maroon barchetta said:

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I bought an electric guitar today!

Can't pick it up until Saturday but pics will follow.

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What did you buy or are you gonna leave us hanging til Saturday?

I bought a Squier Strat. Not the guitar I'm going to buy to be a daily player. But it was cheap and I had a $100 gift card and wanted something that works and something I can learn to do setups and parts changes and stuff and if I screw it up it's not a $1000 guitar.

Pics on Saturday. It's not pretty. I'll be looking for suggestions and tips.

How exactly does someone rip out the upper strap button??? Don't know. But I know how that looks now.

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My only problem with Squier is their cheaper guitars are made out of crappy wood. That's why I would lean more towards the lower level Mexican Strats or upper level Squiers. Somewhere in the $500-$750 range gets you a decent frame you can mod and still have a decent guitar.

Cheaper than that, you may be stripping screws and such, because of the quality of the wood. May have to buy some wood glue and toothpicks.

It was $70.

If I can learn how to do a few Luthier tasks I'll be happy. The body does seem light and cheap.

The neck, however, is pretty nice. Good piece of maple. It's actually set up pretty well in that regard. No fret buzzing I could find. No fretting out on string bends anywhere I tried, which was pretty much everywhere on all strings.

Didn't get to try the tremolo.

Electronics sounded good. I tried it out thru this little Yamaha practice amp that is supposedly "ten times better than a Positive Grid Spark", which better be true since it's over twice the cost.

Does anyone have experience w/finger picks? Fingers specifically, not a thumb pick.

I've used thumb picks a lot but I'd like picks for my fingers. On acoustic I play some fingerstyle that often requires down picking w/fingers so that I can simultaneously use my thumb or wrist to act as a drumb on the guitar or thumb to hit a muted E - percussive.

The best way is to grow the nails long on the pick hand but I have zero desire to live w/that (nor explain why my right hand nails are weirdly long). The downside is I tend to cut up the fingers where the flesh meets the nail.

I thought I read in the past they're fine for picking towards you but can fall off with a fingerpick motion pushing your fingers down/towards the floor. I know they're relatively cheap but I'd rather start w/some someone has vouched work.

I'm interested in this as well for fingerpicking.

On a side note, this Fred Kelly pick is a thumb pick that looks like a regular pick. I've tried it but overall quality isn't so great.

Fred Kelly Picks D5J-L-3 Delrin... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JA4T6FC?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

If Dunlop could invent one with the Eric Johnson Jazz III pick (my favorite), I'd buy a zillion of them.

Yeah I became a convert to the jazz sized picks several years ago as well. Took me a bit to get used to it but I'm now a fan.

I'd never thought much of it until I read a Kirk Hammett interview where he noted that switching to that pick size was ~the biggest game changer~ he'd found in recent years.

I need to look at Dunlop fingerpicks in-person again. I had one years ago w/the tortoiseshell look but it was a matte finish. Couldn't find them again with satin/matte so I bought some national's online that the image appeared not shiny. They suck. Super glossy finish and I don't like that for a thumb pick. Dunlop's online images look matte though so maybe I'll give them another look next time I'm in a shop. I may also try fine grain sandpaper on the National's.

Along self-mod lines, you could probably cut one of those thumb/flat pic combos down to a jazz pick size. Dunlop has them as well. Order heavy gauge so you have plenty of thickness to file an edge maybe?

You have any recommendations on after market TOM bridges and tailpieces or is a Gibson bridge the way to go?

Yeah, I generally just go TonePros or Gibson OEM. I know Mastery bridges are supposed to be awesome, but i've never used one and there aren't any in stock.

Make sure you get the right fit, though. I don't know if the Epiphone ones are exactly the same. You will also need to know if it needs to be a nashville bridge or ABR-1.

If you're in Houston, just go into Fuller's during a week day. Yano is the guitar tech, and has a lot of replacement parts in stock back there.

I'm in League City southeast of town, but I need an excuse to go in there anyway.

Are you actually in Houston? Can't remember if I asked that before?

Right smack in the middle.

Garrelli 5000 said:

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Yeah I became a convert to the jazz sized picks several years ago as well. Took me a bit to get used to it but I'm now a fan.

I'd never thought much of it until I read a Kirk Hammett interview where he noted that switching to that pick size was ~the biggest game changer~ he'd found in recent years.

