38:40 "In Distortion we trust" and the fun begins 😂 Very nice playing and a very entertaining episode!, Colin! Thanks a lot for another of my Friday rituals! Greetings from Germany! 🤘😎🎸
I did almost the same thing to my 1st electric guitar, a used "Sheffield by AXL". I got two "Duesenberg Domino" P94's together with new electronics, tuners and Les Paul style switch and wiring. I learned a lot by doing these mods and still play this guitar.
If you grew up playing a Strat, your technique develops avoiding the volume know. Growing your technique on any other style guitar means the Strat volume is in the way. I played strats for my first 10 years or so. The last 30+ years I've been primarily a Tele player. However, when I play a Strat, I still never hit the volume by accident.
Great show Colin. I’m not a big fan of strats but I’m a big lover of p90’s. You made a great looking and sounding guitar there. Keep up the good work. Love the show.
I prefer the scale length of Gibsons but find Strats easier to maintain and less worry if they get damaged. There's something a bit more utilitarian about them. I agree with you about their sound, though. I like the way that you've changed this one to suit your taste and the tones you get out of it. It reminds me of the Tom DeLonge, single humbucker model.
between 1984-86 Squier made some great short scale (Japan) Contemporary ST331 single pick-up (humbucker) Stratocasters with a single volume knob - I have two and they're really useful guitars ...but have considered using either a P90 or Seymour Duncan SHPR-1b P-Rails with a second knob running an Artec VCB pre-amp on one... we'll see
@@nlumby very cool guitars, My first electric which I still have is an HSS squire contemporary from this series. It has individual switches for each pickup and you can split the humbucker. The neck feels super tiny and thin though. Fender Japan is still producing 24 and 3/4 scale strats from time to time
I’ve always felt you could put a P-90 on a toaster and it would sound great. I have a couple teles , one top shelf,the other player grade . Don’t much like them either, but I do really love telecasters, one could argue that they are similar…. Na, the telecaster is a wonderfully soulfully guitar to me :) - love the show my friend 👍
My favorite channel, by far. As a hopeless Strat modder, I particularly enjoyed this episode and would love to see a shootout between this build and one of those Fender Noventa Strats. Until next week!
Well, I guess I figured out what my next build will be except it'll be with 2 P90s because I feel cheated if I don't have 'em both! Great job turning lemons into lemonade. Love it!
Strat volume knob placement is ridiculous, I hate the thing right there on the bottom of the pickup! You rock man, you gave it some balls, great sound. 👍
Great idea for a video! I did something similar with my brother's knackered Tanglewood Strat, basically had all the electronics stripped out apart from a volume knob and then put on a single humbucker scratchplate, with only an 80s Seymour Duncan Custom pickup wired directly to the volume knob. Sounds great, I actually use it now rather than it just sitting looking miserable!
I am late to the party 😅 One of my favorite episodes ever! What an interesting and tastefully done mod you did there. Kudos for going with a P-90! Looking forward to the next one!
For the best of the best in Strat upgrades, you must look at Callaham. It's expensive but worth it. Alternatively, keep the bridge plate but change out the Trem block with solid steel and change out the saddles. My favorite saddles are by Highwood, a Dutch company. The set screw threads into a lip that curls under the saddle so they can't dig into your hand. They are fantastic. And they help the guitar stay in tune better, believe it or not.
I enjoyed that and felt your pain too, I bought a used Squire Strat and now have 3 separate scratch plates for it, the original with a set of inexpensive alnico ll pick ups in a SSS configuration, one with a pair of Kent Armstrong humbuckers I had laying around, which sounds ace and the last I was going to play around with a pair of P90's but interest some time last year. This is just the incentive I needed to get the iron out again. Cheers.
I bought a Fender Noventa Strat with two P90s and it’s one of my favourite guitars. It’s also a hardtail and I bought the single P90 Tele too. I always found Strats sound terrible with overdrive, especially in positions 2 or 4. A traditional Strat a very predictable sound yes, and then 5 positions is too fiddly as I keep switching! That conversion job is amazing.
Hi Colin, i love your honesty when modding a guitar, like me something always goes wrong somewhere and like you i rarely find out what. This strat has to be one of the best platforms for mods there is i would love see another p90 at the neck, anyway it was great fun watching this vid as it is one of the best parts of being into guitars/music. cheers Steve.
