Mar 13, 2006, 16:30
I've decided to keep my Ibanez Artcore because I really like the dark, bluesy tone I get from it with P90 pickups. So I did a few modifications on the "vintage" Squier '51 to make it a little more modern and aggressive. These guitars are so inexpensive, which makes modding very affordable.
Here's what I've done:
Cosmetic mods
- Photoshopped a Squier '51 "Mojocaster" logo to replace the boring Squier logo
- neck tinted "kiwi brown"
- pickguard painted desert camo (with Mr. Mojo skull - if you're gonna go over the top, you might as well go way over! )
Functional mods
- Shielded body cavities and back of pickguard
- replaced stock neck pup with GFS Lil Killer (and added external height adjustment screws)
- replaced stock bridge pup with GFS Bigmouth
- replaced stock bridge with Schaller 475 roller bridge - huge improvement!
- replaced pickup selector switch with dual concentric pots to give separate volume control to each pickup (used as pickup "blend" control, in the style of a Fender Jazz Bass)
- rewired stock volume pot as a tone pot
What I didn't do:
- I had wanted to rewired the coil split switch as a series/parallel switch, but skipped this part after some last-minute wiring confusion
- I had intended to swap the pot positions, but once I got to work, I found that the stock volume pot (now tone pot) has a narrow shaft, and the dual concentric pot wouldn't fit in the neck-side location without drilling.
- Originally I was going to use the tone pot only for the bridge. Instead, I wired it as a master tone control for both pups. I'm glad I did it this way.
Aside from the Mojocaster logo, my favorite mod is the tone pot - it really adds some versatility that was previously absent. My second favorite is the Schaller bridge. If I did nothing else to a stock '51, I'd squeeze a tone pot into the control cavity and upgrade the bridge.
The tone now is much heavier, as was intended. I don't find it very good for playing clean (nor did I expect it to be), but with high-gain amp settings it really screams.
Here are some pics of the Mojocaster:
New bridge, new pups, and painted pickguard:
![[Image: 55592276.jpg]](http://www.pbase.com/m_schlesinger/image/55592276.jpg)
Dual-concentric volume pots:
![[Image: 55592277.jpg]](http://www.pbase.com/m_schlesinger/image/55592277.jpg)
Lil Killer pickup and Mr. Mojo:
![[Image: 55592278.jpg]](http://www.pbase.com/m_schlesinger/image/55592278.jpg)
Mojocaster headstock logo
![[Image: 55592279.jpg]](http://www.pbase.com/m_schlesinger/image/55592279.jpg)
Here's what I've done:
Cosmetic mods
- Photoshopped a Squier '51 "Mojocaster" logo to replace the boring Squier logo
- neck tinted "kiwi brown"
- pickguard painted desert camo (with Mr. Mojo skull - if you're gonna go over the top, you might as well go way over! )
Functional mods
- Shielded body cavities and back of pickguard
- replaced stock neck pup with GFS Lil Killer (and added external height adjustment screws)
- replaced stock bridge pup with GFS Bigmouth
- replaced stock bridge with Schaller 475 roller bridge - huge improvement!
- replaced pickup selector switch with dual concentric pots to give separate volume control to each pickup (used as pickup "blend" control, in the style of a Fender Jazz Bass)
- rewired stock volume pot as a tone pot
What I didn't do:
- I had wanted to rewired the coil split switch as a series/parallel switch, but skipped this part after some last-minute wiring confusion
- I had intended to swap the pot positions, but once I got to work, I found that the stock volume pot (now tone pot) has a narrow shaft, and the dual concentric pot wouldn't fit in the neck-side location without drilling.
- Originally I was going to use the tone pot only for the bridge. Instead, I wired it as a master tone control for both pups. I'm glad I did it this way.
Aside from the Mojocaster logo, my favorite mod is the tone pot - it really adds some versatility that was previously absent. My second favorite is the Schaller bridge. If I did nothing else to a stock '51, I'd squeeze a tone pot into the control cavity and upgrade the bridge.
The tone now is much heavier, as was intended. I don't find it very good for playing clean (nor did I expect it to be), but with high-gain amp settings it really screams.
Here are some pics of the Mojocaster:
New bridge, new pups, and painted pickguard:
Dual-concentric volume pots:
Lil Killer pickup and Mr. Mojo:
Mojocaster headstock logo
) but I can appreciate the work you put into it! You will have to post a rift!