I need to look at Dunlop fingerpicks in-person again. I had one years ago w/the tortoiseshell look but it was a matte finish. Couldn't find them again with satin/matte so I bought some national's online that the image appeared not shiny. They suck. Super glossy finish and I don't like that for a thumb pick. Dunlop's online images look matte though so maybe I'll give them another look next time I'm in a shop. I may also try fine grain sandpaper on the National's.

Along self-mod lines, you could probably cut one of those thumb/flat pic combos down to a jazz pick size. Dunlop has them as well. Order heavy gauge so you have plenty of thickness to file an edge maybe?

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I'm going to order one of these Italian-made TapPick thumbpicks & try it. This is exactly what I was looking for...a thumb pick that feels like a real pick. https://www.essetipicks.com/en/prodotto/tappick/

This guy at the NAMM music convention used it to easily switch from normal shredding to 4-finger tapping, so I like that versatility (I have that exact guitar, but in white).

DallasTeleAg said:

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It won't win any contests but it plays. I need to learn how to intonate. It's going to be fun to swap parts in and out.

One of the GC employees said he had planned to buy it and replace the pickups with some Sustainiacs or some EMG's or something.

They want me to get into modding and soldering and add a kill switch!

As for the finish, one of them said "if it was mine I would get a heat gun and strip off the nitrocellulose finish (does it have one?) and paint it or refinish it myself. Grab some of those spray can applicators from StewMac".

Interesting idea.

Give me your suggestions. I definitely want to swap out the tuners and the pickups. Not sure about the body.

I have yet to do finish work myself, but my understanding is that it can be tricky doing in a place like Texas. Humidity can be a big factor with the spray on finishes.

Quincey P. Morris said:

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I have yet to do finish work myself, but my understanding is that it can be tricky doing in a place like Texas. Humidity can be a big factor with the spray on finishes.

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Good news!

Humidity is only 33% right now where I am!

Those tuners won't be swapped with decent ones unless you drill holes in the headstock.

DallasTeleAg said:

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Those tuners won't be swapped with decent ones unless you drill holes in the headstock.

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Nobody makes one that will plug and play for a Squier?

Np

So... around 2pm today, I decided to finally try installing my SD Antiquities in my ES335. I have probably swapped pickups in guitars around 20 times or so. It is something i usually enjoy doing, and am very good at doing.

8 FREAKING HOURS LATER I finally have everything back in, clean/treat the fretboard, and restring the guitar. While putting everything back, I break the bridge tone pot's post while trying to open it a bit so the knob would fit tightly. I decided I wouldn't worry about it, because I was already beyond frustrated and just wanted to play the damn guitar.

Before tightening everything down, i had done a tap test with the pickups and a screwdriver, and they seemed to work. I plugged it into my tuner with the neck selected, and proceeded to tune the guitar. Once tuned, I kicked off the tuner... and no sound was coming from the neck pickup. I switched to the bridge, and everything was perfect. Sounded absolutely fantastic and so much better than the stock 57's.

I kept struggling to just get all the pots into the body cavity, then flipped back around while keeping the washer on them. At least two times, I had to pull them back out because all the fenagling caused a wire to come lose or snap from the solder joint. I'm assuming something like that must have happened again, on the final attempt. However, I am flabbergasted as to how my TU-3 tuner picks up a signal so I can tune my guitar, but my amp doesn't pick up the sound. This is the strangest thing I have ever witnessed.

I think a lot of the problems I ran into were due to how the pots were all wired up. It was such a mess that it was so freaking hard to get them in the guitar and maneuver them around. That was, by far, the most frustrated I have ever been, working on a guitar.

I finally just said, "**** it," and bought an Emerson pre-wired kit to install in my guitar for $169. Those come so beautifully made, it must be easier to install than this was.

God, I'm frustrated...

One wouldn't expect the wiring to be complicated or messy in a 335. It's not like it's got hot rails or Sustainiacs or (I'm guessing) coil splitting, right?

Was it just sloppiness by the manufacturer?

I guess it's not really messy, it's just not well thought out. You have to squeeze all the electronics through the F hole to get it in the guitar. If you just half-hazardly solder everything all over the pot, it makes it so much harder to get into the guitar and then maneuver around to get to the holes.

The only reason I had to pull everything out was because I prefer 50's wiring, and it definitely wasn't that.

I still don't understand how my tuner works, but no sound is coming through the amp, on the neck pickup.

I've never done it but I once saw a video where the guy used surgical tubing to attach to the pots to pull them through the various holes. It seemed to work.

