Squier Strat upgade project

[rnolan]

Ok update on this project, it's close to competition now... I had some wiring issues (it's all upside down and it's been a long time since I wired a strat...), and once you've strung it up, getting the PU/scratch plate out (if there are problems)  to work on is a major pain... So a few leads got "ripped out" in the coming on frowning... The up side of a FR is it's easy to take off with the strings still attached..
Ok so it's all good now. The Hotrails and the middle PU are in phase, the little 59 in the neck is out of phase. The Bridge Hot rails and the neck L59 both have push/pull jack (series/parallel), the middle PU is as low as I can wind it down. P1 = B, P2 = B + middle (in phase), P3 = B + N (out of phase), P4 = M + N (OOPh) and P5 = N (OOPh). I manged to rip one leg off the 0.022uF cap (vintage wiring) along the way  :facepalm: , so I got 2 x 0.0068 caps from a Behringer compressor I've been disassembling so combined them in parallel to give me 0.0136 uF on the overall tone pot (not bad BTW). So it's all up and working, I'm still tinkering with the setup but it's going in a good direction.

[tomy]

woh ! you killed your behringer compressor to get the caps ???

Are you familiar with this 5 way switch setup ??

[rnolan]

Hey Tomy, The compressor was stuffed already (a mate gave me a bunch of old PA bits he didn't want), I've been using it (and other bits) to practice de-soldering. Getting the strat scratch plate out from under the strings to work on caused a few issues (one of which ripped a leg of the 0.022uF tone cap  :facepalm: ). So I went looking for some caps that were close in the gear I'd been pulling apart (as opposed to going to the electronics store today (which it now is) and buying some new caps) (this was 3am stuffing around and I wanted to get it working). So after researching WTF the funny numbers on caps meant and also some ideas regarding what values to use I went looking for some caps that might work in the stuff I've been practicing on. So I found 2 caps (2A682Js) which combined in parallel give me  0.01364uF and I'd read about smaller capacitance, less dark, less treble loss, so gave it a go (which I quite like BTW). Anyway I really just wanted to get the strat going (which it now is  ).

I'm now quite familiar with the Dimazio 5 way super switch, I tried to achieve the same thing with the 5 way switch it had but hit a dead end (and my head was hurting LoL).  The super switch is actually quite easy to understand, it has 4 sets of the 5 positions, each with their own output (I only use 3), so made the wiring I wanted quite easy. So it's B, B + M, B + N, M + N, N and both B and N have their own push pull vol pots (series/parallel) and then one overall tone (50's wiring style)). Also the N is out of phase with both M and B PUs

[rnolan]

I should add some comments about where it's got to. The Hot rails in the bridge is great (not particularly like a strat PU but that's not what I care about). The little 59 is also very nice in the neck. The combo of different switch positions I'm yet to explore fully but I'm getting some interesting tones (clean and dirty), I need to run up some patches in the MP2 specifically for this guitar (al Dante LoL).  I really like the Wilkinson trem, $40 well spent and now I have sustain. The graphteck nut is good, not sticky and required no filing (as Dante also attested to...). I really like the black chrome gotohs, they look great and, like all gotohs stay in tune  I'm still making very subtle adjustments to the set up, but it's close now. Now I need to crank it  >:D and get it howling.

[MarshallJMP]

Mmm don't believe a word,we want some soundclips 

[rnolan]

Fair call my friend, since my protools pc died I've been at a loss for recording. But I did download reaper to try which I assume will work with my laptops I/O so I will whip something up soon  :thumb-up:

[MarshallJMP]

Ok great!

[rnolan]

Well after tonight when Mike pulled a fantastic variety of sounds from it with his MP1 rig (it's also awesome with my MP2 BTW), we need to do some audio for you.. stayed tuned we'll get to it.

[MarshallJMP]

Aha so your admitting that the mp-1 actually sounds better then the mp-2 

[DorsetRatt]

Aha, would this be the same mp-1 that Richard used to own? 

[tomy]

I'm now quite familiar with the Dimazio 5 way super switch, I tried to achieve the same thing with the 5 way switch it had but hit a dead end (and my head was hurting LoL).  The super switch is actually quite easy to understand, it has 4 sets of the 5 positions, each with their own output (I only use 3), so made the wiring I wanted quite easy. So it's B, B + M, B + N, M + N, N and both B and N have their own push pull vol pots (series/parallel) and then one overall tone (50's wiring style)). Also the N is out of phase with both M and B PUs

So you never use the bridge PU alone, wich is not a bad idea !

[rnolan]

Hey MJMP, the MP1 (and yes DR it's my first MP1 that's now Mike's  :facepalm: I had to sell it to buy the MP2, which I don't really regret well maybe a bit..). But crap the MP1 was singing with the strat with one of mikes lead patches.. He took it through all the possible combinations, worked a treat, but through MP2 mmmmm, even better. Hey, I like all the sounds.... It's good it works so well with both. My take is I'd like a MP1 and MP2 in the same box..... they are both so good. Is one better than the other, no, they are very different beasts...

But lets get real, if you feed a good guitar into MP1 or MP2 it's going to sound (f$%$%ng) goooood.  :thumb-up:

Bridge PU, I used to use it almost exclusively, but these days I tend to use the neck PU (big change for me BTW), I just prefer the tone and dynamics, but I'm also going more simple of late.... also adjusting things at the guitar (if I can)

[MarshallJMP]

Hey R,i was just joking,remember i use both.

[DorsetRatt]

Oops ... and I was joking on top of the first joke, sorry

[vansinn]

woh ! you killed your behringer compressor to get the caps ???

This will go over in history, no less!
Ripping cheap Chinese caps off a Behringer is purebred desperados extremos, even for me. I salute you!

Cool axe upgrade project, BTW