generation zero Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 So, after gutting and rewiring it, and swapping out all the hardware to chrome, I was still less than satisfied with the hollow fake Gibby Les Paul... it played great, but sounded like garbage through my Mesa. My other guitarist played it through his Marshall though, and it sounded amazing. So, he offered me this guitar in trade... I couldn't pass it up. MIJ Fender Strat, antigua burst... it's hardly new, serial number dates it to '93-'94. It was once owned by a friend from another band way back, who is a lefty, so it has some telltale lefty scars... most noticably a strap pin hole on the lower bout, and ciggarette burns on the bottom of the headstock from sticking a ciggy under the strings Van Halen style. Bridge has been upgraded to a vintage spec american bridge, and it has a brass nut. It's wired with an active EMG 81 in the bridge, and two passive Bill Lawrence singles in the mid and neck positions. Not possible? That's what I thought... but, that's how this baby is wired, and it works fine. The workaround was that it was wired with NO tone or volume controls, and a three way switch instead of the standard five way. It's basically two completely separate circuits... Down is the bridge pup, mid position is totally off, and up is the two single coils together, not sure if they are wired series or parallel, or wether they're in or out of phase. I need to inspect that... sounds great through my headphone rig, need to crank it through the Mesa before I decide for sure wether to rewire it in a more standard configuration. I'm reluctant to mess with it, because it has a TON of mojo the way it is. I'll try to get more pics in daylight as soon as the weather clears up, it's been raining for days, with no end in sight, LOL. The pickguard color looks off in the photos, but it's a pretty near perfect match in real life. I don't know if the guard came this way, or if it was custom painted... the guy that owned it originally was well known for having his guitars custom painted, so the whole thing may be a custom deal. The guard is 3 ply b/w/b, with the antigua burst finish painted on top. Anbody have any cool info on these old Japanese Strats? The 3 bolt neck is intriguing to me, never seen one like it. There's a little hole below the one bolt, not sure if that has something to do with a neck adjustment or what. Any input is appreciated... Enjoy the pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Looks & no doubt sounds great !.........google guitar parts/used and a lot of Fender 3 bolt neck stuff comes up(eventually) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ef_in_fla Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Never seen a strat painted like that before, I bet it's custom. Pretty cool 4 sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexygibson Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 I think that you came out way ahead in that deal. Alot of the Fender guys own Japanese Strats and will tell you that the Japanese quality surpassed that of USA Fenders of the same time period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stig Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 I think that you came out way ahead in that deal. Alot of the Fender guys own Japanese Strats and will tell you that the Japanese quality surpassed that of USA Fenders of the same time period. I have a new Japanese Fender Jaguar bass, and it's fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochet Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Damn..that's uglee...reckon she's a player tho...:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epinder Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Great looking guitar. I have 2 MIJ strats and they are both fantastic guitars. Fender had the Antigua finish in the late '70s (if memory serves me) and they had a version out last year that was tied into Mr. Clapton and his Crossroads facility in Antigua. Enjoy, they are great guitars. EDIT: I just noticed the serial number and I think that is a "Q" at the onset. If so, that along with the "Crafted" would make the guitar a 2002 to 2004 CIJ guitar. It doesn't mean a thing though. Made in Japan or Crafted in Japan, either one is a good guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgrmatt Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Congrats Gen 0 awesome score!!! I'd like to echo what some others have said about the Fender Japan guitars my expirience with them have all been great they are well crafted instruments. mgm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntelligentAl Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Looks great, GZ. Let us know how it sounds through the Mesa! BTW, I was just looking through some of the picture threads on the Fender forum and came across a Strat with exactly the same paint job as yours. the only difference I can see is it was a three Single Coil Strat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation zero Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 Yeah, it does start with a Q, I'll check the fender page again, I may have just misread the dating codes. Either way, it plays great... as for the sound though, the best I can describe is that it sounds nice and heavy, but somewhat heartless. I now see what people mean when they say that playing a guitar with EMGs is more like playing the pickup than the guitar. The