Lespaulstandard Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 (edited) Ok, my neighbor gave me his old squire.. and i want to go frankenstrat on it.. how could i "hot rod" the cheap squire pickups? (i'm looking for something in the $20-30 range) is it even worth doing? should i just save up and get some new ones? Edited September 26, 2005 by Lespaulstandard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1guitarslinger Posted September 26, 2005 Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 Ok, my neighbor gave me his old squire.. and i want to go frankenstrat on it.. how could i "hot rod" the cheap squire pickups? (i'm looking for something in the $20-30 range) is it even worth doing? should i just save up and get some new ones? ← Not really anything you can do to the pickups except live with them or replace them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lespaulstandard Posted September 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2005 thats what i thought.. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 not true not true.. you could add an onboard 1 transistor or mosfet booster. that could help out quite a bit. actually. you could take the pickups add in passive notch filters. put in a small radio shack choke to help cancel out hum.. add in a little drive from a preamp and some eqing and have some better sounding pickups. all for about 5usd. and some work.. or yes.. just buy new pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 Or he could pick up a spool of wire if he shops around and rewind them. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1guitarslinger Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 Or he could pick up a spool of wire if he shops around and rewind them. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... ← If he is going to rewind the pickups, he might as well replace the ceramic bar magnets with alnico rod magnets. But this would require new flatwork. New flatwork, new magnets, new wind...he's just made a new set of pickups! ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 (edited) Theres plenty of switching schemes you could do, with less than $20-$30 in parts. If the pickups are a bit feeble, giving an option for series wiring makes a huge boost. My favorite current scheme for brain-transplantig Strats involves taking out the five way switch, and putting in 5 toggles for on/off on each pup, series/parallel and phase, and gives a vast range. There are simpler schemes you can do that keep the 5-way, with fewer options. If a switching solution would interest you, Ill post some links John Edited September 29, 2005 by JohnH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeiscosRock Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 You could grab up some GFS pups from GuitarFetish on EvilBay... I slapped one of the Tele humbuckers in my Tele and I can honestly say its the best $30 I ever spent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lespaulstandard Posted September 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Or he could pick up a spool of wire if he shops around and rewind them. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... ← If he is going to rewind the pickups, he might as well replace the ceramic bar magnets with alnico rod magnets. But this would require new flatwork. New flatwork, new magnets, new wind...he's just made a new set of pickups! ;-) ← you know whats funny? i actually got around to removing the pickups from the guitar, and they dont have a bar magnet on the bottom of the pickup, only a cover.. does this mean they're alnico? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1guitarslinger Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Or he could pick up a spool of wire if he shops around and rewind them. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... ← If he is going to rewind the pickups, he might as well replace the ceramic bar magnets with alnico rod magnets. But this would require new flatwork. New flatwork, new magnets, new wind...he's just made a new set of pickups! ;-) ← you know whats funny? i actually got around to removing the pickups from the guitar, and they dont have a bar magnet on the bottom of the pickup, only a cover.. does this mean they're alnico? ← Hmmm...Do you see the 6 individual rod magnets from the bottom? or what do you see exactly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lespaulstandard Posted September 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Exactly, i see the pickup leads going through a silverish plate on the bottom of the pickup.. i CAREFULLY removed one of the plates, and i saw.. what looked like the bobbin and wire.. but it was hard to tell through the wax.. which brings me to a question, does squire pot their pickups?? if not, these have been replaced... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivin Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 I really don't know if this is correct or helpful at all, but if your looking for small things on the cheap, cant you get like some sort of metal baseplate that you put under single coil pickups to give them a bit more oomph? Surely that would be cheap? - Dan Edit: I had a quick dig to see if I could find what I was thinking of. I didn't really find what I was hoping for, but I did find this: http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Fralin-Baseplate-P217C0.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 It's got wax? That must be an older Squier then. My Squier didn't have potted pickups. What series Squie is it (Affinity, Standard, etc.)? Mine is a "Crafted in China" Affinity. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lespaulstandard Posted September 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 It's got wax? That must be an older Squier then. My Squier didn't have potted pickups. What series Squie is it (Affinity, Standard, etc.)? Mine is a "Crafted in China" Affinity. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas.. ← yeah it has wax.. i thought it was wierd too.. its a Bullet... i dont get it, it cant be that old, the old ones werent lam. bodies were they?? ( i know i know.. its plywood... but for a cheap frankenstrat project...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1guitarslinger Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Base plates are excellent, but they only work properly on vintage style pickups where they can be mounted flush on the base of the pickup's lower flatwork, right against the alnico rod magnets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blink 182 Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 A bit off topic, but my squier is this years (well i bought it this year new) and it is a bullet 'made in china" and it is a solid body not plywood and the pickups are potted and the pickup covers cant be removed because of the wax. so mabye squier is improving their standards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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