Hi Everyone!

We had an vintage 1980s Squier® strat in for a full pickup change and aesthetic revamp. The customer was after a fatter, more ballsy tone and a bit more of a contrasting look. They decided to go for an H-S-H pickup layout with a Warman® G-Rail in the bridge and a Bare Knuckle® Black Dog in the neck position.

Pretty standard set up to begin with but a nice and well kept example nevertheless!

All the replacement parts laid out. Going for a pearlescent white scratchplate and backplate with black Strat knobs.

One disassembled strat! Taking the neck off is not usually needed however the customer was looking to replace the neck with a newer Squire Affinity neck while we were there!

Just goes to show no matter how nice an axe can look on the outside once you delve a little deeper you can find some hidden sins. To be fair though for an 80s guitar this is a pretty small amount of corrosion.

New components in and wired up! Really proves that you don't need massive refinishing to radically change the look of the guitar!

And here's the finished article complete with new neck! It now has a lot more grunt than it did before and a fresh face to boot! A quick set up and it's sounding and playing great!










When all is said and done a quick pickup and aesthetic change like this is a far cheaper and simpler way to give your guitar a bit of a revamp and change things up than buying an entirely new axe. The are so many different pickup choices and pot variations out there it's possible to get some radically different tones out of your guitar and experimenting is all part of the fun!

Hope you enjoyed this post! Leave any comments or questions here or drop us an email!

Happy shredding!
Best regards,
Mike & Martin

swguitars@hotmail.co.uk