single coils must be wired out of phase, because that tone is very thin and hollow sounding. I think I am going to return it to a more standard wiring scheme, with a Gibson Burstbucker 2 that I already have in the bridge, and these in the mid and neck positions: http://store.guitarfetish.com/gfsprlifistc.html Or, I was considering using tele neck pickups from them, as they are a little cheaper, but they don't have a mid position model so I'm not sure how to go about it. http://store.guitarfetish.com/altenepiclch.html Any thoughts? I know the Gibson bucker isn't F-spaced, I'm prepared to deal with that. Oh, and upon further inspection, the pickguard was originally SSS, it was routed out to accomodate the EMG after the fact. So, this is probably one of the ones somebody mentioned finding photos of in a three single coil configuration, and less custom than I originally thought. Still way cool though, and even as it is, it sounds better throught the Mesa than the hollow Paul did, so I'm already ahead. I think I might get rid of the brass nut too, put a bone one in place of it. I definitely think chrome pickups will look hot in this one, just not sure on knobs. Probably go with chrome dome knobs for now, until I find something fittingly unique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floydpink7 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Wow, looks awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest icantbuyafender Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 uhm those dano types are HELLA jangly/clangy/twangy. Not knockin em, i had a surfcaster jackson that had three of em a few years back... but i say put in the burstbucker and keep the middle RW/RP pickup and put this baby in the neck: http://store.guitarfetish.com/alfaovpotene.html <===== effin amazing p-up and yeah... EMGs are over-rated and take away from your guitar's own unique nuances. LOVE that antigua finish bro. The cig burns add hella character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation zero Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 Yeah, I was afraid the true lipstick model might be a bit jangly... how are the covered tele neck pickups? I like the look of those better anyway... Could I use one of those in a mid spot without it being reverse wound? I really want the chrome covered look, I'm kinda funy about mis-matched pickups... with the exception of my beater Squier, which has a covered neck pup and an open coil bridge pup, I like all my guitars to have either all or no covered pups. That was the main reason I was never 100% happy with my tripleneck... the 7 string was open coil, and the other two were covered. I could never find gold covered 7 string pups, and the other ones sounded too good to warrant replacing with open coils. So I sold it. The other option would be to get an uncovered SD '59, and just leave the existing singles in there... just rewire them properly, with a 5 way switch. I'd rather go chrome though, for the look. How do you think the tele style neck pup I linked would work as a neck and middle model? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memphs1978 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 return that monkey to a SSS strat.. and that would be a badass guitar GZ i love it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation zero Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 return that monkey to a SSS strat.. and that would be a badass guitar GZ i love it.. If I could find the matching pickguard in an unmolested state, I might consider it, but one, I doubt I could find one the right color without spending a fortune, and two, if I plan to use it interchangably with my other guitars, it will need to stay a humbucker in the bridge... Any time I've tried using an all single coil guitar for our music, it seems to lack a certain something tone wise... I usually just end up replacing the bridge pickup with a single space humbucker like a JB Jr or a Lil' 59. So I figure since this one is already modded to accept a full size bucker, might as well use the burstbucker I have available. If I end up getting a 59, I'll get the 4 wire model so I can wire it for coil tap, that way I can still get that single coil sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memphs1978 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 eh... very true... that pickgard is prolly super uber rare lol if that is the case i would for sure coil tap the humbucker what sound are you looking for? im guessing prolly not the uber death metal's lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memphs1978 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 HOLD THE FU#K On where are the knobs?!?! wtf mate.. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest icantbuyafender Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Yeah' date=' I was afraid the true lipstick model might be a bit jangly... how are the covered tele neck pickups? I like the look of those better anyway... Could I use one of those in a mid spot without it being reverse wound? I really want the chrome covered look, I'm kinda funy about mis-matched pickups... with the exception of my beater Squier, which has a covered neck pup and an open coil bridge pup, I like all my guitars to have either all or no covered pups. That was the main reason I was never 100% happy with my tripleneck... the 7 string was open coil, and the other two were covered. I could never find gold covered 7 string pups, and the other ones sounded too good to warrant replacing with open coils. So I sold it. The other option would be to get an uncovered SD '59, and just leave the existing singles in there... just rewire them properly, with a 5 way switch. I'd rather go chrome though, for the look. How do you think the tele style neck pup I linked would work as a neck and middle model?