Thought I'd relate my amplifier saga. I'll try to keep it brief.

I had a Boss Katana 100 Mk I. Decided I needed the Mk II. Traded up for the Mk II at GC in Lubbock.

Then I decided to trade up for the MkII Artist. Sounded great.

One day, I decided the 100 Mk II had been more than adequate for bedroom playing, and took the Artist back. Got another 100 Mk II and the difference in price refunded. Transaction was at GC in Amarillo.

This 100 Mk II was a floor model, and when I got it home my computer would not communicate with it, no matter how many times I deleted/reloaded drivers, firmware, etc. I've never had this problem before.

At this point I dug out my old Boss GX-700 multi effect processor and ran it directly into the power amp input of the Katana. Wow, the GX-700 still sounded good even though it's 30 years old. Got me to thinking, maybe I need to go back to a tube amp.

I found a used Peavey Valve King 112 at GC Waco (50 watts, 2x6L6 tubes). As I had a trip planned to the Austin area, I thought I'd take the Katana with me, return it at the Waco store, and check out the Peavey. Checked out the Peavey, and it sounded good but was in dire need of a midrange pot replacement. Decided I didn't want a repair project, so I passed.

Drove to the Killeen location to check out a Supro Delta King 12. Alas, their website showed one in stock but they didn't have one. Salesman said there weren't any within 350 miles of Killeen.

So I called the Round Rock location, and they had one LOL. Drove there to check it out. I really liked the eound, but it wasn't loud enough to do the kind of gig I would be doing if I ever start gigging again. Decided to think about it.

What I had in mind was a Peavey Classic 30. I've had one before and am pretty familiar with it. Problem is new ones are backordered. Did some research and discovered a used one in excellent shape at GC Arlington.

You guessed it, I got up early that morning and blasted up to Arlington. The Peavey was okay, but I decided to try some other things. Tried the Fender Bassbreaker 15, and liked it a lot. More money than I wanted to spend but it was a candidate nonetheless. Tried a Quilter Aviator (solid state amp) that was pretty impressive. Also tried a Katana 100 Mk II with 2x12 speakers that sounded better than the 1x12 version.

After all that I decided to make the safe, familiar choice and get the Katana 212 Mk II and hope my computer woul communicate with it (it did).

But wait- there's more. The guy in GC Arlington said the Plano store had a mint Peavey Valve King for $250, So off to Plano I go. Checked it out and liked what I saw and heard. So I decided what the hell, I'll buy the Valve King and decide which one to keep when I get them home.

At this point I may just keep them both. I think the Valve King might be more gig-worthy, if I ever get back to gigging. Scary thing is how the price of tubes has gone up since the last time I bought them (holy crap). As for the Katana, it is perfect for home players that like to experiment around, and that's where I'm at right now. I think having 2x 12 inch speakers would help it at stage volumes, more so than the 1x12 versions.

TequilaMockingbird said:

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I've never done it but I once saw a video where the guy used surgical tubing to attach to the pots to pull them through the various holes. It seemed to work.

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That's not the problem. It's fitting everything through the F hole, not getting things tangled up, and flipping it all around once their inside the guitar.

Pulling it through once that's all done is not hard, with string tied to everything.

I'm just ordering the new Emerson kit, and having a local guitar tech knock it out for me. I'm done with it.

Took my very inexpensive used Squier to my guitar lesson yesterday to see how bad my instructor would laugh at me.

He LOVED the neck. He said he would not change one thing about the neck, not even an adjustment of the action. It does feel really good.

I told him I bought it to learn how to work on guitars - setups, swapping pickups and pots, etc.

He said to get something like this https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/0992346509--fender-hot-noiseless-prewired-stratocaster-pickguard-3-ply-white

He's done something similar in the past. He believes this will make it sound like a $1000 guitar. Maybe not that particular pickup/pick guard combo but you get the idea.

As for the body repairs, he said some wood filler could do wonders but painting is another matter.

Maybe is should just "relic" the body.

Bah! More hot pickups! You people and your hot pickups. I do not understand why you would get hot pickups unless you only play metal or hard rock.

Also, getting a pre-wired pickguard completely defeats the purpose of learning to do this yourself. Get all the components separately, then put it all together yourself. This teaches you the basic circuit, and then you can add things like treble bleed circuits and such.

DallasTeleAg said:

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Bah! More hot pickups! You people and your hot pickups. I do not understand why you would get hot pickups unless you only play metal or hard rock.

