Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Brow on November 11, 2007, 12:36:32 PM
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Hey guys.
Here's a few (bad) pics of a guitar I picked up yesterday.
It's a Fender Jap Strat manufactured between 1984-1987 (going by the 'E' serial number) with a Floyd Rose II bridge and bridge humbucker (a Dimarzio apparently) fitted by a previous owner.
I got it with a fitted Fender hardcase for £200 :)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/Browsif/Guitars/Body.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y158/Browsif/Guitars/Headstock.jpg)
What I'm planning on doing is taking the Cold Sweat and Trilogy out of my Charvel Fusion Special, and then seeing if Tim could swap the bobbin colours to aged white so that they'd match this guitar, fitting a 2nd Trilogy and then mounting it on a Tortoise Shell Scratchplate possibly with a series/parallel switch for the Cold Sweat and 'auto shunt' wiring to split the Cold Sweat in position 2 of the switch.
If this all goes to plan I'll probably put the bridge humbucker and a single coil from this guitar into the Charvel and then sell it on, as I prefer the feel and look of this guitar anyway :)
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I really like that. If it had a black humbucker it would look better imo.
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I'd keep the white pickguard, but thats just my preference as I've never liked tortoiseshell. Mint green looks nice with aged white strats as well I think :)
I tried the "auto-shunt" thing for position 2 on my strat and it always sounds really thin to me, my Charvel didnt have it and it sounded much better having the full bridge bucker and middle single rather than splitting the hum.
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That guitar is beautiful!
Please use it for what God intended and play some classic metal on that guitar, or I'm going to your house and confiscating it!!!
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That just screams Maiden.
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It still surprises me that you can get these 80's MIJ fenders so cheap. I recently set up a 84 contemporary strat and the guy said he had payed £175. It was in a practically unplayable condition but it only took normal set-up stuff and a light fret dress to turn it into a very nice playing guitar.
That had the kahler sytem I trem and side mounted jack - yours confuses me because i would expect to see a kahler on it but either way its gotta be worth more than £200
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please put 3 trilogies in that baby
pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaseeeeeeeeeee
or next time i'm around your neck of the woods, it's going with me
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with the tortoiseshell guard that's gonna look VERY mick mars (http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/d/d4/Mick_Mars_12.jpg)
man that baby was bargain!
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Cheers for the posts guys :)
It originally had a 6 point Vintage trem on it (you can see some of the original screw holes if u look underneath the Floyd), but from what I can see it's a very good job and the guitar has no playabiliy issues at all.
I was thinking about going for a VHII in the bridge instead of the Cold Sweat I currently have, but I know Ben would give me a hard time about it and say I was wimping out :roll:
I've been playing the guitar alot today and I'm quite likely going to stay with an aged white scratchplate instead of my original idea of a Tortoise shell 1. Although as you all know, I change my mind every other minute when it comes to guitar stuff! :lol:
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Nice! Almost identical to an idea I had for a Warmoth build recently (damn that Kisekae!)
seeing if Tim could swap the bobbin colours to aged white so that they'd match this guitar,
Not sure if changing the bobbins on a humbucker is really practical, you'd have to completely unpot, disassemble and unwind it and then rewind and reassmble and repot on new bobbins. If I were Tim I'd charge double the cost of a new pickup as there's almost twice as much labour involved compared to making one from scratch.
If I were you I'd try the pickups as they are, if they sound right in that guitar and you really want a different colour then buy a new HB and stick the old one back in the Charvel.
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The main reason I was considering talking to Tim about changing the bobbin is that the CS and Trilogy I currently have in my Charvel have black bobbins, and I don't think they'd look right in this guitar.
I'm also a little against selling the Charvel with it's current BKPs as I wouldn't get the money back from them that I spent on them, when those pickups could be better used on this guitar.
If Tim advises against changing the bobbin colours, then I'll just have to buy a new black Trilogy to match the other 1 and the CS, and just have black pickups on this guitar.
The current bridge humbucker is useable, but the neck and middle pickups sound horrid. I'll have to speak to Tim and see what he suggests.
He may say that a CS/Trilogy/Trilogy set is wrong for this guitar anyway! :roll:
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That it awesome. I have a new found love for HSS strats, and maple necks make me wee a little. Never used a Floyd before though. Nice find though, I gotta find me some cheap JP made guitars now...
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Nice guitar! A regular Strat that's been made "super" is much cooler than a Superstrat (if that makes any sense at all).
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Looks well nice!
Original Floyd would be awesome on that to go with the BKP's :D
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I see you're asking about matching the bobbin colours - surely it'd be easier to get Tim to rewind the existing humbucker then the colour would match perfectly. Rewinds are cheaper than brand-new BKPs too.
:twisted:
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Nice guitar! A regular Strat that's been made "super" is much cooler than a Superstrat (if that makes any sense at all).
