Revamping the Squier

HeavyMetalNyge

I know, it sounds gay, but I actually do like my Squier M-77 les paul style guitar with the 24 3/4 neck. But like any Squeer it comes with a bunch of shitty electronics and tuners in it. So I'm chaning the tuners for some Grovers and I'm switching out the pickups, pots, toggle, input jack, the works. I've never done this before, and I'm no electrician or guitar tech. Anyone have any suggestions, websites, warnings, etc. to share?

mccreadyisgod

The hardware is easy... the stuff you have probably isn't too bad, really, unless you've had specific problems with them. New tuners are a good idea, and Grover is a great way to go (I just had a set of Grovers installed on my cheapo Tele knock-off).

But for pickups, it really all depends on what your target tone is. There are SOOOOOO many pup options, there are many ways you could go. What are you looking for?

HeavyMetalNyge

Actually, I already bought the pickups. I have everything I need. What I'm asking is about the process of actually wiring and soldering and all that shit.
By the way, I bought the SD Jazz for the neck, and the SD JB for the bridge. I can't wait to hear this thing wail.

mccreadyisgod

Well, I just had a bad night of attempted soldering (with a borrowed Soldering Iron Of Death), so ask someone else...

Doesn't S/D have wiring diagrams on their site?

Vacant

I'd actually be curious about soldering tips. I'm doing the exact same thing with a squier, but I'm doing it more for "eye candy" with a nice natural finish (started out red) and black and gold hardware.
I'll be changing out all the electronics since even if I only change one or two pickups, the wiring is someone's custom job and beyond what I'd recognize.
If you haven't gotten a soldering iron yet, get a good one. I have a Weller, and everytime I go to solder, the tips (bits, whatever they're called), keep melting/burning. After 20 minutes both times, they completely melted! oops!

I'm probably just going to get all Seymour Duncans and follow the schematics on their site (which is here).

Hitch-Hiker

I love my Squier

darthvedder81

Haha. I "hot rodded" my Squier a few years ago too. It was my first guitar (paid $179 for it at Guitar Center). Black body, black pickguard, maple neck. Ahh memories.

I found a clearance Seymour Duncan Mini-Humbucker and put it in the bridge slot. It sounds pretty good and it's nice to have a humbucker guitar to compliment things (I don't own any Gibsons).

I replaced the tuning heads with some Schallers (again on clearance). It helped some with staying in tune (always a problem on cheap guitars).

My advice is to totally lock down the bridge. Don't even mess with the tremolo on cheap guitars as it will always f*ck up your tuning.

who's_pearljam?

I just went looking for a site to find that was right, so I didn't have to write a whole lot,,, and this is a great tutorial on guitar soldering:

http://www.kingbass.com/soldering101.html

There're some great pictures of how a joint should look, too!


To add to that,,, Make sure you tin the end of your soldering iron before you use it. (That's heating up the soldering iron and melting some solder on it to coat the tip.) If you don't do that, the iron will never work right.

Don't overheat the pots and joints!! Use only enough heat to melt the solder.

Heat the pieces to be soldered, not the solder

DON'T grab the end of the soldering gun when you forgot about it!
You will,, I've done it a hundred times.

Don't let the soldering gun touch the finish while you're looking to see if the joint is secure! (You will! ) At LEAST don't burn the finish on the front of the guitar! (Yup,,, done that! )

Use a heat sink (It's like a metal clothespin looking thing. Put it between the pot and the terminal if you can fit it. It absorbs heat and prevents the heat from travelling into the pot.


There you go! Good luck!

Once you do it, and make it work, you'll be able to do all kinds of stuff on guitars! :cool:


Oh, and 15 watt Soldering pencils work best for wire to wire and joints on the terminals of the pots,,,, and a 30 or so watt works better when you're soldering a ground to the surface of the pot. I use a 30 watt soldering pencil with a fine tip, but you have to be quick with it on small wires.

Get a solder sucker, too, to help desolder joints ( like a little squeeze bulb thing)

Practice taking apart your old stuff,,,, and put it all back together again and see if it works. That'll give you some practice before you use your new pickups!

who's_pearljam?

Oh,,,,, and DEFINITELY shield your cavity while you're doing the work. That's the FIRST thing that people should do with their guitars, if it's not already done, and definitely while you have it all apart. You'll have a much quieter guitar.

(Well, when you're not playing it! ):D
Hopefully it'll make noise when you play!


There's some great free info on this site, and they sell everything you'll ever need. There stuff about shielding there, too

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/