Superb Colin, what a great sounding guitar, definitely a keeper in my book lol, a Les Strat junior lol, looks dynamite, thanks for sharing, take care. ✌😎✌🎸
Although I really like strats, I agree it turned out better than the original! Nice experiment with the linear pot for the tone. In my experience linear pots work great as volume, but for tone you definitely need an audio pot. I use audio in both positions because audio pots clean up nicer. The more even roll off on linear is better though in my opinion. Great vid, keep 'm coming!
Cool video! It was interesting watching you do a mod in addition to a deep dive. I suppose that if you want to unstrat a strat and make it something else, there's no better way to do that than to put a P90 in the bridge. To me, a P90 makes any solid body electric sound like a LP junior.
Recently found your channel and have been binge watching. Love these upgrade projects, I do this with all my guitars! It’s like having a chat with your mate down the pub. Cheers Colin 🍻
Bravo !! I'm not a strat guy either,for the same reasons as you Collin..Took me forever to buy a Tele.I'm a Les Paul and Sg guy.But I loved this video ! Love this kind of stuff! I have an old 03'Epiphone SG Special that I've always wanted to mod the heck out of.And watching you,made me excited again to do it ! Love EVERY video you do Collin. Can't wait til next Friday ! Keep em'comin' ! 🎸 🎸 🎸 🎸 Love the look of that Strat now! Very cool
That was a "Mountain-ous" improvement Colin! Tis the law after all. Thanks for the soldering tips, and the information on the pots. I love the Strat's transformation, and it will be interesting to see the ongoing changes. P.S., You sounded great on the Strat Jr. I could tell you were getting on well!
@@theguitaristas I’m trying to play along right now! 🎸 Everyone was right who said a single P90, every Guitarista needs one in their collection. I’m gonna go so far as to say it should be their first guitar, along with a decent tube amp. The EL34 Studio 10 and the Jr are already best buddies.
I have been watching your channel for some time. And I must say. seeing the joy on your face when you played the first note on your Colincaster, brought joy to mine. You are the best. Best wishes.
Much-impressive mod, Colin.I've done a single HB one , volume control only, and it is quite loud, but I think the P90 is the cat's meow. I've always played Strats and Teles because of the necks and the scale. I wonder if a dog-eared P90 would fit without touching the strings....Johnny Thunders tone on a Strat body and scale? Likely very different from a Junior's tone . BTW, you do sound like Gilmour!Cheers!
I’m really tempted to do a project like this now. From watching your channel it makes me want to try a p90 guitar but I can’t make my mind up on one. I like fenders (and squiers) for affordability and robustness, so this seems like a really interesting idea.
Not only does it look so much better, it sounds amazing. Really cool guitar. I would love a single P90'd Telecaster. Coz I love P90's and I really love Tele's.🤷♂️
Not having a neck pickup is a tragedy. It's the neck pickup that's so distinctive, followed by the mixed sound, in the Strat and it would have been amazing to hear the difference. A lot of distinctiveness isn't really detectable in bridge pickups.
The Stratocaster looks like "Rock n Roll", whereas other guitars look "country "- Teles and Gretsches, Les Paul's and single cut Jazz boxes look Jazz and SGs Vs and Explorers look Heavy Metal
New subscriber as of a couple weeks ago. Thanks for your warts-and-all approach. It’s very refreshing to me, being a 58 year old who plays while wearing 6-ounce boxing gloves. Great show.
I always hated the volume knob of my Strat due to the same problem you have ! I managed to fix it putting a felt washer between the knob and the top of the guitar so now it is very hard to turn. Congratulations for your project ! This Squier sounds GREAT now !!!
Cool episode. I'm not a big Strat fan either. My first electric was a Strat, I bought it because my friend bought one. I played around with his, and liked it enough to get my own. Unfortunately, I didn't get along with it. Hated that volume knob (like you said) it got in the way. I especially disliked the pickup selector switch, I kept wacking it by accident. Anyway, I finally discovered my love of Gibsons and Epiphones and P-90s. The idea of a single P-90 Strat, not only looks good but sounds pretty good as well. Now if you could change out the neck for a Mahogany one with a 24.75 scale, it would be perfect.
I did similar to my Strat. I used a P90-inna-Humbucker shell with an Ebay 'plate. No tone control, no cap. I'm fairly certain I used a 330K audio taper ( log ) pot. May have been a 500K. Certainly log. Whatever was in the Box O' Crap at the time :-) It's an absolute hoot to play. So controllable by altering picking/strumming position and force used. The volume pot first quarter of travel is the juice zone. Lowering the guitar volume rolls a little top end off, plus it lowers the amps 'grit', but branging the strings give a lovely 'bark' on initial attack, followed by a growl. P90 Strat --> Ampmaker WF-55 --> two 1x10" Jensens = bliss. Squier Strats ( mine's an Affinity, decked the trem ) are really good value, playable guitars.
