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#16
10-07-2009, 10:13 AM
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I spent YEARS wandering around Hock-shops and flea markets buying, upgrading, and re-selling guitars of all kinds. One statement I support completely is that you'll NEVER get a strat to sound like a Les Paul....or vice versa. Puttin' humbuckers in strats, and splittin' the coils in the LP....all to add variety.....it's all nice, but each guitar has a personality of it's own. I'm all for creating new and different instruments out of old ones....but when you do, you lose what you had in the first place. Today the market is FLOODED with instruments to experiment with. There are so many knock-off versions of strats, Les Pauls, SGs, Teles....and everything else ever produced, that if you're looking for something to tear apart and re-build your own way, that should NOT be a problem. I've got a couple of closets full of guitars, some of which are considered very valuable and desireable. Yet, to me, a couple of my favorites are an old Peavy Strat knock-off with Fralin pups, and a later model Jay Turser SG knock off with some PRS Pups in it. These two guitars play and sound better than most everything else I have, including my old '62 LP (sg body style), all my 7 PRS guitars, and my old '67 Strat. I'm well beyond the 'ego' aspect of what I play, and I've found that many of these older knock-offs are starting to 'age' very nicely. Good pickups make a huge difference....but then 'cheap' pickups have a sound that can be very appropriate to a given type of music. Tiasco DelRay was a cheap guitar back in the day....made in Japan....and NOT very playable even when new. But, find one today.....do a good set-up, clean the pots, and put on a good set of stings.....and you've got an instrument with plenty of character and some very interesting and alluring sounds. I guess my point here is simply this: Don't kill your MIM Strat trying to make it become something it can't. Kinda the old "You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear" philosophy. You've got a good strat that you can make a better strat. And for the money you'd spend trying to make it into a LP....you could buy a knock off that would be a good 'starter' LP. I see Set-Neck LP guitars on ebay for about $150 that with a good set of used pick-ups you'd probably never be able to tell them from a typical 70's Standard. So...there's my 2 cents worth. Good luck! TSD
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#17
10-07-2009, 11:08 AM
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Thanks for the Replies
Thanks for the replies everyone! A friend of mine who also plays the guitar, and owns a MIA Fender Strat, suggested the following:
http://www.dragonfireguitars.com/pro...roducts_id=479 I decided to get one of these, as I am a big David Gilmour fan (yes, a little superficial). My friend has one of these setups, however, and I love the way it sounds. It is on its way and I am looking forward to installing it and playing my MIM Strat with the new setup.
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#18
10-07-2009, 11:29 AM
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Quote:
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#19
10-07-2009, 01:42 PM
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terrapin,
Will do!
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#20
10-16-2009, 07:20 AM
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RE: Dragonfire DFDG David Gilmour Pre-Wired Pickguard
Well, I received the Dragonfire DFDG David Gilmour pickguard setup a couple of days ago. I ordered it from a seller on eBay. It turns out that I ordered the wrong unit. The electronics won't fit in the cut aways on the body of my Fender Strat. Unfortunately, the seller won't let me return it and exchange it for a unit that actually fits on the body of my guitar. What kind of business does that? Anyway, I've repackaged the unit and am going to try to sell it if anyone would like to purchase it. I'll place a posting on the "marketplace" link on the Acoustic Guitar forum. I'm also going to place an ad on eBay. This is very disappointing.
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#21
10-16-2009, 09:24 AM
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Quote:
You are never going to make a strat sound like a Les Paul as you have said. The body type, the way the neck is connected, etc. Really a different animal. You could turn your strat into a fat strat with a humbucker in the bridge, or a super strat with humbuckers in the neck and bridge. (I have never seen the need to put a third humbucker in the middle). This will require a new pickguard of course, and also you should verify the cavities in the body of your guitar will accept true humbuckers. If you do that, I would look at re-wiring so you can "coil tap" the humbuckers so that you can get some single coil sound. Not the same sound as true single coils, but gives you some of that sound. You can do the humbucker thing with "rail" type pups too, that are the same shape as single coils. GFS makes a bunch. You also might want to look at upgrading the trem block with a heavier one than came in the older MIM's originally. Very common upgrade. Callaham makes one that is popular. This improves sustain, and I believe tuning stability. MIMs 2006 and after had an upgraded trem block that came stock. Check also your body cavity and pick guard shielding. Adding full shielding will cut down on noise, and will improve the guitar more toward an american spec., and will help with your other LP goal. Personally, I would upgrade pups if needed to whatever single coil sound is your preference, improve shielding, and improve the trem block, and leave it as a strat. Then get one of the many LP knockoffs that exist to get your LP sound if you want that. The Agile 3000/3100 series is one popular LP knock off that is a good value and is popular. I hope that helps! For lots more electric talk, you can always check out thefret.net which is a very nice and polite guitar forum that focuses mostly on electric stuff, and mods just as you are considering.
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