PDA

View Full Version : The Fender 68 reissue pickups sound great in my daughter's cheap ass Squire Strat



Nitro Express
04-06-2005, 02:56 AM
I got three lefty Fender 68 reissue pickups real cheap and put them in my daughter's Squire Affinity Strat. It's a cheap Chinese built guitar but the fit and finish is really good and the body is a solid piece of wood instead of the plywood shit. The trem is hard down on the body EVH style and the saddles are solid instead of the bent metal ones Fender uses. The setup on the guitar is spot on perfect. Anyways, with the new pickups, this cheap ass guitar sounds great. I can get that Stevie Ray Vaughn vibe on one amp and through a Fuzz Face it screams ala Jimi Hendrix. I actually played the thing all last night I was having so much fun with it. It sounds better than a Mexican Strat I have. It doesn't go out of tune too bad but the cheap ass tuners have a high gear ration and makes tuning a pain when you are used to nice Schaller tuning pegs. This is the best playing guitar for the money I've ever seen. With the cost of the guitar and the cost of the new pickups, it's still under $150.

Panamark
04-06-2005, 04:00 AM
Its amazing isnt it !

I picked up a second hand mid 80's Jap strat a few years back,
for next to nothing. It had an amazing neck on it. Impressed the
hell out of me, was as good as any US strat I have played.
I just installed a hot rails pickup, (Thanks to my Sweetheart !)
and its now one of my fave guitars...

For a few hundred bucks, and the right choices, you really can get
a great guitar happening. Ive played strats priced over $3000 here
in Oz that dont come close to this little beastie..

Thanks to Elvis too, (He recommended Jap strats to me at the time)

jojo2371
04-06-2005, 02:22 PM
amen to that panamark i got 4 fender japan strats and they r sweet ! and i got an orville les paul from japan and for 600$ it blows the real thing away !!!!!!!!!!!

Nitro Express
04-07-2005, 02:50 AM
I've played a lot a Strats and if you are familiar with Strats you know how inconsistant they can be. This cheap Strat has the total Strat vibe I was looking for. It just oozes great tone. I can't believe it.

Whoever in China built this thing fit the neck to the body perfectly. It's the best neck joint I've ever seen. Tight! It has resonance, the tremelo stays in tune remarkedly well, the setup was perfect from the factory. I just upgraded the pickups and man did I pick the right ones!

Shit, I can nail Stevie Ray Vaughn's Cold Shot with it, I can get Voodoo Child happening.

My daughter is pissed that I'm playing her guitar all the time when I have my nice guitars I won't let her touch. I broke a string and didn't replace it and she gave me hell over that. Shit, I might just buy her a new guitar and keep this thing for myself. LOL!

Panamark
04-07-2005, 08:12 AM
LOL ! Yeah do it ! You have given the best rap for a squire Ive
ever read, but I believe you, Ive played some squiers that
were not too bad... The Jap strats are better though.
You might have got a one off mate !
Buy your daughter another one.. :)

I actually have noticed the Jap strats are slowly becoming sought after. Could be worth hanging onto if you have em....
Excellent workmanship.

(As with most Jap guitars from that era)

Nitro Express
04-07-2005, 03:21 PM
Oh I'm sure we have a diamond in the rough. Who knows but the Squires and have played around with seem to be pretty good guitars for the money. A few years back I was in Guitar Center and this cool dark blue super strat type guitar caught my eye. It had the reverse Fender headstock, rear loaded with a Floyd Rose. When I looked at the Floyd Rose it was a real one made in Germany. Not a licensed one. I'm wondering who made it so I look at the headstock and see Squire. The guitar was $230 on closeout and seemed to play good. I didn't plug it in. An original Floyd brand new will cost you around $180 new. It was a heck of a deal but I didn't buy it and kind of regret not doing so.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I want to go to Guitar Center and just play all their Squire shit and see what I find. LOL!

GAR
04-07-2005, 08:11 PM
Take that middle lefty pickup, move it to her lead position.

Take that lead position, stick that in your lead guitar position, then move your lead pickup to her middle position.

