Fowl2338

Ooh yeah I wanna see that.

After listening to James LaBrie's Elements of Persuasion, I looked up what his guitarist, Mark Sfogli, was using on the album. Noticed his bridge is a hipshot trem with piezo saddles. MT Monster Mark Sfogli Signature. Then I looked to see if they made a floyd type bridge with these saddles, and came across this. Does anyone have experience with these? I'm got an Ibanez body I'm planning on working on this summer, and was considering using these (either the hipshot or the graphtech). They seem to be pricey, so I don't know if the supposed "amazing" sound would outweigh the cost and/or possible troubles/pain-in-the-ass with installing. Let me know what you think.

I don't know. I'm liking the "less-definition" one. No lines, imo. I don't know if I like the nickel hardware either.

Avenger's and Mitch's pics won't show up..

The Warmoth necks should fit, but you should really measure your neck pocket to make sure. If it doesn't fit, then no big deal a router will solve that problem. I doubt highly a Fender trem will bolt right onto your squier body. Weather its a 2 post or 6 hole vintage, either way there is a 25% shot of it fitting. Stew Mac sells a template that works for Fender trems for when you dowl the old holes and your ready to drill the new ones. So would it be smart to just completely fill in the existing holes and cavity, get the Stew Mac template, and go from there? And would you recommend a 6-hole vintage or a fender trem?

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Where did you get that neck? I've got an Ibanez body that looks just like that and was thinking of doing a JS theme myself.

Wow, that looks great. Can't wait to see them when you're finished. Are you putting Dimarzio Super distortions in all three? And how bout a floyd on one of them...?

Can't wait to see it when its done! I know you don't want to do a true copy, but the Ouija graphic would be preeeeetty sweet.

I really need info on the trem. Thinking a vintage 6 hole or standard Fender trem. Which one would you all recommend, and will I have to do any drilling for these? And what about a warmoth neck??

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That looks very nice.

In regards to replacement necks, I'm looking at some maple necks (CBS) from warmoth, but I am afraid of possible problems with it fitting in the neck pocket. Is it just going to be hit or miss? And same thing with a trem. I'm probably just going to side with a vintage 6 hole or standard Fender trem. Which one would you all recommend, and will I have to do any drilling for these?

Some more paint possibilities...: More ideas VERY welcome.

Personally, I'd be looking to take from EVH's style (note, he doesn't play these guitars anymore) and do something like that ethic, but make it your own...people will still see where you are coming from! I've actually been thinking about this and and maybe going to go in that direction: same schematics (mostly) as the frankenstrat, but with my own touch. I'm thinking of putting a S. Duncan Custom SH-5 in the bridge, and possibly a Sustainiac sustainer in the neck. Still want the Floyd rose, schaller locking tuners, and new neck with either a normal or reverse banana headstock. Here is a little design I did quickly on paint. Tell me what you think: Other possible pickup setups: 1. Screamin deamon (bridge), S. sustainer (neck) 2. SD Custom custom Sh-11 (bridge), S. sustainer (neck) Also, with necks, will a warmoth neck fit my strat? And I hear mixed feelings when it comes to Ed Roman. He's got some "EVH spec" maple necks....not sure where I should go with it... Oh, and there's def. a bathtub route in the strat, so no chiselling needed However, I'm not sure what the wood is, so I'll post up some pics in the next couple days and hoefully someone can help me out. Feel free to add/take away any ideas regarding my project. All opinions considered and appreciated.

Well, I'm gonna figure out what it's actually made of first. If it's indeed plywood, I'm getting another body. If it's alder, I'll keep it and go from there.

How old is the Squier you want to mod? The newer ones seem to be better quality, even the Affinity series. For a long time the Affinity series were plywood bodies though. I sanded out the cavity on mine to see what it is, and it is plywood. Mine is probably about 5 years old at this point. Mine's is about 6-7 years old...

Depends..if you want it to look like eddies just get a chisel and hack at it.If you want it to look nice it is a bit tougher. Looks? I just want it to FUNCTION and sound right. No, mine is SSS. So I got to do some hacking. Excuse my ignorance, but I have no idea where to start with this. Help?