I've been planning to do this to a strat for a few years, two P90s, one volume one tone and a three way switch. I have all the parts, all but the scratch guard, but never got around to it. Now I've heard how yours sounded I reckon it'd be stupid to not give it a go. This was great. And yeah I reckon it is a better Stratocaster. It sounds like a Tele on steroids but with the comfort cuts of a strat body it's a win-win.
Poor signal meant I clicked on this without a thumbnail, sighing a little as I read the title, because I thought “huh, I don’t like strats. The only way to improve it is make it not a strat. And the way to improve a bullet is put a black pick guard on.” And you did both things! You are my god!
I did this mod years ago on a lake placid blue bullet strat. A Fender black dove bridge pickup was installed along with a concentric tone and volume pot. topped with Fender bass concentric knob set. That guitar ROCKED! Wish I still had it!
Hi Collin What a great sounding strat!. Their is something magical about a single p90 pickup. You got me going now I might do one myself. It does sound much better. As always great playing and a fantastic review. 👏
On your first wiring attempt you had both pots with the posts facing the same direction and wired the V pot backwards. Lug 1 to the left (when the posts are facing you) is always input from source.
I find it quite impressive that the modified guitar does not sound like a strat any more at all. More like an SG junior or so. I have a partscaster at home with a humbucker PU in the bridge position but you always hear the strat come through. Interesting! Thanks for this video 🙂
@16:30 if you wired the pick guard exactly like the bottom schematic then the tone and volume controls were reversed. Note the diagram labels on the pots are reversed. Also: it’s always easier if one aligns the pots exactly like the diagram. In this case the legs diagram shows the pot legs facing one another, your pick guard had the pots facing the same direction. It’s just less mental gymnastics when troubleshooting. If someone else wants to do this mod (for best results) be sure to check the pole spacing on the pickup vs the string spacing at the bridge. Some imports have 10mm string spacing some P90s have 49mm polepiece spacing. In this case you were lucky. A vintage spec bridge could have wider spacing. One might need 53mm polepiece spacing at the pickup. I like this mod👍
I love these upgrade/mod videos Colin this is how I first found you, the ES upgrade series. I think we can all agree its now a better guitar but I dont think its a better stratocaster, one could argue its no longer a stratocaster.
We have differing opinions. I love my Strat. I love the sound. But then it is a real Strat, I made it in the Mod Shop. I am left handed so getting guitars can be difficult. But my Strat is a toasted maple neck, naked, natural mahogany body, Josephina's Hand Wound Fat 50's Pickups. It growls in a nice bluesy way. I love my Strat. Your upgrade made the Squire into a Les Paul Jr.
Thanks for the Video! I always thought I was more of a Gibson guy myself. Definitely thought they looked better than the fenders. But my modified (Squire, Hardtail) Strat is a great guitar. Put on a Maple neck and Seymour Duncan humbucker in the bridge and it rocks. Plywood body but it still sounds great. Never played anything with a P90 though. Maybe it's time to give one a try.
Great Job! I once “Frankensteined” an old SG in the mid ‘70’s (yes, I’m old). I took an old SG tag at I got in trade with a single P90 at the bridge and added a humbucker at the neck and put in a coil splitter and a phase reverse for the rear half of the humbucker. Then I drilled holes behind the bridge and put grommets in the back to pull the strings through the body for sustain. What a great guitar. Unfortunately, it was stolen. I loved it. It could sound like a Jr, or a strat at the drop of a hat. Love your videos! Keep ‘em coming.
Cheers Scott, funny I bought an 70's SG modified as string though a while back! 🤣👌 I don't think it's yours though it still has original neck pickup. Here's a film I made ages ago... th-cam.com/video/p8KuRbBVjJM/w-d-xo.html
It sounds great, but I believe the tone pot should have an audio taper and the volume pot should be linear. There are numerous ways to wire up the pots and some are better than others. Now I need to watch the original review after seeing those clips. Today will be two-fer.. ;-)
Looks great, sounds great! I have an old Squire strat that I've had since late '80s/early 90s. I've modded and re-modded a few times over the years. I originally swapped out the plain white 3 single coil pickguard for a pearloid white HSS from Mighty Mite. I recently swapped the single coils out with some generic Seymore Duncan style hot rail humbuckers. Sounds much better to me and no more single coil hum! Not sure why, but I've never had a problem with the control knob placement so I've left those original. Thanks for the weekly Friday morning entertainment! Cheers!
