Rather than just post an update of the latest project, here is a summary of where all my Strat projects are at. In reality all my guitars are ongoing projects because I can’t seem to leave them alone. However I am trying really hard this time to leave the Black ‘n’ Blue Strat and the Sonic Strat alone from now on. They have been subjected to enough abuse and they have both proved their worth.
I adopted a universal wiring scheme for all Strats, so I don’t get confused and also because it’s the best configuration I have found for my needs.
Specs are:
- 5-way switch
- Master volume, master tone & blend control for the bridge pickup.
- All pots 250kΩ and .05μF Jupiter capacitor for the tone control.
Switching:
- Bridge
- Bridge & Middle
- Middle
- Middle & Neck (all 3 pickups with blend knob turned down)
- Neck (neck & bridge with blend knob turned down)
With the blend knob turned down I now have the bridge & neck together at the neck-end of the switch, so it’s an easy swipe from one end to the other to switch between my most-used sounds during a song. I would have used a switch instead of the blend knob, but I wanted to keep the look of the stock Strat controls, I don’t like push/pull pots with Strat knobs and I’ve had reliability issues with push/push pots. This is the most practical solution.
BIG APPLE STRAT
- Refinished from candy orange to candy apple red.
- Pickguard changed from mint green to black.
- Plastic parts changed to black
- Tonerider Alnico II Blues pickups remain
Further planned mods:
2 Artec hotrails (I love those pickups) for bridge and neck, install my spare, cheap alnico-V middle pickup and a black Graphtech nut.
BLACK & BLUE STRAT
I replaced the original whammy arm with a shorter one that has a black tip and updated the wiring to my new, preferred specs.
There is an Artec hotrail in bridge and no-name brand alnico-V single coils in middle and neck (which I think are amazing for the price).
SONIC STRAT
Everything remains, just the wiring was brought inline with the other Strats.
As a reminder, this guitar has a set of Tonerider TRS4 Alnico II Blues as well.
Future Project Plans
I’m not sure yet. I wouldn’t mind one of those new Squier Bullet Mustangs (with 2 humbuckers) or one of the new Squier Jazzmaster Deluxes with the stop tailpiece.
But I’m also really into the idea of getting a synthesizer. Time will tell.
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