Yep, I agree! I still cant decide whether to put a full size hum or a singlecoil size one in my strat - it has a slightly odd shape and so I have to sand down pickguards around the bridge and neck to fit, bit annoying and dont know if I can be arsed to do it again :lol:
Brow, you could always get some of those bobbin topper things for the humbucker, and couldnt you just change the cover on the trill?
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sweet! :twisted:
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Cheers guys :)
I'm going to give Tim a call tomorrow and see what he recommends, but if it comes to that I have to put the black CS and Trilogy in this Strat instead of in the Charvel (which I'm now going to sell as I much prefer this guitar) then so be it.
I'd much sooner the guitar play as well as it does,and sound better with the BKPs in, that I could live with the black pickups instead of aged white 1s :)
As regards an the Floyd Rose II on this guitar compared to an OFR; this is my 3rd guitar I've owned that's had a Floyd and it's also been the best of the 3 different Floyds I've used in the past, so I think an OFR would probably be wasted on me anyway! :roll:
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*cough* single coils have covers, so you can use the existing ones on the guitar *cough*
and send the bucker in the bridge to tim and have him rewind it to CS specs
the FR II is the same thing as the Schaller floyd. just a different stamp on it
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ah, just get the tippex out :wink:
Of course - there is another option
http://www.allparts.uk.com/catalogue/product_info.php?cPath=91012&products_id=11700
unfortunately they have no screw holes but some could be drilled easily and because its plastic you could use it without worrying about microphonics.
It would also look good with a chrome covered bucker - it would be best to get tim to do that but its a hell of a lot simpler than stripping down the pickup and completely rebuilding it with different bobbins.
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*cough* single coils have covers, so you can use the existing ones on the guitar *cough*
and send the bucker in the bridge to tim and have him rewind it to CS specs
the FR II is the same thing as the Schaller floyd. just a different stamp on it
The Trilogy would be easy enough to change to cream, but I don't think the CS would be.
I don't see much point in getting the current humbucker re-wound, as I have a CS I could drop in there, and put the current pickups in the Charvel for when I sell it :)
Tom has done a quick mock up of how the guitar would look with black pickups and it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. Kinda like the Blackmore strat but with a bridge humbucker.
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Nice guitar! A regular Strat that's been made "super" is much cooler than a Superstrat (if that makes any sense at all).
well it's an argument I can't possibly win against Phil here, but tbh a strat never looks metal. Never. Maybe "early metal", which let's be honest is really just light rock. That then shunts rock more towards the pop side of things, which in my opinion it is, and therefore alienates the vast majority of people reading this, therefore I lose the argument. But that said, that guitar can't look metal, it just can't, so there!!
I think there's something wrong with me, I've always hated the look of teles, les pauls and to a lesser extent SGs, and now I'm finding myself disliking strats. Eeeeek!
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I kind of agree about the strat not looking metal, it reminds me of the guy who played with Ozzy straight after RR's passing. sorry, can't think of his name, but watched a show the other day, and couldn't stand the sound or what he did with it. (was he from nightranger or something)
But then somehow I like Jake E Lee :?
Just curious, did the FR fit into the strat trem route? (sorry, I am no master of the wiggly bar - alls I know is a Kahler is tolerable :) )
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well it's an argument I can't possibly win against Phil here, but tbh a strat never looks metal.
I agree, it doesn't really look metal. What it looks is $%&#in' cool. :lol: I just like the fact it's a regular Strat shape, with a Strat headstock and a scratchplate. No sharp edges, pointy headstocks or sharkfin inlays.
Me personally, I don't like any overtly "metal" looking guitars - but as you say, it's not an argument anyone can win, it's just personal preference. :)
it reminds me of the guy who played with Ozzy straight after RR's passing. sorry, can't think of his name, but watched a show the other day, and couldn't stand the sound or what he did with it. (was he from nightranger or something)
Brad Gillis. You don't like his playing with Ozzy? I thought he was awesome, I love Talk Of The Devil.
But I must agree that his red Strat is particularly non-metal looking. :wink:
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I wouldn't say it's overly 'metal' looking, but then again, neither am I. So it's not a problem :lol:
After speaking to Tim this morning what I may now be doing is sending the current pickups to Tim to be re-wound to VHII/Irish Tour/Irish Tour spec. I can then either block the Floyd on the Charvel and use it as a 'Drop D' guitar (something I've been planning on doing for a while) or I could just try and sell it on in it's current state.
Through talking alot with Ben, I reckon a VHII would cover the 'PAF with more grunt' sound I want and I reckon this guitar is the perfect candidate for it :)
As regards the FR Route, if I angle the guitar a certain way, I can see underneath the bridge and see some of the original 6 point trem mounting holes. It looks like a previous owner basically measured up and drilled the holes for the FR. It looks like a good job to me though.