The ShadowMusic Web Community

I've just bought a scratchplate complete with all electrics from a 2010 one of these on EBay (it was a bargain price I thought at $130) so I thought I'd throw 'some light' on the subject here.
First, a video on the 'Blacktop' Strat:

...and here's what I bought. The previous owner decided he wanted a 3 pup single coil Strat setup and sold this unit on. I will be fitting it to a 'bound' Jap Strat that I have had spare for a while.

The instant you put humbuckers on a Strat, it's not a Strat any more, it could be any old guitar.
I did it.

The new Blacktop Fender models (Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Stratocaster and Telecaster) look very interesting. Of course, in my opinion, none of them look very compelling in black, but each has an alternative available finish (Sonic Blue for the Strat, sunburst for the Jazzmaster).

I can't work out why the Jaguar was given a Gibson-style bar tailpiece. It would have been far nicer with the proper Jazzmaster-style tremolo unit, even with humbuckers.

Coming up, though, are the new Squier Jazzmaster and Jaguar. Re-designed and simplified, they feature a fixed bridge design borrowed from the original Electric XII.

Attractive pricing - and the Butterscotch Jazzmaster looks tempting...

See:

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/7293-squier_vintage_modified_jazzmaster_electric_guitar_butterscotch_blonde_?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New+Road+Ready+Straps+by+Strings+Direct&utm_content=New+Road+Ready+Straps+by+Strings+Direct+CID_f37a25f3c25477369fbbedee1212acf5&utm_source=Email+marketing+software

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/7294-squier_vintage_modified_jaguar_hh_electric_guitar_fiesta_red_?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New+Road+Ready+Straps+by+Strings+Direct&utm_content=New+Road+Ready+Straps+by+Strings+Direct+CID_f37a25f3c25477369fbbedee1212acf5&utm_source=Email+marketing+software

JN

ecca wrote:The instant you put humbuckers on a Strat, it's not a Strat any more, it could be any old guitar.
I did it.

Ecca,

I do of course agree with what you say, but methinks quite a few people have done it before with some success, including the bloke in this pic.........

ecca wrote:The instant you put humbuckers on a Strat, it's not a Strat any more, it could be any old guitar.
I did it.

Thats exactly it. I saw a guy in the seventies with a modification to his Strat. He had three humbuckers of the day put on it and all it served to do was make it sound like a Gibson(and he could'nt split the coils). The Strat has a unique sound as we all know and not to be messed with . The only thing I'd do is put the Humbucker on the bridge postition with the ability to split the coil so as you can still get a Strat sound and a fat sound when desired.I did that years ago by installing a Seymour Duncan hot rails on my Strat bridge position.
It saved me taking two guitars to the gig when needing a fat sound for certain songs we did.
Hugh.

I put a Seymour stacked humbucker at the bridge with a coil tap and it was neither one thing nor the other, it didn't growl and the single pole sound was weedy and not Strat.
I put a pair of mini humbuckers on neck and bridge which did growl but again, the single pole tone was woolly and not Strat .
I wired the middle pick-up of the standard set-up so as to be in series with either the neck or bridge pick-ups but it didn't humbuck, it just went muddy.
Project abandoned.

I have an Epiphone 'Lucille' that I bought for the Gibson sound stuff, but I find it a very uncomfortable stage guitar -OK for sit down stuff but I think over the years the solid bodies have spoiled me as far as comfort goes - in fact I have now got myself a Tele Custom with two wide range humbuckers to do the job I thought I would use the 'Lucille' for. Having 'a few' spare guitars and definately enough single coil Strats and Marvins, I thought that I might set one up with the 'Blacktop' setup and see how it goes -if I don't have a use for it, I have a mate who is right into country (I think he does western too, multi skilled....!) and he's using a 'Cimar' solid body at the moment, he might find this set up more to his style perhaps. I'm in the final stages of the Strat 12 string too - well, I'll finish it someday I mean!

ecca wrote:I put a Seymour stacked humbucker at the bridge with a coil tap and it was neither one thing nor the other, it didn't growl and the single pole sound was weedy and not Strat.
I put a pair of mini humbuckers on neck and bridge which did growl but again, the single pole tone was woolly and not Strat .
I wired the middle pick-up of the standard set-up so as to be in series with either the neck or bridge pick-ups but it didn't humbuck, it just went muddy.
Project abandoned.

I suppose it depends on the model, year and wood the instrument is made from plus amplification you use.
I must say that it really worked for my guitar. I got a great single coil sound and a great humbucker sound from my instrument. I cant remember the model of Seymour Duncan it was(looking at their site, it looked like the 'cool rails' model) but it fitted in the original cutout on the scratchplate.
I also had the guitar pre-amped which may have contributed to the sound also, as it made the tone controls on the guitar more receptive and of course helped overdrive the amp a bit better.
Hugh.