Help! Strat installation question!

[cdw2000]

Live and learn. Did the tech at least give you the old parts back as well?

Before you fix this guy's botched job, take some detailed photos of it, so if he does try to get payment from you, you have a record of each and every way he screwed up your guitar. Maybe post them here as well so we can all have bulgy eyes at it. ... and maybe a good chuckle when it's all fixed.

Once you have successfully done the work yourself, you will no longer fear getting into the guitar wiring again.

And remember that you can always consult with us if you have any problems.

[refriedwhiskey]

Live and learn. Did the tech at least give you the old parts back as well?

Yeah. He wasn't going to, until I asked for them. Man, the electronics in a Squier Strat are cheap! The pots are tiny little things.

Can't complain too much, though. It cost me $200 from MusiciansFriend.com, and it's really pretty playable when it's set up right. It ought to be a fairly fine guitar once I get these new pups working.

Hey, if my do-it-yourself-ing turns out okay, maybe I'll try wiring it like a Player's Strat, with the 7 pickup combinations!

[cdw2000]

Hey, if my do-it-yourself-ing turns out okay, maybe I'll try wiring it like a Player's Strat, with the 7 pickup combinations!

There's all sorts of alternate wiring schemes. The sky's the limit!

Check out http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/index.php for lots of ideas.

One popular mod (which I haven't tried) is the blender pot mod. Fezz Parka has his own version of this as well which changes how the tone pot is wired to the volume pot. Look up some old threads (here's one: http://www.thefenderforum.com/forum/...ad.php?t=30641)

Have fun!
-- Chris

[refriedwhiskey]

Nice. Thanks for the links!

[refriedwhiskey]

Has anybody tried the "quiet the beast" mod from that site? I guess I won't need that once I get these noiseless pups installed, but I'm curious about how well it works. It seems incredible that there could be an alternate way to shield and wire a Strat that doesn't change the tone, but kills almost all of the buzz -- and yet Fender doesn't do it that way.

That Tonemaster mod with the two separate "channels" you can assign pickups to looks pretty neat. Pretty involved, too, though.

[cdw2000]

Yes the "quieting the beast" mod works. I did my MIM strat using adhesive copper foil I purchased from Carvin. I did not notice any tone change, but at least one person on this forum said he did on his guitar and ended up ripping the shielding out.

One area where Fender cut costs on the Squier and earlier MIM strats is in the body shielding. You may notice that the foil on the back of your pickguard is only under the switch and pots. On the MIA and 2006+ MIM strats the foil extends up around the pickup locations.

The MIA and later MIM (2006 +) strats also use shielding paint in the body cavity, whereas the Squiers typically do not.

The Vintage Noiseless will go a long way toward eliminating most of the hum without this mod, but if you find you still have some hum, its being picked up by the wires and switch and you may want to at least shield the control section cavity.

[refriedwhiskey]

Yeah, the inside of my Squier is sprayed with some kind of black goop I assume is a shielding paint, but the foil is just like you said -- a triangle just big enough to surround the switch and pots.

[cdw2000]

You can test to see if that is shielding paint by setting your DMM to check resistance/continuity (use the 200K ohm setting) and place the probes about an inch apart on the paint. You should see some continuity (i.e. resistance is not infinity).

I've never actually done that so have no feel if the resistance is in the 10's, 100's or thousands of ohms, but it obviously won't be as good as a metal conductor.

Of course another tell tale sign is if there is a ground wire/lug screwed into it...