My Strat ---> Mods

[axo151]

my blues band concert is friday, and after that i'm going to town on my strat. i need some explicit instructions on how to do one of the mods though, could someone please type some out? you'll be my hero forever. i know there are people on here that know how to do it.

first i'm doing these two mods (see links right below this paragraph), hopefully by myself. i'm pretty much no good at electrical anything. i can solder input jacks and stuff, but i've never done anything on this scale before. do you think i could just bring them to a tech printed out and be like "do this!"?

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/stratlovers.php

i'm replacing the middle pickup with a lindy fralin blues special, and the bridge pickup with this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

. i'm going to bring it in to have the pickups switched and the thing coil tapped, as i have no idea how to do that. i'm going to have a little switch put on the guitar, i'll be using all three pots as push pull ones later......when its in i always want an onboard preamp installed. they aren't too pricey and its a nice boost for soloing.

if all this works out and i'm not broke, i want to put this bridge on http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailp...ail_Bridge.html or something similar (non string through, hardtail). the trem is already blocked. i would then completely clear out the trem cavity. here is where i need the help. i want to buy this http://www.zzounds.com/item--VDLMICROVIBE in the trem cavity. i would take it apart, and just put the elctronics in the trem cavity. i think that i'll be able to fit it, but who knows. since i'll already have some little switches on the front of my guitar, i'm not going to mind another one, so if it can be wired so that theres an on off switch right on the front, that would be great. the two control knobs on the pedal could be wired on the front of the guitar (one on the middle tone pot as a push pull, the other would have to be fit somewhere on the pickguard, and i'd put a standard fender knob on there). anyway, does anyone know who to do this?

and thats about it. if i do all that it's going to cost something like 500 dollars. i think it's worth it as long as my tone doesn't start to deteriorate from all the crap that will now be in my signal chain. i can sit aroudn jamming, turn on my uni-vibe clone to trip out a solo, boost my guitar for a solo, or change the sound with all those pickup selecting options.....it's going to be very very cool if it works out. anyway, any help, comments, or info on what of this is easy to do, and what should be done by a tech would be appreciated. thanks for reading.

[crafty]

The link to the Stew-Mac site didn't work, but it appears you want to put a non-string through, hardtail bridge on the guitar. This will be very difficult to do if you want to keep the trem cavity open for installing the MicroVibe guts inside the guitar. Most people fill the whole cavity with wood to facilitate installation of the hardtail bridge.

I also think that non-string through Strat or Tele bridges tend to have less sustain. Also, the trem cavity itself probably does not have enough room for the MicroVibe components. One thing you might want to think about is purchasing a replacement body routed without a trem cavity. This way you can use a string-through hardtail and simply rout a cavity custom for the MicroVibe, maybe on the back of the guitar behind the bridge where there's lots of wood real estate.

You could just cut a piece of wood to fill the part of the cavity where the tremelo block use to be and leave the rest for the MV, but you're still going to want to make sure those electronics will fit first. I really would hate to see you do all those electronics mods and have your tone sucked by an inefficient bridge setup, though.

[axo151]

yeah i think i might stay away from throwing that microvibe in for a while. the other stuff will run me quite a bill. as far as replacement bodies, im not so sure, i like the one ive got. its not a looker, but the guitar plays nice, i dont want to screw up that. i wish there was some easier way to do it, but it looks like fitting an effect in their is really tough. any other ideas are welcome, thanks.