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

Ok...I have no good reason to invest time and money into this relic, but somehow, I managed to order up more stuff for it.

I'm still tossed up on which humbuckers to use - 15.5k Alnico V bridge/7.8k Alnico V neck - or - 17k Ceramic bridge/ 15k Ceramic neck...but either should be hot enough to drive my tube DSL40C's.

I think my biggest motivation in working on this relic is finding a use for the new Tone Man harness I've had laying around.

Fret Level - most of the frets on this Squirecaster are worn totally flat from 29 years of abuse. I'm not sure how much will be left after leveling them. These are the tiny, vintage-style frets, which I prefer, but its going to be a close call...
 
Pickguard finished. How do the relocated knobs look??? I'm not sure I like how they look...

IMG_20170911_22878.jpg

The distance between the top and bottom knobs are 2.750" center to center...only the bottom knob is in the stock Stratocaster location.
 
Cutting out the .015" aluminum EFI/RFI shield for twin humbuckers. The unused holes/openings will be covered with conductive tape.

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The thin aluminum is tough to work with because it bends so easily. Here's the finished shield.

IMG_20170911_30726.jpg

Here you can really see the difference in the control pot locations...
 
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Strung it last night with some D'adderio .009's I had laying around. I decided to test the fret job by keeping the H-S-S pickguard in for the time being.

However, I could not set the intonation no matter where I moved the saddles. The oscillation was unbelievable.

Then, just by chance, I plucked a string and started lowering the neck pickup - and as I lowered it - the oscillation changed!!!

I had to drop the middle and neck pickups all the way flush with the pickguard to make the oscillation stop!!!!

This was without having the guitar plugged into an amp - its just the strength of the magnetic pull on the strings.

These "single coils" are really old DiMarzio stacked humbuckers - a 1992 YJM in the neck and a 1983 HS3 in the middle.

For testing, I swapped in a pair of GFS Tru-Coils (hum cancelling single coil DiMarzio clones) in the middle and neck positions - 10k middle with 7k neck - exact same anomaly!!!

So, with middle and neck pickups backed out flush, setting intonation was no problem - and the Wolftones have disappeared!!!

Pickup swap time...

IMG_20170917_4357.jpg
 
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The new pickguard, I cut from a blank, with repositioned volume and tone knobs.

Note the modified .015" aluminum EFI/RFI shield, with middle pickup hole closed with aluminum tape, Bourns pots, dual tone controls and .033uf/.015uf K40Y PIO tone capacitors.

Pickups are my remaining stock of Von Herndon Supre-Sonics, (basically a hotter version of DiMarzio Super Distortion) Alnico V, 17k bridge and 15.8k neck.

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Dang Robert, all I did was drill out the plug in the head stock on my '89 Strat to see why the T rod Nut didn't seem to do anything no matter how much I turned it tighter or looser.

Revealing the head of the nut showed me that my allen wrench fit in there fine and was actually turning it and not just spinning in a stripped head. The bad news of that is why.

I am fearing either a broken T rod, or one that came loose at the fixed end. This is a very nice and comfortable neck, so I hesitate to have to go out and buy another '89 neck. Next course of action was to ask a nurse friend of mine if he could poosibly get it Xrayed to see inside it. He said Xrays cost,,,,,,,,, so he suggested he might be able to do a Fluoro, I think he was saying. This is where it is lit up on a screen. If he could do this, I asked maybe he could take pics with his phone then.

To be Continued....
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
Dang Robert, all I did was drill out the plug in the head stock on my '89 Strat to see why the T rod Nut didn't seem to do anything no matter how much I turned it tighter or looser.

Revealing the head of the nut showed me that my allen wrench fit in there fine and was actually turning it and not just spinning in a stripped head. The bad news of that is why.

I am fearing either a broken T rod, or one that came loose at the fixed end. This is a very nice and comfortable neck, so I hesitate to have to go out and buy another '89 neck. Next course of action was to ask a nurse friend of mine if he could poosibly get it Xrayed to see inside it. He said Xrays cost,,,,,,,,, so he suggested he might be able to do a Fluoro, I think he was saying. This is where it is lit up on a screen. If he could do this, I asked maybe he could take pics with his phone then.

To be Continued....
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Wow. That sucks...hope you geymt it figured out....and you can always send it out here for a fret level... :-)
 
Robert Herndon said:
Strung it last night with some D'adderio .009's I had laying around. I decided to test the fret job by keeping the H-S-S pickguard in for the time being.

However, I could not set the intonation no matter where I moved the saddles. The oscillation was unbelievable.

Then, just by chance, I plucked a string and started lowering the neck pickup - and as I lowered it - the oscillation changed!!!

I had to drop the middle and neck pickups all the way flush with the pickguard to make the oscillation stop!!!!

This was without having the guitar plugged into an amp - its just the strength of the magnetic pull on the strings.

These "single coils" are really old DiMarzio stacked humbuckers - a 1992 YJM in the neck and a 1983 HS3 in the middle.

For testing, I swapped in a pair of GFS Tru-Coils (hum cancelling single coil DiMarzio clones) in the middle and neck positions - 10k middle with 7k neck - exact same anomaly!!!

So, with middle and neck pickups backed out flush, setting intonation was no problem - and the Wolftones have disappeared!!!

Pickup swap time...

View attachment 8409
Click to expand...

Robert,

interesting observation
 
67plexi said:
I go for under wound pickups. If you want to improve your sound get rid of the cast bridge. I had a 1973 Stratocaster and scored a 1957 bridge it worked well.

Callaham Vintage Guitars and Parts (Strat Bridge Compatibility)

The squire has a 1 1/2 " body not 1 3/4 " stock Fender.

When anyone plays my rig 100% of the time they say how can you play so clean ?? I say distortion is in the hands.
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My cast block broke 20 years ago....It has a steel block now...

Distortion is in the hands!!!
 
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