Component swap :: 1986 Fender MIJ Stratocaster Contemporary [7.9 lbs]

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A local player for a funk band picked up this made in Japan Strat years ago and loves how it plays, but not so much on how it sounds.  He found the original pickups to be lacking output (all pickups 6.0k) so he brought it by the shop to install new guts under the pickgaurd.  The new pickups he supplied are GFS 1963 Strat Texas wound pickups with their outputs reading 6.1k (neck), 6.5k (middle - RW/RP) and 8.6k in the bridge.  The middle pickup's "RW/RP" stands for "reverse wound / reverse polarity" which means that it is hum cancelling when combined with the neck or bridge pickup (positions 2 & 4 on the 5-way switch).  He also supplied CTS pots, a 0.022 µf Orange Drop tone cap, new 5-way switch and Switchcraft output jack.

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1960's Teisco May Queen [7.6 lbs] :: rewire & setup

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1960's Teisco May Queen [7.6 lbs] :: rewire and setup

A player found this in the trash and brought it by to get it playing.  The electronics were rewired and the frets were loose and glued down.  I shot another quick video to keep up on my video editing practice so keep an eye out for it on the blog.

Loose frets :: 1960's Teisco May Queen

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Loose frets :: 1960's Teisco May Queen

Just about every fret end on this neck is "sprung" and needs to be glued and clamped back down.  Not ideal, but it will hopefully make it more playable and save the player some cash on a total refret (which it could use as the frets are fairly low).

Installing a middle pickup :: 1997 Fender Jaguar [8.9 lbs]

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Installing a middle pickup :: 1997 Fender Jaguar [8.9 lbs]

A made in Japan Jag in for a middle pickup installation.  This guitar has been in the shop a few times before to remove a Buzz Stop, replace a Tuneomatic with a Mastery bridge and swapping out the pickups for Lollars.

Adding a middle pickup involved routing the pickguard, copper top shield and the body (prep photo here).  The low-cut / strangle switch was moved to a Bourns 1 meg push-pull pot that replaced the stock tone pot.  The original Lollar neck pickup was moved to the middle position and a new Curtis Novak went up front.  All pickups are selected via the three-switch plate.

This setup sounds incredible.  Wow.

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Adding a 3rd pickup :: 1997 Fender Jaguar

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Adding a 3rd pickup :: 1996 Fender Jaguar

Stripping down and prepping for a middle pickup installation on a 90's Japanese Fender Jaguar.  The new pickup is a Curtis Novak, the other two are Lollars.