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

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

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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Full contact neck shim :: 2015 Squire Jaguar [8.6 lbs]

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Full contact neck shim :: 2015 Squire Jaguar [8.6 lbs]

The owner of this Jag was playing around with the setup and found the bridge height he liked that would allow enough down pressure to hold the strings on the saddle.  At this height, the action was sky high making it tough to play.  He brought it by the shop and I made a tapered full-contact shim to increase the neck angle over the body.  These shims are much more involved to fabricate when compared to the common simple shim in the back of the neck pocket.  Being a full contact shim, it eliminates any empty space in the neck joint and theoretically improves sustain.  A full shim also better supports the neck and helps prevent the common fingerboard rise over the body (aka "ski jump") that can be caused by smaller step shims.

Also note that I had to add foam under the pickups in order to raise them up to the new neck set.

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