Completed Builds 2

[WRGKMC]

For this one It was both cosmetic and tone.  I switched from a Tortoise Pickguard to a Whit Pearloid which also has the Hendrix style reverse route angle for the bridge.  I though the reverse angle might tame the bodies brightness but that was pretty much a fail.  I tried the pickup in another Tele too and wasn't overly impressed with its tone there either. I'll likely go back to the right-handed version at some point, but I'll wait till it gets beat up.   Pickguards are incredibly inexpensive and its a mod any player can do when changing strings for a change of pace.  

Again, I Tried the Vintage Alnico V style pickups which aren't bad.  The Pick compression was pretty good as were the clean tones, but It seemed to sound too generic to my ears, especially cranked up. I couldn't tell much difference between any of the selector positions and felt I could do better.  I Eventually came up with the idea of using Mustang/Duo Sonic pickups instead of the same old strat pickups. I remembered how great my buddies vintage Mustang sounded through his Tweed Bassman and was looking for some added midrange to the pickups.  I'm glad my 40 year old memory of that tone was setup was still valid because that was in fact what I got.  I couldn't afford to buy actual vintage Mustang pups, but I did find a vender who makes excellent replicas for $35 a set.  They even have the right wire, magnets and gray fiber bobbin material. 

The Mustang pickups are only a 2 pickup set so I figured I'd try them in the Strat temporarily along with Strat neck pickup.  I left the Classic Alnico I had in there and it balanced pretty good volume wise.  The big difference between the Mustang and Strat is the poles are Flush on a Mustang pickup and the covers have no holes.  The Pickups came with nice solid Cream covers but I decided to switch to all gold hardware and bought a set of 3 Gold metal covers instead. I had Gold tuners and knobs already and rounded it out with a new gold bridge.  The bridge holes and bevel were botched. Cheap parts often have flaws you need to watch out for.  A flat metal file for the bevel and round needle to widen the holes and I was in good shape. 

As a note, a stock Strat whammy should float like butter and return to pitch if its installed right. Often times they hang up on the screws or lack lubrication. A file and graphite grease can make they work as well as those expensive monsters ant 1/15th the cost.  

Anyway, the tone I was getting from the Mustang pickups in the bridge and mid positions were really good. Not only was the mix of both warmer than most strat pickups I've used but they sound great running single.  I've always been a fan of a strats #2 & 4 position but this was definitely an improvement for this guitar.  I always been able to judge a Strat's tone by how well the single pickups sound. If you can play both lead and rhythm on any pickup it's a winner, especially the middle pickup which can often sound wanky.  

I played it several months with a strat pup in the neck.  It wasn't that bad considering but even though the poles were flat they extended beyond the bobbin by a couple of millimeters so it was thinner sounding compared to the others.  I do have at least a half dozen other sets of strat pickups in my parts bins but given the hassle of pulling the pickguard and trying them out its at best a hit or miss way of doing it. 

I opted for buying a second set of Mustang pups to replace the one oddball. I would have the one problem involving pickup polarity and phasing to deal with. The Mustang comes with a north bridge and south neck pickup with one also reverso wound so they hum buck with both on.  Original strats were either N/N/N or S/S/S when they only had 3 way switches, and later switched to N/S/N or S/N/S when they started using 5 way switches so they would hum buck in switch positions 2 & 5.  When I got the second set of Mustang pickups I had an issue. Should I use a Bridge pickup in the neck position so I has a N/S/N humbucking config or should I try a Lead in the neck and middle and use the rhythm in the Rhythm giving me a N/N/S configuration.  (Or two Rhythm S/S/N)   

Given the fact Mustang pups had a simular signal strength in the neck and middle, I figured I'd try the Lead, Rhythm, Lead configuration first. It wound up being a good choice. I simply adjusted the neck pickup down a little and they balance out fine.  If they were a custom strat set, where they had different magnet strength or string spacing issues, I might have had to try something else but as is the coil difference was only a couple of hundred ohms different so adjusting the height down a millimeter did the job to balance them out nicely. 

I think I'll leave it as is now and declare it a completed build now.  I may do some more body work at some point.  The Tung oil finish is a little wavey due to the wood grain. I may sand it smooth and put a few more layers on at some point, but its perfectly good for now.  It definitely gets those Jeff Beck tones using the Vibrato.  As a note, The neck was a basket case when I got it too.  The fretboard was much wider on one side near the nut making it impossible to level and it had thin banjo frets. I had to pull the frets and level the fretboard then refret and refinish it. Came out really good too. Never had a strat with a wide thin neck like that. I've had boat necks but this one is super comfortable playing chords or lead.  

Anyway, this is what I wound up with.  I think the gold worked out really nice on this one and I think the whole thing coat me around $200, less than an Affinity Strat costs now.  Plus its light as hell. I can play this thing all night and not feel fatigued.