How to mod my Strat Plus?

[59refin]

I've had my '95 Strat Plus for almost 10 years now and am about to retire it from it's #1 status. I'm buying a Les Paul to be my main axe so I can afford to experiment with the Strat a little. I guess I'm one of the few people who actually likes lace sensors so I'm not itching to swap those out, but I'm open to suggestions. How have you guys modded your Strat Pluses?

[Strat-Mangler]

A word of advice... I too believed the Lace Sensors were fine... until I swapped them out for a test drive, "just for kicks." I never went back to them. I'm dead serious and do not exaggerate when I say your tone will improve tenfold with a nice pair of, say, 57/62s or CS 69s.

Apart from that, I switched the neck, since mine just gave up. I play with huge strings and bend the shit out of the strings. The puny truss rod Fender puts in their neck was crap and at full tilt couldn't "survive" the bending. Commissioned a new neck from Warmoth (*very* customized) and the guitar never sounded better. In all honesty, I got as big a positive change in sound by swapping necks than I did when I swapped pickups. Simply astounding.

I put some GraphTech String Savers saddles, since I kept breaking strings every day.

I added a string tree to get more sustain from my high E.

Those are pretty much the mods I've had done, including the treble mod (so your guitar doesn't sound muddy when you turn down the volume).

[Offshore Angler]

OK, now here's a Strat thread I can actually add something to. 95 Strat Plus.

I think that axe has a Hipshot TremSetter, correct? It should also have a roller nut. Does it have the Wilkinson or the ball bearing type? Can't remember when they changed. If it has the Wilkinson, add the Wilkinson bridge. It's a solid unit and will drop in in place of the original. In combination with a Wilkinson nut it's an unbeatable combo. Your guitar will stay in tune all night and the bigger sustain block really works. Next, crank the TremSetter down all the way until it almost completely blocks the trem. This will allow you to bend without lifting the bridge, but still have a workable trem when you need it. It will feel like there is a detent around the neutral point, but you get used to it and it feels fine after a couple hours. It will also make the guitar easier to tune and stay in tune better than the average Strat.

Pups- I hated my LC's, all three were golds. I like the reds though.

Even though most people these days seem to prefer bridge cables on a Strat, unless you tune down they don't do much for me. On a Strat, I prefer a neck with very little relief, say about 5 to 8 thou, and a high action. I play 9-42. The light action and high strings works for me allowing a serious vibrato and good articulation. A lot of neck really helps a Strat do what it does best.

Of course, you're going to get as many "perfect" setups as people responding. So just monkey around until you hit YOUR setup.

Chuck

[fetchzee]

I'm also a big fan of lace sensors, but always felt the Golds just weren't doing it for me. I wound up replacing the bridge and neck pickups with a Blue lace in the neck (designed to sound like a humbucker) and a Red lace in the bridge (hot overwound humbucker). With the stock Gold lace in the middle, I get some really good Strat tones with the in-between pickup positions, the neck pickup sounds humbucker-y, and the bridge just sounds huge.

Other than that, I just switched the roller nut for the newer model. That's it. Other than that, the guitar's great.

[Strat-Mangler]

I think that axe has a Hipshot TremSetter, correct? It should also have a roller nut. Does it have the Wilkinson or the ball bearing type? Can't remember when they changed. If it has the Wilkinson, add the Wilkinson bridge. It's a solid unit and will drop in in place of the original. In combination with a Wilkinson nut it's an unbeatable combo. Your guitar will stay in tune all night and the bigger sustain block really works. Next, crank the TremSetter down all the way until it almost completely blocks the trem. This will allow you to bend without lifting the bridge, but still have a workable trem when you need it. It will feel like there is a detent around the neutral point, but you get used to it and it feels fine after a couple hours. It will also make the guitar easier to tune and stay in tune better than the average Strat.

Everything Offshore Angler said is 100% true, since those are things I did myself. All of these things, I discovered by myself as I went along. I replaced the Hipshot system, which I absolutely despise, since it did nothing at all. I also added foam at the back of the trem block and below the springs, since they would vibrate and cause a bit of metallic reasonance in the sound of the Strat.

The LSR nut is amazing. I love it.