Fantastic idea! I'm in the same boat. I have multiple LP, SG, 335 style guitars but only one Sterling Cutlass ( which I like but single coils are meh... I've been routing and swapping many of mine for P90 pickups. I do have several with the neck P90, bridge Humbucker or Tron. I love your videos! Keep 'em coming!
Totally agree about the volume control - can't palm mute with it in that position. I converted mine to 1 volume / 1 tone, moved them down a hole and blanked off the unused hole.
I actually did this with 2 p90s. Best tele sound ever, and it was from a strat body. Cheers, and you are always doing excellent work.
You mean that you put p90's in a strat?
And the result is guitar that goes to Tele's tone?
No more straty tone?
Whats the neck p90 like on your one?
@@seanohartaigh2209 it's excellent. Juicy and throaty
Sounds like an awesome mod!
P90's on a 25.5" scale guitar is magical.
Just your guitar intro alone, shows, that you and this guitar are a great team and this guitar looks truly awesome 😌👍
Cheers Gernot!! 😎👍
Really enjoyed this video, love to listen to you play, old rockers and blues player are the best. Thanks for the video. The guitar sounds fantastic.
Cheers man! 😎👍
Your face when you struck that first chord was priceless. Pure joy!
Everything I feel about a strat you summed up in first 2 minutes. Mate what a challange you have set yourself. 👏
Cheers man... in we go!! 🤞🤣
100% spot on! Completely agree with you on the Stat tone and controls. It definitely sounds a lot better.
Amazing, in all my years I never thought of putting a single P90 in a strat, and doing that, make a strat sound better!.... Brilliant
Great fun video Colin. Love the contrast between the Matt scratch plate and the gloss black . Looks classy
I would make this model If I were squier! It does look very good and gives the strat a more badass touch. The Squier “Colcaster” it could be called :)
😆👍 My very first signature... I'm in!! 🤣
Sounds killer! Perfect rock and roll guitar! Great job!
38:40 "In Distortion we trust" and the fun begins 😂 Very nice playing and a very entertaining episode!, Colin!
Thanks a lot for another of my Friday rituals!
Greetings from Germany! 🤘😎🎸
Cheers man, yes I cranked up that dirty rat!! 😆 have a great weekend! 😎👍
Danke Chris ...my thoughts exactly 😆
You have built a rock n roll monster, Colin! Well done.🤠
I did almost the same thing to my 1st electric guitar, a used "Sheffield by AXL". I got two "Duesenberg Domino" P94's together with new electronics, tuners and Les Paul style switch and wiring. I learned a lot by doing these mods and still play this guitar.
There is something special about the P90 pickups, they have a great sound
100% with you on the Strat’s vol knob Colin. I’ve made a scratch plate using just the two lower holes for master vol and tone. 👍🏻
If you grew up playing a Strat, your technique develops avoiding the volume know. Growing your technique on any other style guitar means the Strat volume is in the way. I played strats for my first 10 years or so. The last 30+ years I've been primarily a Tele player. However, when I play a Strat, I still never hit the volume by accident.
This was awesome. I love it. Sounded like a Jazzmaster and a LP Special had a really cool baby. That growl was great. Cheers Colin!
Great show Colin. I’m not a big fan of strats but I’m a big lover of p90’s. You made a great looking and sounding guitar there. Keep up the good work. Love the show.
I prefer the scale length of Gibsons but find Strats easier to maintain and less worry if they get damaged. There's something a bit more utilitarian about them. I agree with you about their sound, though.
I like the way that you've changed this one to suit your taste and the tones you get out of it. It reminds me of the Tom DeLonge, single humbucker model.
Get a squier bullet telecaster, bolt a 24" scale length neck on it, get some long saddle screws and have the best of both worlds ;)
between 1984-86 Squier made some great short scale (Japan) Contemporary ST331 single pick-up (humbucker) Stratocasters with a single volume knob - I have two and they're really useful guitars ...but have considered using either a P90 or Seymour Duncan SHPR-1b P-Rails with a second knob running an Artec VCB pre-amp on one... we'll see
@@nlumby very cool guitars, My first electric which I still have is an HSS squire contemporary from this series. It has individual switches for each pickup and you can split the humbucker. The neck feels super tiny and thin though. Fender Japan is still producing 24 and 3/4 scale strats from time to time
I heartily agree that it looks and sounds fantastic!