That should make a nice setup for your guitar, and she won't miss the middle pickup sounding a tad different. Who uses the mid anyways - Blackmore pulled his out and just glued in the cover to fill the hole left in the pickguard.

DeadOrAlive
04-08-2005, 12:06 AM
Where and how much can i get good pickups?

Matt White
04-08-2005, 12:48 AM
Here's my 68 Reissue strat. Got it in 1996. I was born in 68 on the 29th of Feb. Bought it 2-29-96. Hhhmmmmm.........

Panamark
04-08-2005, 02:27 AM
Are those factory pickups, Matt ??

Matt White
04-08-2005, 12:04 PM
Originally posted by Panamark
Are those factory pickups, Matt ??

Yup Panamark! Not as hot as I'd like so I'm thinkin' of throwing some "Texas specials" in her! No hurry 'cause it still sounds sweet!:D

Nitro Express
04-09-2005, 02:24 AM
Switching the pickups won't do a thing because they are all the same. The middle isn't counterwound or anything. I just had three lefty 68 reissues laying around and thought they might sound good in my kids Strat. Yup, they do.

I never use the middle pickup except to play some funk rythum. LOL! I got to check out one of Yngwie Malmsteen strats and he screws his middle pickup all the way down to get it out of the way. Apparently that strat was one he scalloped the fingerboard himself. I guess Yngwie worked in a luthier shop in Sweden and is pretty good at building guitars.

Panamark
04-09-2005, 04:12 AM
Originally posted by Matt White
Yup Panamark! Not as hot as I'd like so I'm thinkin' of throwing some "Texas specials" in her! No hurry 'cause it still sounds sweet!:D

So Im guessing you never play with the pickup selector switch in the bridge only posistion while facing that JCM900 :)

Unless you love hum ???

Matt White
04-09-2005, 11:03 AM
Originally posted by Panamark
So Im guessing you never play with the pickup selector switch in the bridge only posistion while facing that JCM900 :)

Unless you love hum ???

:D The bridge gets that classic twang, but I move around alot! The selector is usually with the neck pickup though!:p

GAR
04-09-2005, 08:34 PM
Originally posted by Nitro Express
I guess Yngwie worked in a luthier shop in Sweden and is pretty good at building guitars.

He showed me how to do it, then I did my own neck the same way.

Nitro Express
04-13-2005, 03:43 AM
That's cool GAR. It looks like it's a lot of work to do and then it seems like it would create some crazy issues with the trussrod. Yngwie said he got the idea looking at an antique lute in Sweden. I think he came up with one of the coolest Strat designs with those huge jumbo frets and the scalloped neck.

Yngwie comes across as an egoed asshole in interviews but I hear he's actually quite nice in person. After watching him with Vai and Satriani on the G3 tour, he was my favorite out of those guys because he was getting a great sound and with single coils, your ass is right out there. I mean you have to play right on or the mistakes will just jump out at you. He had gained some wieght but he played wonderfully.

IpKaiFung
04-28-2005, 08:36 AM
I also have a squier strat. It's great to play for the money but I was thinking of changing the pickups. any recomendations?

Nitro Express
04-29-2005, 12:50 AM
If you like more of a Jimi Hendrix type of tone you can get Fender 68 reissue pickups for a left hand guitar pretty cheap at musiciansfriend.com. They are going to hum because they are just copies of the original pickups used in the late 60's. They even have the old braided type of lead wires. They sure sound good in my daughter's Squire. I mean it tottaly get's the Hendrix vibe. More so than my 70's reissue Strat. I think having the staggard pole pieces reversed has a lot to do with the Hendrix sound.

Panamark
04-29-2005, 02:26 AM
Originally posted by IpKaiFung
I also have a squier strat. It's great to play for the money but I was thinking of changing the pickups. any recomendations?

Read this thread. Hotrails for strat. Kick ass..

(If you want a great Hard Rock/Metal tone)

I put a Seymour Duncan Invader in the bridge position
on a strat once too, that was awesome too !

(If you dont mind the larger cutout in the scratch plate)

IpKaiFung
04-29-2005, 09:55 AM
cheers guys.
so hotrails for the bridge and an invader for the neck.
cool