Optiskate
First Lieutenant  Posts: 8 Registered: 8/1/2007 Status: Offline
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posted on 8/1/2007 at 21:14 |
So I've got a Squire Strat apparently made in China. It used to be my
buddies guitar and he got it from his uncle. So I have no idea how old the
guitar is, all I know is that its had a very rough life.
My first issue is that it buzzes like crazy. It always has as far as I
know. My friend let me play it a lot while I was teaching myself how to
play. The buzzing hasn't got any worse, its just loud as hell.
The other issue I have is that it sounds like crap on every pickup position
aside from right at the bridge pickup. It always has. The farther toward
the neck pickup you get, the more it sounds dull and horribly crappy it
sounds.
Everything else about the guitar is totally smooth, but it didn't come like
that. My friend put a bit of time into it. He said that I could put a
hummbucker in the bridge position. Something like that might come later.
Right now I'm thinking about rewiring it, adding shielding, painting it a
matt black, having the metal hardware powder coated black, getting black
knobs (I like things black and visually simple... like Russel Mitchel's
choppers), and doing stuff internally thats needed. I have a pot that
shorts and so fixing it would be really nice.
As far as the wiring goes, I am not an electrical guy. Give me a wrench and
a broken Jeep, let me have at it, and I'll be happy all day long.
Electrical issues just make me mad, but I'm pretty sure that wiring a
guitar is a lot more simple than finding an electrical issue in a car. I've
found quite a few diagrams and for the most part it seems simple. When I
rewire it, do I need to achieve a certain resistance? Will running a large
gauge wire affect anything?
I don't have a whole ton of experience playing different guitars, so for my
own future reference, does any one have any suggestions to help me fit this
guitar more to my playing style. I play a bit of Tool, NIN, Marilyn Manson,
on occasion some Audio Slave, and some time I attempt and fail John 5's
stuff miserably. 
Can any one point me in a direction to experiment with my strat-o-bastard
(which is probably what it will end up being). After all, thats how I
learn. Research, tinker, research, tinker, research, tinker. I'm just a bit
lost as I really have no musical back ground. I just picked up a guitar
about 4 years ago and taught myself how to play. Some direction to start
myself out would definitely help greatly.
I'm not in any way trying to stick to strat roots. If it ends up an Ibanez
or BC Rich or what ever in a Strat's body, then so be it. As long as I
enjoy playing it, then thats all that matters to me.
Any way, thank you for your time and reading through my ridiculously long
post.
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Guitar101
Moderator   Posts: 481 Registered: 12/22/2003 Status: Offline |
posted on 8/1/2007 at 21:28, Reply 1 |
| How does the neck look? Look down the neck from the head stock down. It
should have a slight bow and shouldn't be straight. The pickups are
cheapies and the sheilding is proberly poor. ____________________
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Optiskate
First Lieutenant Posts: 8 Registered: 8/1/2007 Status: Offline |
posted on 8/1/2007 at 21:38, Reply 2 |
quote:
How does the neck look?
Look down the neck from the head stock down. It should have a slight bow
and shouldn't be straight. The pickups are cheapies and the sheilding is
proberly poor.
There is a slight bow. Would shielding make a big difference? I figured the
guitar was straight out of an early 80's starter kit or something like
that, although I have no way to confirm or debunk my theory. It just says
squire strat by fender on the front of the head stock and made in china on
the back with a serial number.
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Guitar101
Moderator Posts: 481 Registered: 12/22/2003 Status: Offline |
posted on 8/2/2007 at 00:26, Reply 3 |
| If it was me I would get some new pickups. What kind of music do you play? ____________________
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Optiskate
First Lieutenant Posts: 8 Registered: 8/1/2007 Status: Offline |
posted on 8/2/2007 at 06:17, Reply 4 |
quote:
If it was me I would get
some new pickups. What kind of music do you play?
My guitar spends about 75% of its life in drop D, 15% in Drob B, 5% in
B,E,D,G,B,E (don't know what its called), and 5% in standard E.
I tend to play a lot of Tool and NIN. So I guess mostly metal. Every now
and then I'll throw in some Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, White Zombie,
AudioSlave, or Powerman5000. I attempt to play some John 5 stuff on
occasion, but its usually slow going and hard for me to play as fast as him
without days of practice on end. I tend to shred the top strings a lot in
between power chords and what ever else I can think of to keep things
interesting an fresh sounding when I write my own stuff. I'm not in a band,
I just write stuff when I get bored playing other peoples stuff.
Not to long ago I got to play a Mockingbird that had a dimebucker in the
bridge position and a slash signature series at the neck. I absolutely
loved that guitar (aside from how the neck would fall when you let go of
it). I've also been interested to check out either the Zakk Wylde signature
series pickups or the Kelly King signature series pickups with the PA2. I'd
have to play a guitar with either first before I dropped that kind of money
though.
At the moment I think I'm going to try to shield my guitar, rewire it,
replace the pots, reground it, and see where that leaves me. I know it wont
fix the crappy sound every where but at the bridge pickup, but maybe it
will keep the buzz down. The pickups will come a bit later when I've got a
few more extra dollars floating in the bank.
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Guitar101
Moderator Posts: 481 Registered: 12/22/2003 Status: Offline |
posted on 8/2/2007 at 09:47, Reply 5 |
| Ohhh sound Buzz not string buzz. ____________________
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Optiskate
First Lieutenant Posts: 8 Registered: 8/1/2007 Status: Offline |
posted on 8/2/2007 at 16:58, Reply 6 |
Oh no, theres no string buzz. Just the noisy single coils, probably bad
grounding, crappy pots, and a serious lack of shielding. My middle pickup
is reverse wound apparently, because I have no buzz in positions 2 and 4,
but I play in 5 where its the worst because the bridge is the only position
that sounds good. The tone on all the other positions gets progressively
more dull the farther away from the bridge you get. The 4th position sounds
ok, but after that the rest sound like crap.
I read that shielding the single coils themselves would change the tone.
Can any one confirm that?
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Guitar101
Moderator Posts: 481 Registered: 12/22/2003 Status: Offline |
posted on 8/2/2007 at 18:07, Reply 7 |
| I would check all the grounds and add some like to the body and bridge if
they are missing. Is there any foil under the electronics? ____________________
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Optiskate
First Lieutenant Posts: 8 Registered: 8/1/2007 Status: Offline |
posted on 8/2/2007 at 20:42, Reply 8 |
quote:
I would check all the
grounds and add some like to the body and bridge if they are missing. Is
there any foil under the electronics?
I got nothing. So what kind of foil is appropriate? Just your standard run
of the mill stuff you'd find in your kitchen with some adhesive to hold it
on? If so, how many layers would you recommend?
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tattoo
Captain   Posts: 286 Registered: 7/31/2004 Status: Offline |
posted on 8/2/2007 at 21:34, Reply 9 |
You can buy the stick on kind and one layer is good enough. Most guitars
with pickguards have the foil. High quality copper foil is the best. The
Pics shown below are the way to go.
 ____________________
Get the name to sell first then the trend makes millions.
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