I’ve always felt you could put a P-90 on a toaster and it would sound great.
I have a couple teles , one top shelf,the other player grade . Don’t much like them either, but I do really love telecasters, one could argue that they are similar…. Na, the telecaster is a wonderfully soulfully guitar to me :) - love the show my friend 👍
Cheers man, that's true and a P90 toaster is my next mod job 🤣👍 Thanks for supporting 👌
What a great idea - P90's are my favorite pick ups and certainly will make an improvement on a Strat.
Yes, it does look killer and the sound is fantastic. Great project. Thanks for sharing!
My favorite channel, by far. As a hopeless Strat modder, I particularly enjoyed this episode and would love to see a shootout between this build and one of those Fender Noventa Strats.
Until next week!
Amazing video. Your style and delivery are so uplifting and refreshing. Thank you for the joy you bring to all of us guitar-loving folk. 🤘
Cheers Dan that's appreciated! 🙏😊
Looks very cool and sounds much better. Great job.
Well, I guess I figured out what my next build will be except it'll be with 2 P90s because I feel cheated if I don't have 'em both! Great job turning lemons into lemonade. Love it!
Cheers man!
Strat volume knob placement is ridiculous, I hate the thing right there on the bottom of the pickup! You rock man, you gave it some balls, great sound. 👍
Great idea for a video! I did something similar with my brother's knackered Tanglewood Strat, basically had all the electronics stripped out apart from a volume knob and then put on a single humbucker scratchplate, with only an 80s Seymour Duncan Custom pickup wired directly to the volume knob. Sounds great, I actually use it now rather than it just sitting looking miserable!
Nice work!
I am late to the party 😅
One of my favorite episodes ever! What an interesting and tastefully done mod you did there. Kudos for going with a P-90! Looking forward to the next one!
Cheers man better late than never! 😁👍👍
Great show, love your honesty. Would’ve been easy to edit this together and pretend nothing had gone wrong. Super end results too!
Cheers Chris 😎👍
For the best of the best in Strat upgrades, you must look at Callaham. It's expensive but worth it. Alternatively, keep the bridge plate but change out the Trem block with solid steel and change out the saddles. My favorite saddles are by Highwood, a Dutch company. The set screw threads into a lip that curls under the saddle so they can't dig into your hand. They are fantastic. And they help the guitar stay in tune better, believe it or not.
Hi... did you do a treble bleed on the volume pot?
My kind of guitar! Those Fender Noventa strats are pretty cool. Really digging the single p90 set up more.
That scratchplate looks wicked, and the sound is definetly improved, it now has teeth!
I enjoyed that and felt your pain too, I bought a used Squire Strat and now have 3 separate scratch plates for it, the original with a set of inexpensive alnico ll pick ups in a SSS configuration, one with a pair of Kent Armstrong humbuckers I had laying around, which sounds ace and the last I was going to play around with a pair of P90's but interest some time last year. This is just the incentive I needed to get the iron out again. Cheers.
That's a beautiful guitar now! Sounds great!
I bought a Fender Noventa Strat with two P90s and it’s one of my favourite guitars. It’s also a hardtail and I bought the single P90 Tele too. I always found Strats sound terrible with overdrive, especially in positions 2 or 4. A traditional Strat a very predictable sound yes, and then 5 positions is too fiddly as I keep switching! That conversion job is amazing.
It looks amazing and a vast improvement, like yourself I’m no overly impressed with Stratocaster guitars good to know it’s not just me.
Cool! looks and sounds just great! that P90 just rocks, nice fat sound yet stacks of feel and tone love it! Great video Colin cheers!
Cheers, mate. Another great film. Very inspiring work here. It definitely makes me consider modifying my guitars. I hope you have a great weekend!
Cheers Sqid, and you mate... get that soldering iron out! 😁👍
LOVE how it looks, and sounds awesome, well done!
Another awesome video from the world's coolest grandad! This one is really, really all around great. Thanks!
🤣👍
Hi Colin, i love your honesty when modding a guitar, like me something always goes wrong somewhere and like you i rarely find out what. This strat has to be one of the best platforms for mods there is i would love see another p90 at the neck, anyway it was great fun watching this vid as it is one of the best parts of being into guitars/music. cheers Steve.
