KVR Audio

Stupid American Pig · Post by **Stupid American Pig** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:12 am

I have a standatd mexistrat that while I have often thought about selling, only realize that it has one of the most comfortable necks of any guitar I have played at any price. it really just fits my hands perfectly.

My main dislikes- the factory pickups are fender twang times 100. I just generally think they sound weak and tinny mesself. My other gripe, the bridge, I would like more sustain and heft to the strings, and this one is kinda weak and actually buzzes and resonates on some strings. While I got this guitar for about 100 bucks from a friend, and it is indeed all factory electronics, so its not a bootleg or anything.

I also have a heavily modded Epiphone Sheraton that I replaced the tuners with vintage green gison deluxe, new gibson POTS from an LP, a Gibson P-94 humbucker sized P-90 in the neck and SD phat cat P-90 in the bridge. This guitar sounds fantastic to my ears, just enough gain bass and treble. however, as it is also used, it is dangerously close to needing a refret on the first 4 frets, and the neck just isnt as comfortable for my hack rhythm guitar style. This sheraton has a very slim flat neck with very little curvature, and it gets my hands crampy after a good half hour of playing. where I can play the strat for hours no problem.

in terms of the sound Im looking for, I would like a beefy humbucker alternative that I can use for my new high gain experimentation as of late. Im not looking uber heavy metal distortion, just something with slightly less high end and slightly more low end than the sheraton that I could drop into my strat. seems to me that this would be cheaper than getting an LP or ES 175 or SG. On the other hand, I would like to keep the 3 pickup options in the strat , so I was thinking a humbucker in the bridge and neck and a new noiseless single coil in the middle. Any suggestions? I figger since the strat only costs 350-400 new I dont want to spend much more than 2-250.

james0tucson · Post by **james0tucson** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:44 am

Stupid American Pig wrote:I have a standatd mexistrat that while I have often thought about selling, only realize that it has one of the most comfortable necks of any guitar I have played at any price. it really just fits my hands perfectly.

My main dislikes- the factory pickups are fender twang times 100.

Please don't ruin this guitar...

vinayk · Post by **vinayk** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 3:11 am

If i'm not mistaken the standard mexi strat has 3 single coil pickups right? I'm assuming that you dont want to really muck around with the guitar pick guard etc?

Seymour Duncan make a lot of nice stacked humbuckers --> maybe that would be something that you could look into? The Cool Rails looks mighty nice! Or a JB Jnr? (i just listened to the demos on the website.. really depends on what you are after)

As far as humbuckers go, things like the Dimarzio FRED or Tone Zone may be prefect for you? (that is if your guitar already has a bridge humbucker).

I modded my Jackson guitar a good number of years back - at that stage all I cared about was super high gain, so I bought the Dimarzio "X2N" pickup.. which is all treble, in your face high gain style.. and also a PAF Pro for the neck - which is much more rounded...

Despite what anyone may say - good pickups make a HUGE difference to the sound of the guitar, though that very much depends on your playing ability (I replaced mine way before I needed to... but hey... I still love the guitar.. and it still sounds great so...)

Also make sure to see if your money would be better spent on a nice tube amp? (if you dont already have one...)

Hope this helped?

Vinay

PaulG · Post by **PaulG** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 3:19 am

If the strat has a standard pickguard, EMG has a drop-in pickguard WITH pickups and those are the hottest around, but they don't HAVE to go that hot...

Dominus · Post by **Dominus** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 3:34 am

Stick a Seymour Duncan JB Junior in the bridge of the Fender, that will thicken up the sound and give you some gain without being overpowering. It will also fit right in without having to replace the pickguard or anything. Twang on the strings? It might just need a good setup. What size strings are you using? I'd recommend 46-10s, maybe even 50-11s to give you some heft. I consider 50-11s to be a light set myself.

Heavy set? 70-13s.

tomg · Post by **tomg** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 3:57 am

james0tucson wrote:
Stupid American Pig wrote:I have a standatd mexistrat that while I have often thought about selling, only realize that it has one of the most comfortable necks of any guitar I have played at any price. it really just fits my hands perfectly.

