Everybody else posts guitar builds/buys and since I am slowing down on building pedals, thought it might be time for me to do a little guitar modification myself. This guitar has been with me since ‘95 when my dad helped me purchase it for my 18th bday, also the year I graduated high school. What it was:
A 1991 Strat+ complete with Wilkinson roller nut, locking tuners, gold lace sensor pups, but with bridge pup modified by the previous owner to a Seymour Duncan JB junior. It had some dings and scratches, but was a steal at $550 for an American made Strat. It was perfect for my budding and short lived music career with the garage band made of high school friends. For a very long time it was my only electric. Fast forward about 25 years and it had taken a back seat to mostly my bass playing and other newer guitars. I eventually decided to put it back to its original glory. I bought a period correct pickguard and a replacement lace sensor for the bridge.
It even spent some time as a baritone with a Warmoth conversion neck. That was a very brief stint and I returned it to standard guitar setup. Fast forward to ab 2 weeks ago and I decided to try and play it through my ampless rig at my church gig and was greeted with horrific ground hum. So that combined with a need for a humbucker equipped guitar that was not my 335, along with the rather “particular” tone of Lace sensor pups led me to this iteration:
Sum total for the transformation was around $50 for pickguard, CTS 500k pot, and tone pro jack. The pup is from an Ibanez RG550 25th anniversary. I got it from a friend that had me swap in a dual lace sensor into the bridge (man that guitar ended up with a shit ton of switching/splitting/phase options and a bunch of pup swaps all done by yours truly). Since this pup has a 4 conductor wire I added the series/split/parallel switch. Series on this measures 14k. I am really liking this setup so far. it is HOT and a tad to the trebly side, but rolling the volume down cuts the highs just like a tele. Drives OD/distortion pedals and my little 5 watters like a beast. Even though a split humbucker doesn’t sound exactly like a standalone single coil, at 7k this one can pass muster. Parallel is very interesting since you get hum cancelling but less bass and output than series, but more than split. Sort of like a p-90 without the hum. I really enjoyed the project and am looking forward to giving this a test run at church in a couple of weeks. I may in the future do a chrome cover on the pup, but will have to be careful on the install since I can’t wax pot and don’t want a microphonic pickup. Anyways carry on good people.
A 1991 Strat+ complete with Wilkinson roller nut, locking tuners, gold lace sensor pups, but with bridge pup modified by the previous owner to a Seymour Duncan JB junior. It had some dings and scratches, but was a steal at $550 for an American made Strat. It was perfect for my budding and short lived music career with the garage band made of high school friends. For a very long time it was my only electric. Fast forward about 25 years and it had taken a back seat to mostly my bass playing and other newer guitars. I eventually decided to put it back to its original glory. I bought a period correct pickguard and a replacement lace sensor for the bridge.
It even spent some time as a baritone with a Warmoth conversion neck. That was a very brief stint and I returned it to standard guitar setup. Fast forward to ab 2 weeks ago and I decided to try and play it through my ampless rig at my church gig and was greeted with horrific ground hum. So that combined with a need for a humbucker equipped guitar that was not my 335, along with the rather “particular” tone of Lace sensor pups led me to this iteration:
Sum total for the transformation was around $50 for pickguard, CTS 500k pot, and tone pro jack. The pup is from an Ibanez RG550 25th anniversary. I got it from a friend that had me swap in a dual lace sensor into the bridge (man that guitar ended up with a shit ton of switching/splitting/phase options and a bunch of pup swaps all done by yours truly). Since this pup has a 4 conductor wire I added the series/split/parallel switch. Series on this measures 14k. I am really liking this setup so far. it is HOT and a tad to the trebly side, but rolling the volume down cuts the highs just like a tele. Drives OD/distortion pedals and my little 5 watters like a beast. Even though a split humbucker doesn’t sound exactly like a standalone single coil, at 7k this one can pass muster. Parallel is very interesting since you get hum cancelling but less bass and output than series, but more than split. Sort of like a p-90 without the hum. I really enjoyed the project and am looking forward to giving this a test run at church in a couple of weeks. I may in the future do a chrome cover on the pup, but will have to be careful on the install since I can’t wax pot and don’t want a microphonic pickup. Anyways carry on good people.
