The Original 50's Strat popped through the letterbox yesterday and a wonderful thing it is, however I found the pickups to be quite underwhelming, so this morning saw the bonnet up and some tinkering...
First I replaced the pressed tin string tree with a Fender round jobby, just cos I like the look, then scratchplate off and replaced the stock pickups with Mojo 60's while I was there I decked the floating trem......I'm happier than I was, there is an improcement, but I might steal the Fat 50’s from my Squier and give them a try, oh and also changed the plastics to cream, a huge improvement in the looks dept IMHO, the white looks so cheap!
Before
http://i.imgur.com/JCtMjJf.jpgAfter
http://i.imgur.com/3blS35K.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/7KiOFDL.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/66tvNLP.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/cVjZzgJ.jpg
Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll
Comments
Not sure I condone sunburst.
"Aged" cream/white looks more like the vintage Jap reissues - its a cool look but not quite authentic.
Not surprised you swapped out the pickups, though... sorry Fender but other people are making better, and more authentic sounding pickups right now. And most of them are on this side of the Atlantic.
* @WezV I know it's not treble bleed but I can't remember the correct term, please don't beat me!
paulnb57: Pass.
MM: Yes, that is correct.
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And lovely strat
Nevertheless, I agree that the round item looks nicer.
Fifties Fender plastic parts do not tend to discolour that much AND they all seem to discolour by the same amount. The colour that Fender calls Parchment is closer to the reality.
A good many things about vintage Fender instruments ARE cheap!
This was normal on the pre-2012 Fender AVRI series. Things improved greatly on the 2013 - 2017 AVRI guitars. Strange that they should have gorn orf again.
The best fake vintage colour that I ever saw on Stratocaster pickup covers was achieved on late Nineties white ones by a guy who had corrosive sweat issues and - at that time - smoked at least sixty cigarettes a day. They were properly kippered.