My main dislikes- the factory pickups are fender twang times 100.

Please don't ruin this guitar...

+100 - Get a good setup and leave that guitar alone.

Just wait until you can find a guitar that meets your requirements cheap. I got this one for $140 on evilbay. Slapped another spring on the trem and spent about 2 hours getting it set up. It's by far more shredder than I'll ever need. Gotta love the shark fin mother of pearl.

http://www.ele4music.com/pics/250.jpg

rockstar_not · Post by **rockstar_not** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 3:58 am

hey SAP,

One thing you will have to do is to re-wire the tone controls so that you will have tone control on the bridge, as std. strats just directly wire the bridge pup to the volume control.

I have a MIM Fat Strat, and even that HB sounded too crispy as it was wired.

I found a mod where it turned the neck tone knob into a master tone control and the middle pup tone knob is now a variable tap on the HB; really cool - at 0 it's a single coil and by the time you get to 10, it's HB. I can roll-off some of the highs with the neck tone control and even with that crummy HB, I can get plenty of pinched harmonics and what not.

Your bridge shouldn't buzz. Are you sure all of the individual saddle screws are set for the same height, in pairs, on each saddle.

Sounds like it just needs a good setup by someone.

-Scott

tomg · Post by **tomg** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 4:08 am

The RG250 was discontinued because it was too inexpensive for what it was. The current version is the RG350. If you can't wait for a deal, Sameday has these new for $399

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--IBARG350DX

Please don't screw up your strat... You'll thank me for this a few years from now.

Sickle · Post by **Sickle** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 4:21 am

Get a Les Paul.

All problems solved..

tomg · Post by **tomg** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 4:28 am

Sickle wrote:Get a Les Paul.

All problems solved..

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/681/bi40mn.jpg

My Paul is nice..hell all of my guitars are nice but I reach for the 250 90% of the time. LPs cost an arm and a leg too. If it's a shredder he wants the RG series with wizard II necks are the most awesome guitars ever for the price.

Do you get the idea I like these guitars?

Sickle · Post by **Sickle** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:09 am

I'll take an Ibanez any day over a frichen doo-doo Strat-0-Crap..

Ibanez necks are famously comfortable, can hold heavier guage strings(if that's your thing; it's mine, obviously) and the stock pickups are always great as well. Way less weight than a LP, and you don't get that tinny/crap sound that is SIGNATURE for Strats.

In case you haven't noticed, I hate the f**kers. I traded a tattoo for a strat once just so I could do a Townsend move on it..The guy cried when I did it, but f**k it, a deal's a deal.

mensturbation · Post by **mensturbation** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:13 am

if you ever want to sell, i want to buy.

tomg · Post by **tomg** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:53 am

Sickle wrote:I'll take an Ibanez any day over a frichen doo-doo Strat-0-Crap..

Ibanez necks are famously comfortable, can hold heavier guage strings(if that's your thing; it's mine, obviously) and the stock pickups are always great as well. Way less weight than a LP, and you don't get that tinny/crap sound that is SIGNATURE for Strats.

In case you haven't noticed, I hate the f**kers. I traded a tattoo for a strat once just so I could do a Townsend move on it..The guy cried when I did it, but f**k it, a deal's a deal.

All you need is a Marshall and Strats start to sound great. There is nothing better for twangy blues or funky rhythms. Not all strats are twangy it's hard to make one twangy that isn't naturally twangy.

Check out Rhino. This guy knows how to use a strat.

tomg · Post by **tomg** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:53 am

mensturbation wrote:if you ever want to sell, i want to buy.

Not a chance...

Although the 350 is the same guitar it's got better pickups and a better trem. They come from the factory setup and ready to burn. So it's not like you can't get your own... Black with a mirror pickguard... that's going to harder to come by..

Or is that for the Strat?

beltrom · Post by **beltrom** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:11 am

PaulG wrote:If the strat has a standard pickguard, EMG has a drop-in pickguard WITH pickups and those are the hottest around, but they don't HAVE to go that hot...

I've always wanted the EMG DG-20, but since I got the Variax it doesn't seem as necessary.
It sounds like a good choice for the OP though.

hey guitar gurus