sounds great on high gain, but too trebly clean.

I seem to recall you ta[ into the neck tone pot with a jumper...am I remembering this correctly????
 
I have a "no load" type pot for the middle tone control & the bridge pickup is also wired to it. My strat (select) came with this wiring scheme stock & it is great. Can have both bridge & middle (& position 2) with or without the tone control. Very versatile. I find the middle without the tone control useful where as before I never really used that position on strats. If you get a genuine Fender no load pot it has a detent when you reach 10 on the dial & the pot unloads (taking it out of circuit) which is a nice feature, better than other no load type pots I've used. Hope this helps. Cheers
 
ivan H said:
If you get a genuine Fender no load pot it has a detent when you reach 10 on the dial & the pot unloads (taking it out of circuit) which is a nice feature, better than other no load type pots I've used. Hope this helps. Cheers
Click to expand...

That's the way my Strat came. My Strat came wired so the lower tone control does control the bridge if just the bridge pickup is selected. It also has the detent, so I can take the control completely out of the circuit. I like that.
 
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Yes, I like it, enough that I'll do the same to any SSS strat I have in future. Most versatile strat wiring I've seen. Cheers
 
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