Members Mind Riot Posted April 1, 2006 Members Share Posted April 1, 2006 I spent some quality time with a Dremel today, and routed the body and cut the pickguard of my Squier '51 to put in a pair of GFS Dream 90s I got last week. Was meaning to do it then, but things got in the way. I also replaced the stock bridge with an easier to restring GFS top loader. I'm sure other Squier 51 modders will know what I mean when I say that now this guitar is about two thirds basswood, one third toothpick. First impressions of the sound: Not sure. When I very first plugged it in I wasn't that impressed. I'm no P90 expert, but it sounded pretty ordinary. I just went back in and played it some more and it seems to be growing on me, so we'll see. Anyway, here's a couple of quick pics I took in my home studio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steve-0sucks Posted April 1, 2006 Members Share Posted April 1, 2006 I kind of feel like scalloping a '51 and making an all out metal guitar out of it. It'd be so different from all of the superstrats. It's hardtail right? Edit: Sweet p90's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mind Riot Posted April 1, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 1, 2006 Yeah, it's hard tail, but it's a top loader, not a string through. The stock bridge isn't that great, so if you wanted to upgrade it that limits you a bit. Although I guess if you're handy enough to scallop a fretboard drilling a few holes for a string through bridge wouldn't be much of a problem for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steve-0sucks Posted April 1, 2006 Members Share Posted April 1, 2006 Scalloping is pretty easy. On the guitars I've done it to I do it very shallow. You can remove about a 16th inch of wood or less and it's more than enough to get the fretboard away from your fingers. The deep Yngwie scallops are more for looks than anything. I would just scallop it because I would assume it being a Fender style the neck might be thicker than I like, so rather than adding tall frets, and making it feel even thicker, I'd just scallop in a little, because I like the shredder fret feel. What's under the pickguard. Could I modify a standard Strat style pickguard to fit against the metal control plate, but not go up onto the top horn? The covered top horn is the one thing I don't like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mind Riot Posted April 1, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 1, 2006 Originally posted by Steve-0sucks Scalloping is pretty easy. On the guitars I've done it to I do it very shallow. You can remove about a 16th inch of wood or less and it's more than enough to get the fretboard away from your fingers. The deep Yngwie scallops are more for looks than anything. I would just scallop it because I would assume it being a Fender style the neck might be thicker than I like, so rather than adding tall frets, and making it feel even thicker, I'd just scallop in a little, because I like the shredder fret feel.What's under the pickguard. Could I modify a standard Strat style pickguard to fit against the metal control plate, but not go up onto the top horn? The covered top horn is the one thing I don't like. The neck is a Tele neck on the Strat body, so it may be smaller than you realize. It's pretty slim and narrow. The only route under the pickguard is the slanted single coil route that comes stock. You could probably modify a strat pickguard to do that, but you'd have to fill in the screw holes in the top half of the body as well as make it fit the tele neck end and all that and then it would just look like a strat, because it is a strat body. Might be better off just going with some kind of strat in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UFOScorpion Posted April 2, 2006 Members Share Posted April 2, 2006 I have a pic sent to me by someone on the Squier board (or you could go there and see it). He took off the P/G, filled in the holes and repainted. Looks totally different. Not so retro, more Strat like. Like was said, Why bother? When I bought the Squier 51, there was a really nice Squier Strat in white for $99 hanging right there. If you want the Strat P/G and look, just get one of those, scallop it and put in Yngwie-style pickups, and you've got the Hendrix vibe and Yngwie-shred style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members voneville Posted April 2, 2006 Members Share Posted April 2, 2006 Cool looking at least! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frets99 Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 That is really cool looking. I find the black ones to be the least attractive. I've been wanting to get the burst for cheap and go with the no pickguard look. But the black P90's really give that a cool vibe look! You have another 51, don't you? How do they compare? The stocks are so in your face. I'm wondering if there's more mellow in the 90's. And how do the 90s handle distortion? That's what I really like about the sst57 I got. Great looking though..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jhall Posted April 2, 2006 Members Share Posted April 2, 2006 That's really cool!!I have a -51 I bought with moddong in mind but every time I play it I think no need!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mind Riot Posted April 2, 2006 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2006 Originally posted by Frets99 That is really cool looking. I find the black ones to be the least attractive. I've been wanting to get the burst for cheap and go with the no pickguard look. But the black P90's really give that a cool vibe look! You have another 51, don't you? How do they compare? The stocks are so in your face. I'm wondering if there's more mellow in the 90's. And how do the 90s handle distortion? That's what I really like about the sst57 I got. Great looking though..... Actually, the Dream 90s I put in are chrome. The pics suck, I had to take them really quick with a flash just so I'd have something to post. It's storming here, once it clears up I'll try to do some better pics. I also like the black 51 the least, but it was all they had both times I went to buy one. I really like the look of the modified one now, but for the stock one I'd really love to have one of the blondes. The stock single in the neck is much more twangy and thin, and both stock pickups with the coil split engaged are very chimey and shimmering. The Dream 90s have more balls, more single note power, but chording can get overwhelming easily. The neck Dream 90 actually works beautifully for fingerpicking. The bridge Dream 90 has this great full chord distorted sound when I run it through something like a HiWatt model on my PODxt. And oddly enough, both Dream 90s make for a nice clean sound on the Roland JC-120 model, which I usually don't like because it's so clinical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frets99 Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Thanks. That was helpful. I kind of like having some idea of what a change can possibly do. It's amazing what different pups'll do. I wouldn't want to lose what I have with the stocks. Well, maybe the neck. But it's cool to think of one with the p90's. I look forward to the better pics as well. I'm imagining the chrome looks even better than black! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.