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Upgrading your guitar? Alder wood? Any good?


mrjones200x

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I know there are lots of people on here who upgrade there epi's with new pups and diff caps and pots ect to get the best out of them. I will be shortly upgrading my pups to semour duncan alnico2 (Think there the same as the slash guitar)

 

Anyway i recently purchased a bargin basment gitar from my local cash convertors. Its an aria stg series guitar. Got it for £30 with gig bag in brand new condition. one very small scratch on it. Think its never been played.

The guitar is made of alder wood and the neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. Now as its a cheap guitar is it possible to make it sound really nice with a few mods?

 

I mean i would buy second hand pups and new pots but as i say its in new condition. At the moment it plays very well for a guitar you can get for £120. The neck is nice it stays in tune well the action is too high but can sort that easy. Pickups actually sound nice when distorted. Can get a nice clapton sound like Layla on my epi valve junior.

 

When you upgrade a LP it starts with a mahogany body which i always say is good (Even if its not premien woods like on Gibbys) This is made of Alder, Can you make a good sounding guitar out of Alder wood? Is there any famous guitars made from this? My yamaha was made from this but i never upgraded it so never made the best of it.

 

Would it be worth spending a few quid on it you reakon? Im never going to be able to buy a Genuine fender strat so this for now is gonna be my strat type and sounding guitar. I know it'll never sound like a fender strat but i wanna make it the best i possibly can for a cheap price.

 

My Epi LP is my main guitar for everything i play

My Kramer Striker now repainted is my 80's rock and metal guitar mainly for using wammy and doing pinch's ect.

My aria stg will be my Fender strat type guitar for other rock where a fender strat was used.

 

Thanks

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Fender guitars are made of alder and ash, nothing wrong with them.

Even Epiphone have used alder in Les Paul type guitars.

The most famous player using a alder guitar (Fender Stratocaster) was Jimi Hendrix.

Others are SRV, Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher, Ritchie Blackmore, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Vaughan etc.

 

Peter

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despite anything ever that could be said. even for a knock of pricelike £100 or so it sounds like a strat and probably plays like one too. i have a amongst my lot a tanglewood fst32 it sounds just like the modeled line6 variax version of the 59 strat. and sounds like every other strat type made of alder with maple neck. this is the wood a fender strat is made of although sometimes ash and now mahogany? mine is a bit cheaper but similar to alder in tone it's chinese poplar. basswood is darker. mahogany is darkest sounding some say warmer. plywood is way heavy i would not buy one of them guitars. i had one years ago though. i got mine for £30 or so although you have a nicer one by the sound of it.

 

but i bet your thread will be deleted as the mods like to now and again!

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Thanks guys was thinking it might get deleted so just wanted advice to see if it was worth upgrading it. Like i say the build quality is top notch. Didnt realise fender use to use alder bodys.

 

Do most people with a fender strat here upgrade the pickups are the std's good?

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I agree on that. Good for ibanez shredders throughout. One exception tho being Stevie Vai. He makes them sound great with feeling and even brings a nice tone.

 

One thing tho, wasnt van halen's famous Kramer 5150 made from bass wood??? =;

 

My fav guitarist with a crap guitar ](*,) Hey my Kramer is PLY!!!!

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wasnt van halen's famous Kramer 5150 made from bass wood??? =;

 

I dunno...wasn't every guitar in the 80s? ](*,)

 

To me there's only one EVH guitar. Alltho it was fitted with different necks throughout its history, the original Frankenstein always had a swamp-ash body.

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I love swamp ash for strat bodies but it is a pain in the butt putting grain filler on them, especially the radiused edges. That is some deep grain and when the nitro cures and you start wet sanding every single flaw POPS out at you.

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I am a fan of the frankenstrat but still prefer the 5150 Kramer. Love the look of single hum pickup with just a volume. Said it all about rock in those days!!

 

My 5150 is still in the process all finished except couple of black lines on back and needs final rubbing down and finishing. Will be in my avatar when done.

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"Do most people with a fender strat here upgrade the pickups are the std's good?"

 

the main problem for me is hum. i have a fretlight fg200 hard tail. has a midi converter on it. this is a stand alone learning (other scales.) and midi usage guitar for me. not for jumping around with. so i'll keep them stock. they sound like a strat and they hum! then i a cheapy tanglewood. it has a tremolo on. strat sounds and humm but i'll keep them stock for now. then i have an fretlight fg400 so i can download tab and learn it on the fretboard! this is oddly wired. i think 1 and 4 don't hum and the others do. the pickups don't sound like a strat at all. but then i got it off ebay mmm... this is a hardtail i think i'm going to put some gfs lil killers in (i don't like the name though.) as these in it are bland and i don't like the sound of it. so it's a good candidate for experimentation. the lil killers are humbuckers also. i will add a coil tap also i think. i will keep some strat like as i am after a "vintage av6." a strat with stacked p90's with a roll off control for p90 single and p90 humbukers! some hum will be reduced with this. and i'll have strat sounds when i want to swap guitars.](*,)/

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