Also, getting a pre-wired pickguard completely defeats the purpose of learning to do this yourself. Get all the components separately, then put it all together yourself. This teaches you the basic circuit, and then you can add things like treble bleed circuits and such.

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I didn't say that exact model! Just a possibility!

Give me a suggestion on pickup and pot types!

Depends on what you want to play.

For a strat:

• Pickguard - If you replace this, make sure you have the proper number of holes. Sometimes, foreign made guitars also don't line up perfectly with parts for American made guitars
• Pickups - Depends what sound you are after. That is a huge discussion.
• Pots/Switch/Jack - Go with a kit from Stewmac, which gives you everything you need. Comes with CTS 250K pots, orange drop cap, CRL switch, and switchcraft jack: https://www.stewmac.com/kits-and-projects/electronic-kits/wiring-kits/premium-wiring-kit-for-stratocaster
• Tuning keys: I have no idea. Your pictures looked like they are weird. I always love Grover tuners, or go with Schaller or Fender vintage tuners for my strats. I personally love Fender vintage tuners, and they they stay in tune so freaking well. However, your headstock has weird screw holes, so that would require more drilling. May need to find some that fit your existing holes.
• Bridge: This is a huge part to your tone, and should also be replaced. However, there are many different ways to go. 2-point modern tremolo or 6-point vintage? You can also go with a set bridge, if you don't want a tremolo. For the bridge saddles, do you want the classic ones or the modern ones? Here is a cool kit that comes with everything you would need. Again, look at measurements to make sure they would all fit in your strat: https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-hardware/all-hardware-and-parts-by-instrument/electric-guitar-parts/electric-guitar-hardware-sets/hardware-set-for-strat/

Again, pickups are a whole other thing. Everyone has their favorite brand. I am a huge fan of hand-wired, low-output pickups. They tend to be more open, "woody", and allow for much more control in the pick dynamics for me. If you ever need to play harder rock, you just get an amp that specializes in it, and it sounds great with your lower output pickups. However, high output pickups will still push the front end of a clean channel on an amp, so it does not allow you to truly control the dynamics.

I have Seymound Duncan Antiquity Surfers in both of my strats; I absolutely love those pickups. If you want to get close to the sound of someone like Gilmour, he uses Seymour Duncan SSL-5's or SSL-1's, I think. You would have to research that.

I have just played through so many different pickups in my life, and know there is a huge difference in the sound of low output, hand-wound pickups. Every machine wound pickup I replaced with a handwound version, turned out to be an upgrade in sound.

Thanks for all of that info and I have lots of questions.

First one is easy: doesn't Gilmour use EMG's?

I'm sure he has many different pickups in multiple guitars. I'm pretty sure his black strat has a Seymour Duncan in the bridge. Then you have songs like Shine on You Crazy Diamond, where he uses a goldtop with P90s. However, I think all of his pickups are alnico magnets, not ceramic.

I just personally hate the tone of active pickups or ceramic pickups. I tend to lean towards Alnico 2 magnets in my pickups. My SD Antiquities in my LP and 335 are all A2 magnets. The Antiquity II Surfers in my strats are all Alnico 5 magnets.

My tele has the Custom Shop handwound 63 tele pickups, which you can only get on a custom shop guitar order from Fender. These things are the best sounding pickups I have ever played through, and both have A2 magnets. This is one of the reasons it was the first Tele I ever played that I actually loved the tone of. Those A2 handwound pickups with the rosewood fretboard really help curve off the harshness I hear in many teles.

For my ES-330, it has the MHS P-90 pickups, which are also some of the best sounding pickups I have ever played. They are also scatter wound with a Alnico2 in the bridge and Alnico3 in the neck.

I have always been a fan of Seymour Duncan because I feel they have some of the best mix of quality and price. I also have really appreciated their customer support.

I should also say, all of my favorite pickups are slightly degaussed, which I absolutely love.

For example, my 335 had 20-year-old Gibson Classic '57s, which are good pickups. Some people think these are Gibson's best pickups they are currently making. However, my 335 was hitting the front of my amp so hard with those pickups that my clean channel was breaking up in a way I did not like.

Swapped to the SD antiquities, and now my bridge is cleaner, more articulate, and just a sweeter sound.

Any experience with the Eric Johnson Dimarzio's?

I use these. They are hinged, so you can strum with them as well.