Superb Colin, what a great sounding guitar, definitely a keeper in my book lol, a Les Strat junior lol, looks dynamite, thanks for sharing, take care. ✌😎✌🎸
Ooh I’ve only started watching, but I love this idea Colin!!! Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Although I really like strats, I agree it turned out better than the original! Nice experiment with the linear pot for the tone. In my experience linear pots work great as volume, but for tone you definitely need an audio pot. I use audio in both positions because audio pots clean up nicer. The more even roll off on linear is better though in my opinion. Great vid, keep 'm coming!
Cool video! It was interesting watching you do a mod in addition to a deep dive. I suppose that if you want to unstrat a strat and make it something else, there's no better way to do that than to put a P90 in the bridge. To me, a P90 makes any solid body electric sound like a LP junior.
Agreed, I do play my Strat a lot but I have a P90 Les Paul Special for that sort of thing, which I play a lot too.
Just make sure you locate the pickup in the correct position exactly
Recently found your channel and have been binge watching. Love these upgrade projects, I do this with all my guitars!
It’s like having a chat with your mate down the pub. Cheers Colin 🍻
Cheers Justin, thanks for the kind words and support... glad you found us man!! 😎👍
Bravo !! I'm not a strat guy either,for the same reasons as you Collin..Took me forever to buy a Tele.I'm a Les Paul and Sg guy.But I loved this video ! Love this kind of stuff! I have an old 03'Epiphone SG Special that I've always wanted to mod the heck out of.And watching you,made me excited again to do it ! Love EVERY video you do Collin. Can't wait til next Friday ! Keep em'comin' ! 🎸 🎸 🎸 🎸 Love the look of that Strat now! Very cool
Cheers Rob, have a great weekend mate!
That was a "Mountain-ous" improvement Colin! Tis the law after all.
Thanks for the soldering tips, and the information on the pots.
I love the Strat's transformation, and it will be interesting to see the ongoing changes.
P.S., You sounded great on the Strat Jr. I could tell you were getting on well!
I know what you are going to be playing on your new Jr this weekend Pinkie! 😁👍
@@theguitaristas I’m trying to play along right now! 🎸
Everyone was right who said a single P90, every Guitarista needs one in their collection.
I’m gonna go so far as to say it should be their first guitar, along with a decent tube amp.
The EL34 Studio 10 and the Jr are already best buddies.
Great sounds! I'm now wondering what a Warmoth Gibson scale length conversion neck would do for it.
Well done. P-90s are my favorite pick ups. That is a phenomenal strat now.
I have been watching your channel for some time. And I must say. seeing the joy on your face when you played the first note on your Colincaster, brought joy to mine. You are the best. Best wishes.
😁👍👍
Much-impressive mod, Colin.I've done a single HB one , volume control only, and it is quite loud, but I think the P90 is the cat's meow. I've always played Strats and Teles because of the necks and the scale.
I wonder if a dog-eared P90 would fit without touching the strings....Johnny Thunders tone on a Strat body and scale? Likely very different from a Junior's tone .
BTW, you do sound like Gilmour!Cheers!
I’m really tempted to do a project like this now. From watching your channel it makes me want to try a p90 guitar but I can’t make my mind up on one. I like fenders (and squiers) for affordability and robustness, so this seems like a really interesting idea.
I'd definitely recommend giving one a try! 😎👍
Burny do a cracking Goldtop Les Paul with P90’s!
@@ces69 I do like the look for a gold top les Paul. Just need to try one out somewhere
A few years ago I found myself a nice PRS SE Soapbar. For cheap. They’re probably less cheap these days. But it’s a very very solid instrument.
Vintage do (or used to do) a Les Paul with P90s.
Not only does it look so much better, it sounds amazing. Really cool guitar. I would love a single P90'd Telecaster. Coz I love P90's and I really love Tele's.🤷♂️
Great idea. I’ve thought of doing the same thing, but leaving the middle & neck strat-pickups for rhythms or whatever.
Not having a neck pickup is a tragedy. It's the neck pickup that's so distinctive, followed by the mixed sound, in the Strat and it would have been amazing to hear the difference. A lot of distinctiveness isn't really detectable in bridge pickups.
Yeah but I was trying t make it not sound like that! 😆
The beauty of the Stratocaster is it can be modified to fit almost any need. It is the 1957 Chevy of guitars!
I think Leo and Co. made the PERFECT guitar when they made the Stratocaster. You couldn't ask for a better mod platform.
Nice analogy!! 👍
The Stratocaster looks like "Rock n Roll", whereas other guitars look "country "- Teles and Gretsches, Les Paul's and single cut Jazz boxes look Jazz and SGs Vs and Explorers look Heavy Metal
Love it mate. Sounds great and the black on black is excellent, nice work.
