Improve Squire

[RuiSalvador]

hi there, i have a strat squire affinity, and because i have no money to buy a new guitar, i thought of improve mine, is it worth ?

What do i need ? a new bridge ? new pickups ? , i play everything, from pearl jam(nirvana etc... ) to metallica, mars volta, queens of the stone age, led zeppelin, mastodon , pink floyd .

 

Any sugestions ?? i've heard of GFS pickups, bur it costs too much to have them sent to Portugal , =S

 

thank you =)

[Vintage55]

Pickups and electronics would be the best bang for the buck improvement you could initially make. There's got to be a source in Portugal for after-market pickups that sound good, but don't cost too much. Next, I would look into replacing the nut. That can make a good improvement in tone, as well. If the guitar stays in tune with the stock tuners, then you're ok there...otherwise look into new tuners.

[bsman]

You should be able to find a dealer for Tonerider Pickups in Portugal. They are very reasonably priced. I haven't used them, but they have gotten some good reviews here.

[Preacher]

Check this thread from DCinDC back in the day...

 

[DRPool]

Here's an Affinity I bought that was pretty battered and bruised. Everything worked but as you can see it didn't have much else to offer.

 

 

 

After about $15 of paint and hi-gloss lacquer from the local WalMart, plenty of elbow grease to strip it down and put it all back together, plus a pre-wired pickguard from GuitarFetish ($30) I have this.

 

 

 

 

Sorry about the lousy pics, not much sunshine here lately.

 

Anyway, it's very playable and sounds 1000% better with the new electronics. It was cheap and I learned a lot from the experience. Complete win for me. Take it on, you'll see that it's not that difficult.

[cratz2]

I'd say your biggest bang for the buck would be some new pickups. I like GFS and have owned several sets but if you tend to play on one pickup most of the time, I'd probably replace that one pickup first to save some $$$. Or you might put a single coils-sized HB in the bridge and replace the neck pickup with something traditional and decent.

 

While you're in there, I'd do the bridge tone mod so the middle pickup tone knob also affects the bridge pickup.

 

I'd take the strings off and polish the frets with some 0000 steel wool and put some lemon or mineral oil on the fretboard to make it look and feels its best.

 

The bridge/trem area might require a decision. The Affinity body isn't quite thick enough to allow for a full size trem block... it will slightly stick out the back of the guitar and only allow you to put the backplate on. If this isn't an issue for you (it's never been an issue for me) I'd get this trem assembly:

 

http://store.guitarfetish.com/minmeimstupt.html

 

If you don't like the idea of not being able to use the backplate, I'd just get these saddles:

 

http://store.guitarfetish.com/upststsafitr.html

 

A lot of times a nut replacement will improve a guitar quite a bit, but that requires more skill and tools than the pickups and trem do.

 

Good luck. Feel free to ask specific questions.

[jack harper]

After about $15 of paint and hi-gloss lacquer from the local WalMart, plenty of elbow grease to strip it down and put it all back together, plus a pre-wired pickguard from GuitarFetish ($30) I have this. Sorry about the lousy pics, not much sunshine here lately. Anyway, it's very playable and sounds 1000% better with the new electronics. It was cheap and I learned a lot from the experience. Complete win for me. Take it on, you'll see that it's not that difficult.

 

What kind of paint and what color is that?

[bsman]

BTW -- to the OP (pet peeve):

 

It's not "Squire", it's SQUIER!!!

 

 

ALSO: A lot of you folks responding didn't read this:He's in Portugal, so stop recommending GFS and other stuff not available (cheaply) over there....

[RuiSalvador]

it's really quite expensive, =S , the shipping

[benzem]

 

Looks great!

 

[bsman]

it's really quite expensive, =S , the shipping

 

Interesting that your English comprehension seems better than a lot of people over here...

[RuiSalvador]

it's worth for me improving it ? it's a guitar with potential ?

[RuiSalvador]

Interesting that your English comprehension seems better than a lot of people over here...

 

 

ahahah , do my best xD

[bsman]

It certainly is worth it. Are we talking an affinity strat or tele? Either way, your best bet may be to replace the pickups, switches and pots (potentiometers - the things under the knobs that control tone and volume). If you can wield a soldering iron, these changes can be made cheaply and relatively quickly and can do more to improve your satisfaction with the guitar than almost anything else. You can then replace hardware, etc. as warranted and as you have the funds, but upgrading the electronics will really pay off in better tone.

