Squier Affinity Strat - A poor man's 50's Strat makeover is fairly easy with this basically fine Strat (cheap - $150 shipped). As with most all Affinity Teles and Strats, the bugaboo is the narrow 1.610" nut width, so a neck swap is typically the first mod - sometimes I'll use a Squier '51 neck (they're Great!) but here I opted for a superb All Parts Fender Japan SMO-FAT neck that I sprayed in nitro butterscotch then clear coated with MinWax spray polyU. Gotoh staggered vintage tuners (no string tree needed), vintage bone nut, CTS pots - master volume and tone (.022uf cap) and neck blender, CRL 5-way select, Bill Lawrence calibrated set of L200 Strat pickups. Added a 50's Fender Strat decal and the deal is sealed - a very nice 50's style Strat with excellent playability and tone ... and way cheap, to boot.

A stock Squier Affinity Butterscotch Tele has lotsa potential considering the alder body and inexpensive $170 street price tag, but it does cry out for some meaningful mods. The first concern was the neck's really narrow 1.610" nut width, but the back shape and frets felt *so* good that I decided not to replace the neck until I gave it some serious playing time.

First off, the crappy gear lash prone tuners replaced with Gotoh SG38's, then I performed a light level and crown to the frets. I didn't replace the PVC nut with a bone one - I'd do that once I felt the neck wasn't going to be replaced. I buffed out the glossy black vinyl pickguard with 0000 steek wool - I don't like shiny pickguard fingerprints and the dulled finish has more of a look like old bakelite.

The supplied 500k pots (huh?) were replaced with 250K CTS's and the stamped 3-way was replaced with a CRL, the tone cap was replaced with a .022uf polyester one from RS. The ceramic pickups were replaced with a matched set of AlNiCO Rio Grande "Tallboys". The strings are .010-.046 webstrings (my faves).

At least for aesthetic reasons, that top loading bridge just hadda go. The bridge itself is a nice hunk of chrome plated brass so rather than replace it, I drilled six 3/32" string holes underneath each saddle, then transposed the string hole positions to the body top and drilled'em out. A set of six nickel string cups finished the process. And lastly, the plastic jack plate was replaced with a chrome LP plate. Now it's a totally Pro Tele for stage and studio.

Kramer Focus Strat - $85/delivered to my door! Here's the mods ... Gotoh SG38 sealed 1:16 tuners, Corian nut, CTS 250k master volume and master tone pots, CTS 500k neck blender pot, CRL 5-way switch, black Strat knobs, Fender Tex-Mex single coil pickups, stock frets were leveled and crowned, EB .010-.046 nickel wound strings. And that nasty Kramer Focus headstock decal was stripped off - hah! Ooooo ... this one is a Goodie!

Standard Squier Strat - all that's left of the original Squier is the body and trem bridge! Modded with Bill Lawrence L250 XL and HP pickups, new CTS pots and CRL 5-way, 2nd tone pot is now a neck blender volume pot, white pearl WD pickguard, All Parts 1pc maple Strat neck w/jumbo frets, Gotoh tuners.

Standard Squier Tele - modded with Bill Lawrence L290TL bridge pickup, Armstrong Firebird neck pickup, new pots and 3-way, custom white pearl WD pickguard, WD vintage/jumbo Tele 1pc maple neck, Gotoh tuners. (Body was lightened with routed cavities under the pickguard).

Standard Squier Strat - modded with Bill Lawrence L250XL Strat bridge pickup, and L250HP middle and neck Strat pickups, new pots and 5-way, custom white pearl WD pickguard, WD vintage/jumbo Strat rosewood neck w/CBS headstock, Gotoh tuners. (Body was lightened with routed cavities under the pickguard).

Great playing neck. The body's laminated nato and alder, but quite solid AND toneful - it resonates! The tuners aren't sealed, the p'ups are ceramic toneless junkers and the pots and switch are total crap.

Ahhh, much better. Sealed 1:16 Gotoh SG38 tuners. Warmoth black pearl pickguard. Bill Lawrence L480L noiseless P94 in the bridge, Armstrong AlNiCo Strat pups for the middle and neck positions. CTS volume and tone pots, and a CRL 3-way switch. The SPST switch kicks the middle pup on or off.

Great bang for the buck smallish semi-hollow bodied guitar that's offshore built in Korea. Lower bout is a scant 13", with mahogany neck and body, flame maple carved cap. All it needed was a good setup and the playability is excellent. The stock Dean humbuckers are pretty darn good, but ...

... I changed them out for a matched set of my favorite humbuckers, Rio Grande Texas neck and BBQ bridge. Note the pup connectors - cool!

I find this guitar has a nice balanced tone, reminescent of an ES335. A nice resonant, slightly hollow and woody tone that won't readily feedback. Real nice playability. Ready for gigging.