Finally modded my strat!

[Jackyrhode]

I've had my pewter 2006 American Standard for a year now. I've never had a guitar that fit as comfortably or played as easily as this one:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...e/12-07016.jpg

But it had one problem. It didn't sound as great with gain. It immediately got too loud and harsh. Clean it was gorgeous so for the last year the start was my clean guitar and I went to the Les Paul for heavy.

But it always bugged me. So on Black Friday I went to GC with a gift card and a few coupons and picked up a JB Jr. I rarely pull out the soldering iron but I installed it in the bridge position pretty easily.

It sounded perfect but I still missed the cutting sound of that bridge single coil. So this weekend I got a push/pull 500K pot from ebay. Putting it in the volume slot was a DISASTER but in the tone position it worked wonderfully. I lost some quack in the 4 position but I got strong single coil and humbucker sounds in the bridge. While I was at it I gave it the locking tuners (which added sustain) and the tremsetter from my 91 Tele Plus.

Simple stuff for some here but a mod I thought way beyond my capabilities before. I may try the 5 to 7 sound next.

[Jackyrhode]

Here are the results:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...e/Texas043.jpg

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...rhode/JBjr.jpg

[Sage]

That's awesome, man. Glad you found a new sound you like. One of the best things about the Strat design is that it's so easily modifiable, and there's nothing quite like working on your own guitar.

I know what you mean about the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup on most strats is either too sharp or too weak. I've finally settled on an Eric Johnson bridge pickup that I got from eBay, myself, but it took a while to get there.

[yankeerob]

500K vol pots work better for HB's and SC pups should have a 250K vol pot - when I've got a mixture of HB and SC's I've always gone for the 250K option as a compromise... but you seem to have gotten where you want to be... the JB Jr is a good choice - I've had both those and Lil 59'ers in the bridge position and found the Lil 59'er doesn't quite sound like a PAF whereas the JB has a little more going for it in that way - if it works for you - rock on!

[Jackyrhode]

Did the 7 sound strat last night! Works perfectly! While I was at it put the deluxe bridge, locking tuners and tremsetter from my tele Plus on it. Then I finally learned how to set the intonation. Very happy!

Here's the whole story:

http://notinmybook.blogspot.com/2009...atocaster.html