i just got back into playing the guitar about 6 months ago after not playing for about 6 years, and have picked it back up rather quickly.
pretty soon im looking to start making my own electric guitars for a hobby, i have alot of the tools im gonna need because of my trade, its just finding materials(which really isn't that hard i just haven't been bothered yet).

but first i want to modify my old fender squire, i know that their not very good guitars but settle down it was my first one. i want to try and get a more rockier, solid sort of sound out of it. so if any of you have some hints, tips, ideas for pick-ups or anything really let me know.

btw, i do know it would be heaps cheaper and easier just to buy a new guitar, its just something i want to try.

http://www.stewmac.com
http://www.allparts.com
http://www.warmoth.com

That should wet your whistle until you abandon the idea.

(Sorry for the cynicism...)

__________________
-Goose

just researched some seymour duncans for ya.

what type of pick ups are in there now?
(single coil/humbucker?)

my ibanez is

Humbucker/Single/Humbucker

if its a squire it would probably be singles but im not sure.
and it would only need a different scratch plate mould if you want a different set up.

If you want a humbucker (more rounder, less feedback-prone pick up) this little baby would do the job:
Seymour - "SLSD-1 george lynch li’l screamin’demon"
George Lynch is an amazing guitarist. (origninal Dokken guitarist)

theres a bunch more here http://www.seymourduncan.com/product...nDemonforStrat
each one has a good description.

plus a good distortion or overdrive pedal would bring the rockier sounds out like nothing else.

usually a good distortion and good pick ups are the main ingredients to good sounds.

peace

thanks for the advice fellas, ill be sure to show you when its finished.

I would not bother man, pretty much every part on a Squire guitar is crap. Even the body is not even made out of solid wood!! The neck is useless, as is ALL the hardware, and the electronics.

Now if you want, you could say, use this guitar as a base for making a really GOOD strat. Start off by getting a new neck from Warmoth, to replace the crap neck on the Squire. Then get a new nut and tuning machines for it. Then get new electronics and a new bridge, then eventually when yo uhave the money to finish it, take the whole thing apart, and replace the body with a proper one from Warmoth.

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"Women and rhythm section first!" - sambob@gmail.com

Well first off, to get a new "rockier" sound you'll need to redo all the existing wiring on the inside, and since you're not a master crafter guitar worksman i'd suggest you try and get someone to do it for you. If you don't like that idea get ahold of a do it yourself manual. And purchase a kit of pre-saughtered wiring so you can just drop it into the body of the guitar

ANd wtf is this guy obsessed with warmoth or something, they make lousy instruments in my oppinion, if you have the funds buy something that wasn't a discharge from a syphalis infected cock.

so basicly buy a warmoth guitar? :P

^^ This guy is a complete troll, he doesn't even know what Warmoth is.

Warmoth sells custom made parts (and is a dealer for some of the best electronics and hardware). What I mean is, you build a Warmoth guitar slowly, so you don't have to spend $1000 all at once. You do this by gradually replacing all of the parts that make up your current strat, until eventually all of the parts are from Warmoth. Of course i'm not saying Warmoth is necesarily the best place to get everything.

For example, I would probably get the body and neck from Warmoth (the complete necks, including tuning machines and nut). The pickups I would get from musiciansfriend.com , since they sell DiMarzio pickups (and btw, I have something else to say about pickups... ****). Dependin on what kind of bridge you go for, it may be cheaper to buy it at allparts.com or stewmac.com, so consider that too.

Personally I think doing this whole process will in th end give you the best guitar you can get for your money, hands down. THE best stratocasters in the world for example, are those made by John Suhr. John uses Warmoth bodies and necks, if you ever played one they would blow your mind. Almost worth the $3000+ they cost. Except, you could build it yourself for around $1000!

But if you do it this way (building it gradually by odiying your Squire!) you will still have a guitar to play during the process. Personally I would recommend starting with the neck or pickups first, since they will make the biggest difference in how the instrument plays or in the case of the pickups (how it sounds). If you for example, went with DiMarzio for pickups,, you could get three single coils (or two single coils and a humbucker) for less than $200 easily, or likely closer to $150. If you go for a new neck, you will need to also get the tuning machines and nut at the same time, so it will be a little more expensive. A basic (but still AMAZING) strat replacement neck from Warmoth is going to start at around $160. this will vary depending on the woods you choose for the neck and other options like the fingerboard radius, fret type (I think stainless steel frets are amazing on strats), if you want a scalloped fingerboard like Yngwie has, if you want a stain or finish on the neck,etc etc.. But you can get a basic maple strat neck, which will still play etter than any strat neck that Squire or Fender has EVER MADE, for about $160. Then add in a nut and tuning machines.... you could end up paying as little as $250, but I think $300 is a more realistic price.