[/quote'] i assumed the burstbucker was open coiled... i strongly reccomend the rw/rp middle stayin' put, to use a 5way switch. so open coils all the way... or covered bridge / exposed middle/ covered tele neck pup. or make a super strat with the kit they sell. all youd need is to pick up a bridge single or a set of single coils(3) . (boston blues set = BEST STRAT SET EVER) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation zero Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 LOL... The original owner was a lefty who played pretty heavy music, and always wanted his guitar "wide open", so he wired it without any control pots, since he was playing it upside down anyway, and if they were there, they just got in his way. It would have made it harder to wire with a combination of active and passive pickups with a master volume anyway, so it would have ended up with at least two separate knobs for volume... When I rewire it, I'll probably go back to a standard Strat wiring scheme, but I will research wiring diagrams first. I may just do independent volume knobs for each pup, as I rarely use the tone knobs on my Pauls. As for what I need in a tone, it's all straightforward hard rock, like Breaking Benjamin or Chevelle... Mainly just a nice, full distorted tone, although I do occasionally use a clean tone, for which I generally (on my Pauls) just roll back my neck pickup volume to around 3, and stay on my high gain channel... Unless it's a longer section like a whole intro and verse, I'll use the bridge pup on 10 on the clean channel of the amp, live anyway. Recording, I like the neck pup better, but that's two things to switch at once live, so I sacrifice a little warmth for easy switching, LOL. But definitely not a scooped mids type metal tone, which is what I imagine the EMG would excel at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memphs1978 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 i like the idea of 3 volume knobs.. thats very kool making one of them a push pull or hell get a 4 way switch and wire pos 1 or 2 the " taped " side that way no push pull knobs... humm... thats a kool idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation zero Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 i strongly reccomend the rw/rp middle stayin' put' date=' to use a 5way switch. so open coils all the way... or covered bridge / exposed middle/ covered tele neck pup. or make a super strat with the kit they sell. all youd need is to pick up a bridge single or a set of single coils(3) . (boston blues set = BEST STRAT SET EVER) [/quote'] So, there's no way to get the same end result of a reverse wound pup by wiring it differently, or installing it "backwards"? I really like the idea of having two of the tele neck style pickup with the covered Gibson bucker... Maybe I can talk to the guys at GFS and get them to make me one reverse wound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memphs1978 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 now that would be kool as hell too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generation zero Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 i like the idea of 3 volume knobs.. thats very kool making one of them a push pull or hell get a 4 way switch and wire pos 1 or 2 the " taped " side that way no push pull knobs... humm... thats a kool idea What might even be cooler if I could find the right knobs for it, would be three concentric pots, so each one had volume AND tone... But I would have to find some sort of chrome knob to fit my scheme... Or maybe chrome outer ring knobs for the tone, and black knobs for the top volume controls... That way the black switch tip would still fit the scheme. Ideally, I'd like one of those in chrome too, and just keep it all chrome. Maybe I'll do the tele style neck pup, and the lipstick jangly mid pup? Should make for some interesting combinations... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memphs1978 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 i like the way you think... with that color of guitar you could use any real color combo of metal knobs and pick up covers that you like and a lipstick ( danelectro style ) would be SOOO KICK ***! edit also keep the 5 ( pos 4 ) way switch and wire the dan-o style lipstick and tele pick up together.... oooo that would be kool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest icantbuyafender Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 super strat gives you kill/on/out of phase for EACH pickup so, you could go from one tone (neck [1st toneknob at 6] + bridge GOOD HEAVY ROCK SOUND) then kick the bridge off [flick of a switch] and use the neck's rounded tone (remember the knob is at 6) to hit your cleans the bridge is the one that drives the amp harder to distort it and has no tone knob so, flicking it off eases up on the tubes = clean schtuff i just tried it on my superstrat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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