That's right, I did it and I ain't sorry.
I had those Samarium Cobalt pickups long enough. Firstly, Samarium as an element reminds me too much of the movie called, The Ring. That friggin' movie creeped me out and after a while those S-1 didn't do anything for me except not hum. To me, the S-1 sounded too much like a humbucker without being a humbucker. So fuck that ambivalent sound.
Enter Lollar, and I'll be the first to admit that I am a Jason Lollar fan. He could probably wire a turd and I'd extol the virtues of that turdy sound. Nevertheless, I want my cake and eat it, too, and what I mean is that even though I am converting my
50th Anniversary Deluxe Strat, I still want to keep all the parts intact so that I can swap back or sell the instrument and not suffer any loss of value. Granted, this isn't a vintage '62 but it's a nice guitar that is worthy of gigging and thus will probably last long beyond my time so it deserves proper care. I gave it that care...
First step, I capo'd the strings and removed the guitar neck. This allows me to not have to put on new strings, especially since I've done that recently. Also, if it was a customer's guitar, they might not appreciate having to pay for new strings due to the fact that their service person lacks imagination.
My second step was to wire up my new replacement pickguard independent of the stratocaster body. I chose a mint green pickguard, cream knobs and pickup covers. This sounds easy and is for the most part, but you want to make sure you are careful not to screw something up. If you are counting time, it probably took me about 3 hours to complete this job and that time included doing the dishes (got to maintain the relationship - I ain't stupid!) and collecting my tools which I managed to scatter all over the friggin' place. I put all that stuff together and then I soldered the wire for the pickup to the 5-way selector switch. Therefore, the pickups, pots and selector switch were installed on the back of the mint green pickguard. Next...
I removed the S-1 system as a whole. This meant that I only had to unsolder the ground wires and the jack in order to remove the assembly which included the pickups, pots, and knobs. I placed the assembly in a ziplock bag for storage after un-soldering the wires.
Now that the body is free of pickguards and a jack, I gave the instrument a wipe down to remove some of that food, sweat, and incidental beverages that may have crept underneath my old pickguard. Use water and a soft towel, and only use some other agent to clean if necessary. While you have the guitar apart, check to make certain the ground wires to the tremolo are still attached, and that the shielding ground is making good contact.
Okay, it's go time! I've got my new pickguard wired up using 250K pots, 5-way switch, Emerson 0.015MFD 300V cap, cloth wire, new jack, and a resistor. AlsIgottado now is attach the ground wire and the hot wire from the jack. Remember that when you install the jack, that the contact point for the jack must face away from the sides of the jack cut-out and also away from the pickguard; otherwise the contact point will come into contract with the body or the pickguard, and not allow you to put the jack in thus leaving everybody unsatisfied. After installing the jack, TEST YOUR SET-UP before you bolt it all back together. If it works;
- Put the pickguard on, but don't secure it completely.
- Install the neck and tune it to pitch.
- Upon installing the neck, fasten the pickguard securely.
- Set the pickup height - I rough it in while pressing the E strings at the highest fret: 1/8" (or 4mm) at the bass side, 3/32" (2mm) treble side. Too close is worse than too far in my estimation. Don't fuck up!
- Go back and loosen your neck screws a few turns, and use the string tension to help seat the neck. Now, secure your guitar neck well.
- As long as you didn't do some bone head adjustment that you forgot about prior to final assembly, then you should be able to play your guitar now.
- If something doesn't work - quit. Find a new hobby! And....
- Check over all of your adjustments and screws, etc....
- Put that thing through an amp - What are you waiting for???
Now that I have completed the conversion from the S-1 to (insert your favorite pickup here) I love my new Lollar specials and Emerson Cap setup. The guitar sounded filtered and muffled to me before, and now it's a raging beast capable of ripping the flesh off your body and blood flowing from your ears. Perfect. Why didn't I do this sooner; oh yeah, I have other things to do - like dishes and raking leaves......
I should have done some sound files to show the difference before and after, but I have found that tone is subjective and it's all a giant bullshit festival when it comes to the forums and guitar coffee klatches. Indeed, scientifically speaking, the sum total makes a huge difference because you have the guitar, strings, pickups, fingers, amps, and room that comprise your sound, so fuck those sound files. The damn guitar sounds better, and I am not going out and blowing $1200 bucks or whatever the cost when I can make myself happy doing the work myself and chucking $300 in parts to make my day -- pretty!
Thanks go out to James Hingston and Brian Michael who told me to do this long ago, but I thought they were full of shit (just kidding!).