For you the nut and tuning machines may not matter much, BUT they are more important than you may think. The nut has a big impact on how the guitar sounds, what kind of sustain you get, and in certain cases, whether the guitar stays in tune or not. At the very least get a graphite nut, they are the best type of nut hands down (not counting fancy nuts that serve different functions). It won't cost you anything really, but a graphite nut will sound much warmer than the plastic you are used to. A graphite nut precut and installed in your neck will cost $30.

You still have other options though, a great option I feel is an LSR nut. the LSR nut has ball bearings in the part of the nut that the strings sit in this gives the string NO resistance as it slides through the nut. Gives you better sustain, better bending, vibrato, better tuning and intonation especially when you are making big bends and using a whammy bar that would normally effect the tuning of the guitar. One of these will cost you $45 to have the neck prepaed for installation, and the actual nut will cost an additional $40.

One more option that Wrmoth has is called the Earvana compensating nut. What this does, is compensate (with a guitar that has properly setup intonation), for the inherent difficulties in tuning a guitar. With the Earvana nut, your strings will be much more in tune with themselves as you play higher and higher on the neck, very cool for people that are bothered by the inherent problems to tuning guitar because of the nature of an instrument with frets. They are $30 and can be installed in the same size cuts that traditional nuts are installed in.

The tuning machines have a lot more options. Your basic choics are... locking or non locking? Locking tuners screw in tight and keep the string attached to the tuner, instead of just wrapped around it. I find them to be INCREDIBLY effect. They hold the strings in tune very well, and make the restringing process a lot easier than with traditional tuners. Also, with locking nuts, you don't have to wrap extra string around the tuning head just to keep the string tension (and keep the strings in tune, and keep them in the tuning machine!). Because they LOCK the strings in place, you just need the exact length of string that reaches the tuning machine, you pull it through it, lock it, then cut off the excess thats all there is to it. Brand doesn't matter much, if you buy at Warmoth....... all of the tuning machines they offer are high quality. Personally I think Sperzel are the best by far, but all the ones made by the major brands (Sperzel, Gotoh, and Schaler) are all VERY good. To make it easy, you could buy the Schalers from Warmoth for an additional $50.

so if you get a maple neck with a graphite nut and Schaler locking tuners, it will cost you $240. Good deal! If you instead go for the LSR nut, it will be more like $300.


**** Regarding pickups. Seymour-Duncan pickups are popular, yes aI'll admit. HOWEVER, I would not even bother with them. The main reason is that Seymour Duncan pickups use older technology than the leader in pickups (DiMarzio) does. What this means for you, is that S-D pickups don't compensate at all for the magnetic pull from the pickups, which results in a loss of sustain! So in my mind, all S-D pickups are crap, despite how they might sound. Now in terms of sound ANYWAY, I have always found DiMarzio to be superio, but that is all just opinion the S-D fans will say. Still, thre is not pickup S-D makes that I think DiMarzio doesnt have one in the same style thats much better. Especially for the most popular types of pickups, like PAF style humbuckers... DiMario makes TONS of different options for these, you can get pickups for EXACTLY the tone you want, and even then you have options. You could get the ton you want with classic alnico-5 magnets, you could get them with alnico-2 for low string pull, or even DiMarzios "Virtual" line that uses diferent methods entirely to produce the classic sounds people want, but with virtully NO magnetic pull! Hell you could even get them with pickup covers. DiMarzio also has a great line of both traditional, and hum cancelling single coil pickups.

For your single coils (whether you just need two, or want to stay with a thee single coil configuration) I think another company you should look into is that of Bill Lawrence. Bill makes incredibly rich in tone single coil pickups, just unlike anything else made out there. they're not for everyone, but if you love single coils, his are some of the best.

Also John Suhr sells his pickups separately (available from Tone Merchants, www.tonemerchants.com I believe..), and they are amazing as well.

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*pulls out reading glasses*

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