[RuiSalvador]

 

It certainly is worth it. Are we talking an affinity strat or tele? Either way, your best bet may be to replace the pickups, switches and pots (potentiometers - the things under the knobs that control tone and volume). If you can wield a soldering iron, these changes can be made cheaply and relatively quickly and can do more to improve your satisfaction with the guitar than almost anything else. You can then replace hardware, etc. as warranted and as you have the funds, but upgrading the electronics will really pay off in better tone.

 

 

A strat, i don't have much money, i was thinking of changing the pickups, sadly shippings are expensive =S, setuping the guitar, and changing electronics,

Would a neck pickup from a highway strat do any good in my guitar ?

[bsman]

 

A strat, i don't have much money, i was thinking of changing the pickups, sadly shippings are expensive =S, setuping the guitar, and changing electronics, Would a neck pickup from a highway strat do any good in my guitar ?

 

 

The neck pickup might sound good -- I haven't played a HWY 1 strat myself, so I can't help you much there. As I indicated before, Tonerider have distributors in UK and France (European Union countries): http://www.tonerider.com/dealers/dealers.html, and it may be useful to see if you can get them from those sources w/out having to pay a lot of excess shipping, VAT, etc.

[RuiSalvador]

Well, i was thinking, someone can explain to me the diference between the 4 modes of shipping that gfs has ?? which one would be the one if i wanted to order something to portugal ?

[bsman]

 

Well, i was thinking, someone can explain to me the diference between the 4 modes of shipping that gfs has ?? which one would be the one if i wanted to order something to portugal ?

 

 

I would send an email to Guitarfetish. Jay, the owner, is an occasional poster here and seems like an honest guy. I do have to day I've bought stuff from them (pickups, hardware, electronics) and been satisfied, but since I live in the US, shipping is not such an issue for me.

[RuiSalvador]

well , i found a shipping way that it's just 11 dollars , not to much, do you own any squire or strat ? what would you recommend to me from Gfs ?? i play since clapton, to queens of the stone age , to pearl jam , to metallica...

[metallica_00]

I think your best bet is finding some new pickups at a reasonable price (depends what is available in your country) and taking it to a good tech and get the setup dialed in.

 

After that, I would not dump any more money into it. Start saving for a better guitar and more importantly, a good amp. My first guitar was a squier affinity, which I since turned into a project guitar to practice mods on. Now loaded with new pickups and electronics, it's definitely better, but it will never be on par with a mid-range guitar. Going full bore and dropping $200+ in that guitar is just a waste.

[Preacher]

well , i found a shipping way that it's just 11 dollars , not to much, do you own any squire or strat ? what would you recommend to me from Gfs ?? i play since clapton, to queens of the stone age , to pearl jam , to metallica...

 

The folks here may have very good recommendations but I've had good experience just emailing Jay and asking him - he's usually good at that.

[RuiSalvador]

The folks here may have very good recommendations but I've had good experience just emailing Jay and asking him - he's usually good at that.

 

 

and he answers it ? in the site says that tehy don't answer that stuff

[ExiledCrow]

One good thing about GFS (and some other shops I'm sure) is that you could get just about EVERYTHING you need for upgrades all at once and maybe save on the shipping ....

[Preacher]

and he answers it ? in the site says that tehy don't answer that stuff

 

Oh yeah, definitely. I don't know which part of the site you're talking about but I think this applies:

 

http://store.guitarfetish.com/info.html

We are always happy to answer ANY questions regarding any of our products. We've spent too many years repairing, modifying and restoring guitars, and always happy to share whatever expertise we have with our customers. ... Via Email When contacting us PLEASE make sure the title of your email covers your question. Emails with no title, or messages titled "Hi", "Advice", "Help", "What's Up" or any other ambiguous title will be automatically deleted by our aggressive Spam filter. Always allow at least 24 hours for us to respond, though sometimes when the coffee is hot and the Red Sox are winning, we'll answer in minutes.

 

Jay always answers me quickly.

[RuiSalvador]

Oh , right !! =)

 

So i explain my thing , that io have a squire , what kind of sound i'm looking for, if i want s-s-s or s-s-h and they answer ??

Nice =)

 

My squire fits a S-S-H style right ? i have S-S-S but i think it fits .