[Stratocaster]

I will soon have enough money for a Jackson Kelly, but over the last few months, I have gotten really attached to my Fender Fat Strat, so I wonder, is it possible for me to do these modifications to my strat to make it more metal?

1.Add EMG 81 in bridge
2.Add some seymour duncan single coil in bridge
3.Add a licenced Floyd Rose
4.Add Locking Tuners

possible to do to a strat?

 

[SCREEM]

go for the emg's for metal....I would not install a Floyd, you can adjust the spring tention in the back of the guitar so that it stays in tune perfectly, even if you go mad crazy on it....just some tweeking needed.

 

[sysexguy]

1) Locking tuners is an easy retrofit. You may need to enlarge the headstock holes which shouldn't be done without the knowhow and tools (however the fat strat afaik has modern tuners and therefore may be ready for schaller or sperzel heads).....also I believe Gotoh makes locking vintage so that one is easy.

2) Pickups. do you mean a Duncan in the neck and an EMG in the bridge? If so, you would need to add a buffer to the passive pickups so that they can "join" the EMG and then use 25k pots.....this is something that can be found and wouldn't add to the battery use or add discernable noise. If you do not intend to use the passive pickups with the EMG at the same time, you could put them on seperate volume controls (one 250k one 25k and you'd need to pick which one is a tone......or find a ganged 25k/250k pot)

3) Installing the floyd rose is the biggest job, in addition to possibily having to move the studs for the trem, you may have to shim the neck so that you have enough height for the Floyd. Countersyncing the Floyd would be considered major surgery for a finished guitar if you wanted the instrument to look great and not like a beater.....depends on your brand of metal

a properly setup standard trem with locking keys properly installed with a clean nut and well strung (sorry grammer police), will handle almost floyd levels of abuse. There's a company that makes locking saddles so that slippage between the saddle and the trem block is eliminated so that could work too......I'd go for the other mods and try to optimize the current trem first.

I'd also get a whole neck pickguard, keep the old one intact so that the old one could easily be dropped back in if you ever sell it of if Fat strats suddenly become cool and expensive.....stranger things have and will happen with guitars.

Andy

 

[Xanadu]

putting a floyd into the strat is going to be real pain in the ass.evilGuitar:

 

[Xanadu]

No don't waste your money and it is too much to do. What you want to do is if you love the strat so much is...

were you going to finish that statement?

 

[Xanadu]

What part did you not understand:confused-smiley-010

this part.."What you want to do is if you love the strat so much is... "

 

[Xanadu]

WOW didn't think it was that hard to figure the RED letters telling him to buy the one with almost everything he is looking for:sport-smiley-002:

but he doesn't want a new strat, he wants to mod his.:2guns:

 

[satim]

:zzz: Deleted all threads not going to sit on the computer offer help and get my balls busted

 

[SinCron]

......What?

 

[sysexguy]

I'm not deleting my post!!! but on stewmac I noticed the locking saddles were discontinued so let's forget that suggestion

Andy

 

[SinCron]

You gotta lighten up Satim. He just was pointing out that he loves his strat and just wants to use it instead. Like me. I wanted to mod the hell out of my RG 560 so Id replace the floyd and add another bridge somehow. Also rout for a humbucker in the neck instead of a single coil. It would be less effort to get something else but it was somethig I wanted to do. He just wants to keep the guitar he loves instead of selling it off to get something else

PS. If you dont want your messages restored, I'll delete them entirely.

 

[Jeff Flowerday]

I'm with Satim on this one. The mods are too extensive, find a guitar that fits your bill and either trade for it or buy it in addition to your strat.


.02

 

[Milkman]

Putting a Floyd in a Fender Strat has been done many times with great results, but it's not something you should tackle unless you have lots of experience doing mods. There's some routing required.

As for pickups, I'd go with the EMGs, but again depending on the routing on your Strat you may have to enlarge the cavity to allow for the larger pickup.


Oh and in my opinion, regardless of how meticulously your standard trem is set up, how well your nut is cut, how many potions and lotions (nut sauce et cetera) you use, what kind of locking tuners you use and how skillfully you wind your strings, NO conventional bridge system will approach the tuning stability of a properly installed and maintained FR even if you never TOUCH the bar.

 

[SinCron]

I dont deny that his was a good idea, I just pointed out that it's not what he asked. Being someone who tried to do that bit of impossible, I thought I should say that. But it truely is too much work...for mine at least.

 

[Accept2]

There are so many Strat models already available with a FR, and alot of them are cheaper than pulling off that mod. The Fender HM Strat, and Floyd Rose Strat are some that are cheap. I've done the mod before, it aint cheap thats for sure, and the result is a guitar that doesnt feel the same as it did before the mod...........

 

[Stratocaster]

u guys dont get how much i love this strat...but o well, i guess u guys are right and it would be better jsut to get a new guitar.

ill start looking into a new guitar, i kinda dont wanna spend 2k+ on a jackson kelly.

 

[Accept2]

Just get a Fender HM Strat. They are really cheap. Of course, like all guitars, you have to check em out to find a good one. Some were gloss necked, some were satin...........

 

[Stratocaster]

sorry for the noobieness, but does HM stand for hand made?

 

[Accept2]

HM stands for Heavy Metal. They were made in the late 80s and early 90s. Early ones have a Kahler Spyder, later ones have a Floyd Rose. Most have American Standard singles, and a hot DiMarzio in the bridge. I've had a few of them, and when they are good, they are really, really good - if youre into Fender Strats. They had 24 fret necks. For the price you can score them for, they are a great deal................

 

[cbh747]

HM Strat

sorry for the noobieness, but does HM stand for hand made?

Here you go....