I've been lurking on forums such as tdpri and strat-talk, hearing about the cool things that people do, and reading arguments about whether paper & oil capacitors sound better than metal film capacitors. That last part may always be beyond me, and I suspect that, while Eric Johnson can probably heard the difference, I can't. But it's kind of interesting.Anyhow, I decided that the solution is to buy a guitar I don't like a lot and start swapping out parts until I've swapped out everything. In this way, I can see the impact of each change, and I'll end up with something nice. If it's non-functional for a while, I won't care. I can experiment with different kinds of wiring, and maybe even install a vintage capacitor that I find in a mayonnaise jar at a garage sale.
Along the way, I expect to encounter some thorny philosophical issues which, I assure you, I won't shy away from. But I'm getting ahead of myself (shameless foreshadowing). My first task is to find the aforementioned guitar. My criteria are
- Stratocaster copy
- Inexpensive (less than $100)
- As "standard" as possible to make it easier to swap out parts
- Tremolo, not hardtail bridge
- I don't like it a lot
I'm considering an SX strat from rondomusic, a Xaviere from guitarfetish, or a Fender Squier. If you haven't been to these sites, it's worth taking a look. rondomusic seems to be the US reseller of a bunch of Chinese guitar brands, and there's some weird and interesting stuff on that site. SX guitars have gotten some good press, though often with the caveat that we are talking about $120 guitars here. guitarfetish sells its own pickups and other hardware, as well as the Xaviere line. Their pickups get mixed reviews on forums; I replaced the pickups on a travel guitar with a GFS set and was very happy.
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