My "57 Reissue" :^) Squire

[curt1lp]

Here is a little photo album I did for another forum of my Squire.


I call it my "57 reissue" Fender Squire - there is really no such beast, the neck is of a Korean Squire, they made great necks on those Squires. The body is alder off a Chinese made Affinity Squire (it came with a much worse looking 70s fat headstock). I aged nickel parts using ferric Chloride itchant/balsamic vinegar diluted. The knobs and pickguard were also slightly aged (the cracking was already there). I got the alnico pickups off ebay so (2/3 are Fender ones), did the rewiring myself after I checked out how the old 50s Fenders were wired.

The capacitor is a decades old paper in oil, believe it or not it really sweetens the tone heaps over the stock capacitor. The nickel tuners are from Guitar Fetish, much better than stock. I also got a fender 57 reissue sheilding plate to replace the foil. The pots are 250k off a Japanese Fender pickguard assembly, I needed minipots cause full size CTS won't fit.

If I ever get thechance I'd love to try a nitro bursted swamp ash body. (Then I could install a proper trem, this one's too thin to accept a proper steel block trem)

Hope you like the photos, part of my guitar hobby is amateur guitar tech.
Don












feedback welcome.

[clayville]

Lookeeeng good, mon!

[curt1lp]

Ta muchly Clay! :

[Victorilux]

The Korean squires had nice necks. I have one laying around myself, gonna put all my left over fender hardware on it (Vint. bridge /tuners /pots/ pups) it should end up nearly as cool as yours

I guess you can't really do much with the affinity body to get some good pots in there....too bad.

Fortunatly I have the 3/4" body and not the 1/2" Affinity body. The Screening on the headstock you have is much nicer though, mine is plain black, no gold script. That looks like one of the mid 80's Squire necks...rarely hear bad things about em, the ones I've played have been great.

[curt1lp]

Victorilux: thanks for the post, I'd like to see photos of yours when you finish.

The Korean squire neck is certainly well made and comfy to play due to the relatively flat radius. Mine looks to be a great piece of maple.

Actually the pots I put in ok, they are 250K which was my main requirement and come off a Japanese Fender Strat assembly so not all that bad at all. The original Squire pots needed changing as 500K is not vintage spec.

Notice the bridge saddles are not stock, they come off a Mexi Strat bridge assembly. I've done another mod since the pictures, got a real fender switch tip cap and boiled in coffee in the microwave, came out a faint tan color looks cool.

Cheers, Don

[Gravity Jim]

Very cool. I think the Affinity body looks great... the thinner body would be nice to play, I'd bet.

[NeoFauve]

If I ever get thechance I'd love to try a nitro bursted swamp ash body. (Then I could install a proper trem, this one's too thin to accept a proper steel block trem)

How much thinner is the Affinity body?
You could just put spacers under the trem cover.
Sort of like having a hood bulge/scoop to allow for a giant intake manifold.

[curt1lp]

Thanks GJ and Neofauve - yep it is comfortable to play being thin, also a nice guitar to have sitting around on a stand so I can pick up and play anytime. Neofauve - even that idea is out, if I remember right a full sized trem sort of gets stuck in there, I might use that idea though on the pickguard for when I fit the Duncan Invader put it over the Invader to make it super fast looking :lol

[curt1lp]

Just an update:

I put a fender 57 pickguard on and coffeed up some Fender pickup covers and switchtip knob:

[Joobsauce]

Just to ask, whats the difference in the pickguards?

BTW the strat looks great man, subtle but noticeable!

[curt1lp]

Thanks Joob appreciate your thoughts on the guitar.

Just to answer your question: The original guard was slighly thicker duller and more brittle than a real Fender 57 Reissue guard and had a historically incorrect bevelled edge. The screw placement is slightly different too in the curve near the middle tone control. I have a comparison picture, getting close... : The real 56 guitar knobs have rounded edges I think due to the soft plastic used at the time. The 56 pickup covers are yellower than mine (but that is actually uncommon in the pics I have seen of late 50s Strats) I have seen pictures of other vintage Strats of the period with the mainly same light cream shade as mine or lighter even.

My guitar top/real 56 Strat (not mine, picture off internet) bottom:

[Joobsauce]

ah ok, didn't know that! :)