OMG Fender please start making this guitar! The Guitaristas signature strat! Supremely cool guitar and great vid as always, thanks
😁👍 Cheers Martin I am waiting for the call! 🤣
New subscriber as of a couple weeks ago. Thanks for your warts-and-all approach. It’s very refreshing to me, being a 58 year old who plays while wearing 6-ounce boxing gloves. Great show.
Cheers Larry glad you found us man! 😆👍
I always hated the volume knob of my Strat due to the same problem you have !
I managed to fix it putting a felt washer between the knob and the top of the guitar so now it is very hard to turn.
Congratulations for your project !
This Squier sounds GREAT now !!!
Cheers man!
Awesome video, brother! Sounds GREAT! I wish i had the patience to try projects like that. Thanks for sharing, Colin!
Cheers Vad, I think it comes with older age? 😆👍
P-90s don't get the love that they deserve. My favorite single coil pickup.
Haven't even started watching yet, a man after my own heart. 👍👍👍😄😄😄
Cool episode. I'm not a big Strat fan either. My first electric was a Strat, I bought it because my friend bought one. I played around with his, and liked it enough to get my own. Unfortunately, I didn't get along with it. Hated that volume knob (like you said) it got in the way. I especially disliked the pickup selector switch, I kept wacking it by accident. Anyway, I finally discovered my love of Gibsons and Epiphones and P-90s. The idea of a single P-90 Strat, not only looks good but sounds pretty good as well. Now if you could change out the neck for a Mahogany one with a 24.75 scale, it would be perfect.
For years I was so-so on strats/single coil...now....at 60...its my favorite guitar to play. I've evolved... LOL. Love P90s...what a novel concept!
I did similar to my Strat. I used a P90-inna-Humbucker shell with an Ebay 'plate. No tone control, no cap. I'm fairly certain I used a 330K audio taper ( log ) pot. May have been a 500K. Certainly log. Whatever was in the Box O' Crap at the time :-)
It's an absolute hoot to play. So controllable by altering picking/strumming position and force used. The volume pot first quarter of travel is the juice zone. Lowering the guitar volume rolls a little top end off, plus it lowers the amps 'grit', but branging the strings give a lovely 'bark' on initial attack, followed by a growl.
P90 Strat --> Ampmaker WF-55 --> two 1x10" Jensens = bliss.
Squier Strats ( mine's an Affinity, decked the trem ) are really good value, playable guitars.
I've been planning to do this to a strat for a few years, two P90s, one volume one tone and a three way switch. I have all the parts, all but the scratch guard, but never got around to it. Now I've heard how yours sounded I reckon it'd be stupid to not give it a go. This was great. And yeah I reckon it is a better Stratocaster. It sounds like a Tele on steroids but with the comfort cuts of a strat body it's a win-win.
Cheers man... do it! 😆👍
Poor signal meant I clicked on this without a thumbnail, sighing a little as I read the title, because I thought “huh, I don’t like strats. The only way to improve it is make it not a strat. And the way to improve a bullet is put a black pick guard on.” And you did both things! You are my god!
Spooky! 🤣👍
Mate thats a fantastic sounding result!
I did this mod years ago on a lake placid blue bullet strat. A Fender black dove bridge pickup was installed along with a concentric tone and volume pot. topped with Fender bass concentric knob set. That guitar ROCKED! Wish I still had it!
That Squier looks and sounds SO GOOD with the single P90 (and 2 well-placed knobs was brilliant ) … great mod! I love your channel!
Cheers man! 😁👍
What a transformation, especially with the Gordon Smith p90 made in the UK 🤟
Agree! It does look killer, and it sounds great.
Looks great and sounds even better.
Yeah Colin. Very cool. I love strats. That sounds great with the P90
Hi Collin
What a great sounding strat!.
Their is something magical about a single p90 pickup.
You got me going now I might do one myself.
It does sound much better.
As always great playing and a fantastic review. 👏
Groovy, man! Not many things that a P90 won’t improve. Dig it!
On your first wiring attempt you had both pots with the posts facing the same direction and wired the V pot backwards. Lug 1 to the left (when the posts are facing you) is always input from source.
