Hello! Found my Sons Mexican Strat!

[MBDiagMan]

My son went off to college in ‘97 and had moved on from what I remembered to be a Squire. I was going through some things and found the Squire, except it wasn’t a Squire, it is a Mexican Strat.

He had changed the pickups on it and I have yet to figure out how to post a picture here. Imagine the pickup as a long, smooth nickle plated cylinder with half of a sphere on each end, then sliced in half down the middle.

The difference when changing to different pickup combinations is significant. I am inclined to string it up with nines since I like them so much on the Les Paul. Do nines work out okay on a Strat?

[muscmp]

hard to tell about the pickup without pictures. create an account on imgur and then you can upload the picture, copy it and post here.

fender puts 9s on, i believe, all new strats.

play music!

[Eric_M]

Originally Posted by MBDiagMan

Imagine the pickup as a long, smooth nickle plated cylinder with half of a sphere on each end, then sliced in half down the middle.

Like this?:

[MBDiagMan]

Yeah Eric, exactly like that.

[MBDiagMan]

Okay I tuned it with the antique strings that were on it and it feels better to me than any Strat I ever had in my hands. The action is low and there is a string making a noise, but it feels really good to me and sounds very well on my Bugera V22. Sounds particularly good in triode mode.

I have a set of unknown strings at my place out here in the boonies and am tempted to put them on, but I will wait until I make it to town for some quality nines.

I went through one of the online retailers sites and never saw a picture of the pickups so I could identify them. Curiosity is killing me.

If I can get some one to deal with the strange noise on one of the strings, this will be a good addition to the arsenal. I shouldnt bother dragging it out when my son comes to visit for fear that he will want it back.

[muscmp]

Originally Posted by Eric_M

Like this?:

lipstick tube pickup similar to what was used on danelectos.

https://reverb.com/news/a-guide-to-lipstick-pickups

play music!

[MBDiagMan]

Thanks very much for the link muscmp! I enjoyed the reading. I don’t know why he put these on the Strat, but what little I have played with it, I have been able to get a bright, smooth tone from them.

There is, however, a noise that sounds a little like a buzzing string. At first I thought the action was too low, but I am wondering if it is related to the pickups. I have more experimenting to do.

[guitararmy]

https://www.premierguitar.com/articl..._Guitar_Review

https://reverb.com/p/fender-american...orino-red-2012

https://reverb.com/news/a-guide-to-lipstick-pickups

Maybe he may have had some inspiration from these factory Fender guitars with lipsticks...

[MBDiagMan]

Thanks Army! I am anxious to ask my son about these pickups. From looking at the surf guitar, I even wonder if they were factory. I expect to see him at Christmas.

[BoneDigger]

I own a surf strat with lipstick pickups. Mine is a Squire VM, but the sound will be similar. I like the lipstick pickups, though it's definately not a "surf" setup. But, the tone is good.