While completing my Guitar Diaries earlier this month, I discovered that my Squier Stratocaster - which has been in pieces for at least 2 years - was in actual fact a serviceable instrument. Previously I'd thought that the allen bolt in the truss rod had been rounded off and that the neck could not be adjusted, but directly as a result of wanting to write a post about it I found that it was actually fine. Thank goodness for blogging!
For 2023 I was thinking about having another stab at scratch building a guitar, but this revelation has prompted a rethink. It turns out that the YN serial number Statocaster made by Squier in the 90s (1997 in my case) is not only a full depth body, but uses the correct alder construction. It's completely suitable for upgrading and becoming what is known as a partscaster.
I've spent a week or so weighing up my options and finding out more about the guitar. Having never really got along with the traditional Strat configuration, and having attempted a scratch build of a single humbucker S Type a couple of years ago, I've decided this is the way I'll be going.
I'll detail my journey here. The vision is for a single humbucker strat, I'll refinish the guitar in Olympic White (it's currently Polar White), and I might refinish the neck IF I can obtain transfers the same as the current style. Although it has to be said the current neck actually feels quite good.
The upgrade will be phased for reasons of economy and not wanting to splurge on everything all at once. I also intend to play the guitar over a few months to better understand how the various upgrades affect the feel and sound. And, I've decided that I will only carry out upgrades that can be reversed, so no drilling or routing. The aim is to make it possible to put this guitar completely back to standard if required.
Today's task was to get the Strat working again. A new nut was required, and as I've had no success making my own before I ordered a Tusq nut from ebay. I ordered a flat bottomed one as I mistakenly thought that would fit the rout in the fretboard, but it turns out this was curved. I was able to file it to fit.
I found the original neck plate with the YN serial number, reassembled the guitar and restrung the guitar. With Haynes excellent Stratocaster manual as a reference I set about adjusting the guitar to it's original specification using the given measurements. Surprisingly this didn't require much adjustment - perhaps I'd done it few years ago?
Minus two lost control knobs, the guitar was reassembled, so I plugged it in and spent about 30 mins playing it. My initial impressions are that its a fine feeling instrument to play, which I will continue to adjust to make it a slinky feeling as possible. The sound left a little to be desired - the pickups sounds harsh and trashy, which is to be expected, I suppose. Positions 2 and 4 sound great for the Strat out-of-phase sound and I momentariliy reconsidered my upgrade path in favour of the traditional configuration. However, I've had two of those previously and haven't taken to them, so I will proceed along my single humbucker path.
My best-laid-plan is to play the Strat as it is for a month. I'm simultaneously planning to do a Truefire course so this is a great excuse. Shortly I will order some new tuning keys and a replacement bridge, which will go on at the start of February. If all goes to schedule I'll dismantle the guitar at the start of March, strip the poly finish and refinish, order all remaining parts for a hopeful reassembling at the start of May. Let's see how well I'm able to stick to that!
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