Silk purse/sow's ear

[notdave]

I own a Squier Affinity Strat. Made by Cort Indonesia, if that matters.

It's not my favourite guitar, but it was cheap, it's pretty well put together and I happen to like the thin neck. Question is, is it worth my while upgrading the pickups and electrics?

[ROADMAN]

No...there are forty million used strats on the market and quite likely there is a better one than your Cort sporting the exact upgrades your thinking ...for less than what the upgrades will cost you....look around ...ever hear the expression .....

[rangercaster]

just buy a better strat and put your neck on it ... then, sell the neck from the guitar you just bought to offset the cost ...

[Skub]

Originally Posted by notdave

I own a Squier Affinity Strat. Made by Cort Indonesia, if that matters.

It's not my favourite guitar, but it was cheap, it's pretty well put together and I happen to like the thin neck. Question is, is it worth my while upgrading the pickups and electrics?

Aye,why not?

You like the neck,which is the main part of any guitar. You also know that the guitar will never be worth any money no matter what you add to it,so the money thing isn't a factor. Why would you not make it even more to your liking?

[plymman]

^ what he said ^

To me the neck is what makes a guitar enjoyable to play so if you're happy with the neck I'd upgrade it to get the tone you want. If you ever wanted to sell it you could always remove the new pickups and sell them separately and you'd probably lose very little on resale that way.

Don't worry about the brand name, if it's comfortable to play and you can get the sound you want then I'd say go for it. I've had basses worth thousands but played several hundred gigs with a no name Japanese P bass copy I bought for £10.

[Axis29]

I had an Affinity a number of years ago... It was great little guitar. I didn't change out much, fiddled with pickup height, etc. It amazed me that I picked it up used for 60 bucks. I tried all kinds of crazy things on it.

Sadly the only thing I COULDN'T get along with was the neck. It was fine for fiddling in front of the TV, but if I had to actually do Band practice or a show... It was just too skinny and gave me hand cramps.

If you like it, put a few bucks into it. Try some Wilde Bill Lawrence pickups. They're inexpensive but incredibly high quality. But, be careful with things like trems and such. the body is thinner than standard and sometimes the blocks are too deep...

[notdave]

Well, conflicting opinions here

To reassure the naysayers, I'm not bothered about resale value of any of my guitars. They were bought to play, not as an investment, a future family heirloom or to top up my pension fund. I get pleasure out of them now, not out of the prospect of their future value. They're a damn sight cheaper than motorbikes too...

I have the guitar already. I have a few hundred quid I'm prepared to throw at it. It's all good.

Originally Posted by Axis29

But, be careful with things like trems and such. the body is thinner than standard and sometimes the blocks are too deep...

As it goes, I was thinking of hardtailing it anyway. Is the bridge a straight swap for an aftermarket one, or is it smaller/narrower/whatever. Anyone know?

Ditto the pickguard. Will a CRL or similar 5-way switch fit, or is the body too thin?

Tuners are staying. The nut's OK. I already covered the neck. New pots, switch, jack/jackplate, bridge and pickups are on the shopping list. Maybe a 3-ply pickguard.

Originally Posted by Skub

Aye,why not?

You're supposed to be talking me into buying a Vigier, remember?

Thanks for the affirmative words as usual though

[Lostinthe50s]

Damn that's a good looking pig!

[ROADMAN]

Originally Posted by notdave

Well, conflicting opinions here

To reassure the naysayers, I'm not bothered about resale value of any of my guitars. They were bought to play, not as an investment, a future family heirloom or to top up my pension fund. I get pleasure out of them now, not out of the prospect of their future value. They're a damn sight cheaper than motorbikes too...

I have the guitar already. I have a few hundred quid I'm prepared to throw at it. It's all good.



As it goes, I was thinking of hardtailing it anyway. Is the bridge a straight swap for an aftermarket one, or is it smaller/narrower/whatever. Anyone know?

Ditto the pickguard. Will a CRL or similar 5-way switch fit, or is the body too thin?

Tuners are staying. The nut's OK. I already covered the neck. New pots, switch, jack/jackplate, bridge and pickups are on the shopping list. Maybe a 3-ply pickguard.




You're supposed to be talking me into buying a Vigier, remember?

Thanks for the affirmative words as usual though

throw a few hundred quid at it ?....really? that's a down payment on a Kirn...