So what?The reason Fender costs so much more than Sqiuer is because of everything else EXCEPT the body...As long as the body is at least poplar or (better yet) alder,and you have no swimming pool rout,then it is every bit as good as a true fender body,and every bit as good as Eddie's Frankenstrat. The neck is where you want to spend the money...neck,electronics,and hardware.Replace the body and all you are doing is buying an entire guitar piece by piece...and then you still have the body you have now. I have a Charvel Alder strat with a single humbucker rout and a crap ass trem...guess what I did?routed for a floyd(piece of cake,the back rout was there already),routed a neck pup hole,and now all I have to do is paint it,and install a Warmoth neck I have with a jackson headstock and SS frets...and I have a Jackson Dinky....same exact thing...only better with the SS frets and the EMG pups and Floyd... Wow, that makes more sense. I'm glad you said that. In that case, I'll just continue with the original plan. 'Cept I'll definitely get a Floyd. How difficult will it be to fit the Floyd (Probably D-tuna) into the cavity? And how should I measure the neck pocket to make sure I get the right neck? (Rather find one that already fits than to have to cut it)?

I don't agree...what is wrong with the one you have?Is it a swimming pool rout under the pickgaurd? If so,you will need another body(or to add wood and rerout),but if it is three single coil routs under there you are already there. I'm talking about just getting a new body for the sound reasons. ihocky2 has a good point, it is a Squier, and all the parts will cost WAY more than the body itself.

Alright, so it looks like everyone agrees I should just buy a new body. What do you know about Mighty Mite bodies? I saw a solid ASH body on ebay that replicates an 80's Charvel body. Neck pocket is 2 and 3/16ths wide. How does that sound? And any other suggestions?

I'm going for the 1st album model. (Although I may go with the "Unchained" paint scheme. This was pulled from one of Ed Roman's articles: "Obviously the guitar best well known for this album is the original Black and White Frankenstrat. This heavily valued guitar started out life as a $130.00, factory second, fire wood, neck and body which Eddie bought from a company called Boogie Bodies. He took it home and immediately sprayed it black with a can of Schwinn bicycle paint. He also made a pickguard for it. Eddie loved the sound of an old PAF. humbucker, so he chiseled a hunk of wood out of the body so the pickup could fit. He also liked the strat tremolo but had trouble keeping it in tune. He installed a brass nut, had to keep it lubricated, and turned the ball end of the string in sync with the turning of the machine head as he tuned the instrument. The guitar ended up getting the stripe pattern as he masked off the guitar and sprayed white, keeping only what he wanted to be black." Pulled from another artilce: "For future guitars, Edward would mount his pickups directly to the inside body of the instrument, his feeling being that the pickups would work as "one" with his guitars and therefore sustain would be increased." Inside his guitars, Edward bypassed all tone controls and wired his pickups with only one volume control, valued at 500K Ohms." I only want one pickup (humbucker) in the bridge position. My strat is SSS--reason i have to do some body cutting. You think it should be no problem re-wiring it with the humbucker? And keep in mind, I want to do it just like he did it--wired with only one volume control. That should be simple, right? And back to the other cavities (mid and neck), should I fill them in, or just leave 'em, since I'll be putting the black pickguard over it?

Hello all, Please forgive me if this has been covered in the past, but I had some trouble finding anything that was completely relevant to my situation, so consequently I'm starting my own thread. I have a Squier Affinity Strat that I want to turn into a VH1 clone. I need serious help/tips on how to go about this. First: Pickups. How should I go about drilling/cutting out the bridge cavity to fit the humbucker? Second: Should I fill in the other 2 cavities, or just leave them alone? Third: I don't know if I wanna buy another neck just yet (maybe), but I do know I wanna switch out the tuners. Schallers anyone? Fourth: Tremolo. Guess I'll just leave it the same, unless you all unanimously agree I should purchase a vintage Fender one or a Floyd. Lastly: Anything else I should be concerned with when starting this? ALL INFO APPRECIATED. Don't wanna f* this up. Guess as I get started and make progress, I'll ask more questions. But I believe this should do it for now.