Squier Strat

[Blackbeard]

I am looking to upgrade my Squier Strat with new pickups and electronics and looking to only spend about $150 on it. I like the feel of the guitar and feels just like an American strat to me, but the electronics and pickups aren't the best and I figure I can make it pretty close to an american standard strat and not pay as much for it, since I only spent $100 on the squier. Any suggestions for where/what I should buy? Thanks in advance!

[moon]

Keep an eye on ebay for second hand pickups.

Or wind your own. If you do your homework, it's probably reasonable to expect to wind about six coils in order to get three you want to keep. That's the kind of strike rate I've been getting as a noob winder - but you do need to research all the variables first otherwise you won't know how to tweak the design to nudge the sound closer to what you want. It might take a few tries to get there but, from my own experiences so far, it's really not that hard.

[stratokatsu]

The Bill Lawrence Keystone pickups are very affordable and provide great vintage tone.

[UcanDoit]

I put Tex-Mex pickups in our Squire and it made all the difference in the world. Keep your eye on ebay for just the pickups or the whole electronics pre-mounted on the pick guard. I think I got my pickups for $80 with shipping.

ERIK

[Davis Webb]

Fretbuzz is one of the local experts here on AGF on dealing with the Squier. One thing you should know going into it is that with the right adjustment to pickup height, overall setup and string tension selection, you can make them much more playable and lose that bad pickup shrillness.

As far as your upgrade, I have spent alot of time on it, and by no means an expert, but there are a couple paths. You can make it sound more mellow and jazzy or make it hot rodded for rock. I was always interested in the rock upgrade. Hot rail on the bridge and air Nortons for the middle and neck are a popular upgrade. The YJMs are Maelmsteem's custom designed Seymour Duncans for the strat to give it a good sustain without the dirt in a metal setup. He recommends, of course, but I agree, that you use all 3, one is designed for each position.

The P90s get alot of praise around here for all out versatility and I am sure some folks will chime in on that path.

Fretbuzz is a huge fan of using reissue retro pickups for classic full sounds. I am not sure what a fingerstyle electric player would choose. I certainly find that my humbuckers on my guitars run clean deliver a great fingerstyle sound so I think there is alot of room there to use anything.

Or you could just be nasty, route it out some and put in some active EMGs..

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by stratokatsu

The Bill Lawrence Keystone pickups are very affordable and provide great vintage tone.

Agreed.

I picked some up that were never used in a project for $45. In a guitar with CS Nocasters the bridge tone was hard to tell apart, and at times I liked neck tone more. The neck pickup is very responsive to the treble knob compared to other pickups I tried and can sound more acoustic or like a microphone picking up tone.

Bill's in his 80s and still works at this. Having his pickups is a bit like having part of a living legend.

FWIW: I did some work on a Squier that improved the instrument but would not go too far fixing one up when considering the general buyer's market. I had to consider some entertainment and learning value to justify because so many great instruments show up in the used market and that market doesn't place a lot of value on a fixed up or partscaster instrument. Pickups are an easy swap that can apply to any instrument.

[stratokatsu]

I think the point is, the Squier Standard series and up are great pieces of woodwork suitable to be used or built into something else. Whatever you find that is to your taste is going to wind up as a good guitar.

[Grenade]

Start with CTS pots and a good switch & jack, then adjust pickup hieght. It makes a huge difference. My pickups ended up almost flush with the gaurd and it sounded much better.

[flier]

+1 on the tex mex pickups, great and versitile pickup,

Plus you could always try different pickups in different positions......

Squires are great guitars to mess with. have fun

[George6654]

I have a Squire Infinity that I got in 2005 Its a fantastic piece of wood and I upgraded it with Lace Gold pickups and Fender USA Tone and volume controls It is a fantastic guitar and beats my Other electrics hands down.

I have also upgraded a friends Squire with Tone Rider Blues Pick ups and he loves the upgrade for the price they are fantastic value

Don't know which Strat you've got, but I'm loving a 2012 MIC Bullet Strat stock except for the D-G string tree (removed) and a switch to Extra Slinkys 8s (even I was pleasantly shocked by the great sound they deliver with the stock pups).

I did spend a decent amount of time tweaking the pup heights (go by sound not spec BTW) as well as really finetuning my set up...and I float the trem about 3/32"? I also diassembled the neck and body then reassembled it...a really nice tight neck joint on this cheap guitar.

For picks I go to 2 extremes: either a 1 mm Dunlop nylon...or a .50 mm Herco nylon or .50 mm Tortex red...

BTW, my pups are NOT completely flush...just tweaked noticeably lower than how they show up at GC...for clarity...with the neck the lowest of the 3...in ascending height order.

If I were swapping out pups...I'd stay with some kind of ceramic...either the Bill Lawrence...or some kind of Dimarzio options...something noiseless.

Have come to conclude that maybe 50s style pups would work with a basswood...but really don't have the impulse these days to try to take a basswood Strat into vintage tone territory.

This Bullet Strat has sold me on basswood for Strats, really decent ceramic pups amd 8 gauge strings. I love the mids, clarity and the immediacy of this guitar. It ain't tonally "scooped" but no need to make it that way...or try to. Just a straight ahead guitar that delivers with indeed a slight harshness, edge..but hey, even a Jeff Beck signature Strat delivers with a slight harshness. You can also sort of lo-fi the Bullet...but I took it towards a bolder interpretation esp. with pup heights. I also consider the 8s a great match for the Bullet. More defined, more in your face.

Post-set up, I consider the Bullet Strat Squier's hands down best value...NOT for "great vintage tone" but for being its own thing...for confident unapologetic styles of play...

[stratokatsu]

Originally Posted by Fret Buzz

Don't know which Strat you've got, but I'm loving a 2012 MIC Bullet Strat stock except for the D-G string tree (removed) and a switch to Extra Slinkys 8s (even I was pleasantly shocked by the great sound they deliver with the stock pups).

I agree. Some years ago, I bought a $99 deal on the Bullet Double Fat Hardtail Strat... red with rosewood fretboard, one of my favorite combinations.

I had all sorts of intentions to mod it into 3 single coils. In doing so though, the slightly shallower depth of the body and the rout fro electronics left me with a less than acceptable result. I wired back in the pickguard with 2 humbuckers and kept it for a while. I was sort of surprised with how smooth they sounded, but I already had a better double humbucker electric I preferred.

Good guitars none the less.

Recently, I picked up a Monoprice Strat for under $100, or about $110 delivered. This thing blows away anything else I've seen in a very inexpensive Strat clone.

[ras1500]

Checkout Amazon.com; I bought some Fender 57/62 pickups for about $100 last year. I also got a Fender electronics kit from Allparts.com for about $40. Both made a huge improvement in tone on my Chinese made Squire.

[clydes001]

Buy these Cavalier pickups from Rob DiStefano.

You won't regret it. He is an expert. I have his line in my tele and I don't regret it all.

[MBE]

For great pickups on a budget, check out tonerider. I picked up a Squier Classic Vibe '50s which has tonerider-made pickups, and although they aren't quite on the level of my boutique pickups on my other guitars, I'd be surprised if they aren't among the best sounding pickups I've played on a stock non-custom-shop strat.