I noticed that and tested swapping sides (off camera) but it wasn't the problem 🤷♂️ learned stuff all the same! 😁👍
What a fantastic idea.....sounds good too..well done
Great work Col, love the sound of a P90
Just loving the channel. Sit and noodle on my guitars whilst listening in as an avid tinkerer of guitars and motorbikes - Cheers Colin👍
Cheers Neill!… bikes and guitars are a match made in heaven 😎👌
I find it quite impressive that the modified guitar does not sound like a strat any more at all. More like an SG junior or so. I have a partscaster at home with a humbucker PU in the bridge position but you always hear the strat come through. Interesting! Thanks for this video 🙂
@16:30 if you wired the pick guard exactly like the bottom schematic then the tone and volume controls were reversed. Note the diagram labels on the pots are reversed.
Also: it’s always easier if one aligns the pots exactly like the diagram. In this case the legs diagram shows the pot legs facing one another, your pick guard had the pots facing the same direction. It’s just less mental gymnastics when troubleshooting.
If someone else wants to do this mod (for best results) be sure to check the pole spacing on the pickup vs the string spacing at the bridge. Some imports have 10mm string spacing some P90s have 49mm polepiece spacing. In this case you were lucky. A vintage spec bridge could have wider spacing. One might need 53mm polepiece spacing at the pickup.
I like this mod👍
I tried it with wires reversed that wasn’t the issue.
I love these upgrade/mod videos Colin this is how I first found you, the ES upgrade series. I think we can all agree its now a better guitar but I dont think its a better stratocaster, one could argue its no longer a stratocaster.
The amp knobs on the strat look great 👍
Nice one Colin, like most P90s the Gordon Smith's have lots of grit in them but clean up nicely with the volume rolled off....great upgrade....
Just finished video, really dig it! Love your P90 play!
Steve O
I love the joy on Colins face after hitting the big “E”
Cheers there's really nothing quite like one of those!! 😃👍
We have differing opinions. I love my Strat. I love the sound. But then it is a real Strat, I made it in the Mod Shop. I am left handed so getting guitars can be difficult. But my Strat is a toasted maple neck, naked, natural mahogany body, Josephina's Hand Wound Fat 50's Pickups. It growls in a nice bluesy way. I love my Strat.
Your upgrade made the Squire into a Les Paul Jr.
😎👍
Great stuff. I am always interested to learn about wiring a guitar.
Thanks for the Video! I always thought I was more of a Gibson guy myself. Definitely thought they looked better than the fenders. But my modified (Squire, Hardtail) Strat is a great guitar. Put on a Maple neck and Seymour Duncan humbucker in the bridge and it rocks. Plywood body but it still sounds great. Never played anything with a P90 though. Maybe it's time to give one a try.
Great Job!
I once “Frankensteined” an old SG in the mid ‘70’s (yes, I’m old).
I took an old SG tag at I got in trade with a single P90 at the bridge and added a humbucker at the neck and put in a coil splitter and a phase reverse for the rear half of the humbucker. Then I drilled holes behind the bridge and put grommets in the back to pull the strings through the body for sustain. What a great guitar.
Unfortunately, it was stolen.
I loved it. It could sound like a Jr, or a strat at the drop of a hat.
Love your videos! Keep ‘em coming.
Cheers Scott, funny I bought an 70's SG modified as string though a while back! 🤣👌 I don't think it's yours though it still has original neck pickup. Here's a film I made ages ago... th-cam.com/video/p8KuRbBVjJM/w-d-xo.html
Great job I’m inspired to build one as well! Cheers!
It sounds great, but I believe the tone pot should have an audio taper and the volume pot should be linear. There are numerous ways to wire up the pots and some are better than others. Now I need to watch the original review after seeing those clips. Today will be two-fer.. ;-)
Looks great, sounds great! I have an old Squire strat that I've had since late '80s/early 90s. I've modded and re-modded a few times over the years. I originally swapped out the plain white 3 single coil pickguard for a pearloid white HSS from Mighty Mite. I recently swapped the single coils out with some generic Seymore Duncan style hot rail humbuckers. Sounds much better to me and no more single coil hum! Not sure why, but I've never had a problem with the control knob placement so I've left those original. Thanks for the weekly Friday morning entertainment! Cheers!
Cheers Ferd, have a great weekend!
Fantastic idea! I'm in the same boat. I have multiple LP, SG, 335 style guitars but only one Sterling Cutlass ( which I like but single coils are meh... I've been routing and swapping many of mine for P90 pickups. I do have several with the neck P90, bridge Humbucker or Tron. I love your videos! Keep 'em coming!
Totally agree about the volume control - can't palm mute with it in that position. I converted mine to 1 volume / 1 tone, moved them down a hole and blanked off the unused hole.
My very 1st decent guitar as a young teenager was a secondhand Fender Squire. Played the shit out of that thing. Good little guitar.