Advice with customisation please....

Hi all,
I have a lowly Korean Squier Strat which i use for recording. I became a bit frustrated with it, and considered buying something better. Instead, as I am a bit of a tinkerer, I have started upgrading it instead.
I have put in new pots and switch, and have machine heads and a bridge on order. I am shielding the cavities inside and getting rid of ground loops to reduce noise. (See the Guitarnuts website)

I bought some Mexican Strat standard pickups to put in it. Not expensive, but I thought they would be an improvement. They didn't come with screws, and I've found there is a problem with the Squier screws and springs. The Squier pickups are much taller - the covers are about 18mm high. The Mex covers are only about 12mm. So the springs are too long and really push the pickups too hard, and also the screws seem a tiny bit too slim. One of the screws doesn't hold in the pickup thread.

So I've got a few questions...
1. Do I need to use springs when mounting the pickups? If so where do they go?
2. Do the pickups go in a particular order? Is one made to be the neck, one the bridge, etc. - or are they all the same? If they are ordered, how do you tell which is which?
3. Will these new pickups be any better than my old ones? The old ones were taller, as I said - they also have one complete bar magnet across the bottom. The Mex ones have two bar magnets on each side of the bottom.

I use my Strat mainly for funk rhythm and lead parts, but sometimes also for more jazzy lead.

Thanks for any advice!

Welcome.

Based on the quality way you've done your upgrades so far, you should be good shape.

You can use small lengths of surgical tubing instead of springs.

You can check the resistance of the new pickups; in almost every case, the resistance of the bridge pickup is greatest, the neck pickup weakest, to counteract the advantageous position the neck and to a degree the middle pickup has over the bridge pup. If the resistance of the neck and middle pups are the same, the middle pup should be RWRP, so you can check its polarity against the bridge pup, and the odd one out goes in the middle.

The only way to find out if the new ones are better for you is to try them; tastes differ, and not every Korean pickup (or pickup in a Korean guitar) is inferior. The pole pieces of the MIM pups will be wider, and this may or may not help the sound on your guitar.

As Boris said, use some surgical tubing instead of springs. It works very well, and you can get it in lots of places like hardware stores. While you're in the hardware store with one of your new pickups in hand, get some screws that fit the threads. They'll cost you a few pennies each at a hardware store, but a few pounds at a guitar shop. The Squier screws, from my experience, will not work in Fender pickups, so just replace them. Test the resistance with a multi-meter (not expensive to buy if you don't already have one--about what 2 packs of strings will cost) and do as Boris stated.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to get a satisfying guitar, and you're replacing a lot of the stuff that keeps the inexpensive from being pretty good.

Thanks a lot - I will get the multimeter out.

Re. the tubing or springs - I'm guessing they go between the cover and the pickup? I forgot to check when taking the pickups out.

Welcome to the TDPRI!

The springs / tubing go under the pickguard between it and the pickup.

Thanks Punch,
Thinking about it logically after i posted I thought that must be the case - just got a bit confused by my too-big springs :)

Interesting, I measured the resistance and all three are pretty much identical. 7.17 Ohms with the multimeter set at 20K.
I've got two pickups with black and white wiring, and one with yellow and white. One of the b&ws is trimmed shorter, so I guess that will have to be the bridge pickup. (These are used pickups btw.)

How do I measure polarity?

I measured my squier pickups and the bridge pickup has greater resistance than the other two.

Yellow and white is the bridge......

Take the big leap... have a good fret leveling and setup done... you will be amazed..

rk

Yellow and white is the bridge......

Really? OK, I could solder extension wires onto the pickup with the short trimmed wires.

Thanks.

Welcome to the site! I think that you are going to be pleasantly surprised at the results of your upgrades, especially if you do the fret leveling and set up.

Cheers!

Take the big leap... have a good fret leveling and setup done... you will be amazed..

rk

Sounds good. I'll see what i end up with at the end of this overhaul.
Wouldn't mind taking a bigger leap and getting hold of one of those amazing guitars that you put together. Ah well. I can dream.