[Topper]

No. A standard 5-way switch will not work. The body is too thin.

Opinion: I did the whole upgrade thing on one of these. I found that I ended up with a cheap guitar that had a lot of expensive parts on it. I liked it better for what it was originally. Just me.

[wrathfuldeity]

I got one of those CL affinity pigs a couple years but it already had a indo fender neck. It's a darn fine guitar that's probably worth nothing but I like it and its been fun and easy to mod.
The list:
stripped the poly and refin with tung oil
up graded pots,
4 way switch
BL Keystones
Shielded
drilled/furreals for string through
and just today put in 50's pio & wax cap that were lying around.

[Tonemonkey]

Originally Posted by ROADMAN

throw a few hundred quid at it ?....really? that's a down payment on a Kirn...

Yeh, I'm sure Ron could make an Affinity replica, with upgraded electronics!

[notdave]

Originally Posted by Topper

No. A standard 5-way switch will not work. The body is too thin.

Opinion: I did the whole upgrade thing on one of these. I found that I ended up with a cheap guitar that had a lot of expensive parts on it. I liked it better for what it was originally. Just me.

Thanks for that. How about the bridge? Any idea?

[notdave]

Originally Posted by ROADMAN

throw a few hundred quid at it ?....really? that's a down payment on a Kirn...

If I wanted a Kirn I'd buy one. Though I'd more likely buy a Vigier first.

This is just something to piss about with. I don't have to rely on the end product for my living.

OK?

[notdave]

And of course I'll have all the aftermarket bling to sell on if it's still a sow's ear

[Jack FFR1846]

After looking at a bunch of the completed 2012 tdpri build threads, I gotta say that you're way ahead of a pile of boards, some metal parts and pickups all in boxes. If you really like the neck and the thin body, then make it work. Not worrying about what it's worth takes that issue out of the equation.

You will want to research what you can/can't use or what you'll need to do to modify the guitar to make it work. If you have a router and a way to cut a block, you're half way to making parts work in that thing.

[tfsails]

Two years ago, I bought a stringless Squier Bullet (didn't even say "Stratocaster" on the headstock) from my friends 14-y/o daughter for $50. Several years previous to that, she'd bought it from another friend's son and asked me to set it up. I was totally ignorant of guitar things then, so I put a set of acoustic strings on it, tried to tune it, and pronounced it a piece of junk. Hence, she lost interest in it and it rattled around in her bedroom for a couple of years. I have since apologized to her for my complete and innocent ignorance about guitars at that time and she's accepted it.

I was totally unaware that Fenders were designed to be maintained and modified by the player. I'd bought a brand-new MIM Tele and between the owner's manual and this forum discovered this fact. Bad thing for a retired airplane-fixer and inveterate tinkerer to learn! Since I knew I was going to get a Strat eventually, I decided to buy this Bullet and see if I had any talent at working on guitars. Worst-case scenario, I lose the $50 I spent buying a guitar that I later destroyed.

Since then, I've put Lindy Fralin Blues Specials pickups on it, a new pickguard, new output jack, new 5-way switch, new tuners, new saddles, two new nuts that I carved myself (the first one was flawed by my own files), new pots, with the second tone now being a blender pot, and did a level & crown on the frets. There are only four original parts on this axe now: the neck, body, bridge, and the jack cover.

For a total of about $500, including the tools I bought to do the L&C and nuts, I have a damn fine Strat now. Its neck is a tad thinner than the Tele's, so I have to play it a little differently, and its body is only about 2/3 the thickness of the standard Strats, but that's ok. This Strat is a top-loading hardtail with a bridge that's wider than standard. I had to cut out the pg to fit the bridge. I had to very carefully rout out the body where it interfered with the bigger pots and the switch. There's only about 1/8" of wood between the bottom of the routs and the back now.

This guitar plays beautifully now that I've got a decent nut in it; it's intonated close to perfectly and there's no fret buzz anywhere. It complements my Tele nicely. Oh--and it's still only worth about $100 now. But I don't care!

My suggestion to you is to go for it. If you mess it up, you haven't lost much. If you like it, you're not gonna sell it, so who cares what you've got tied up in it? Think of all the fun you'll have modifying it and what you'll learn by doing it. Think of the sense of satisfaction you'll get playing this axe in public--something that YOU designed and YOU built. That kind of satisfaction is priceless!