Affinty gets upgrade for its 21st birthday

I picked up this old “NC” affinity for $40 from a guy in a parking lot a couple of years ago. It plays pretty well and has a nice (but kinda wierd-shaped) neck. But I never liked the candy-shell poly finish.

So I stripped it, repainted it with rattlecan paint and finished it off with some tru oil. Then everything electronic got upgraded.

Sunday Handwound pickups: Tim wound some 23T tele neck pickups for the neck and middle (adapted for strat of course). And a broadcaster-y bridge with baseplate (he even string-wrapped the coil for some covert cool).

Cts pots and nicer-than-stock cap.

Man, this thing sounds delicious.

Before:



After:

 

I like the pickups a lot. (FWIW, they replaced a set of pickups from Fender's "The Edge" strat. Fat 50's neck and middle, Dimarzio FS1 Bridge. All factory modified to flat poles.)

My favorite pickups for tele are the SD Vintage broadcaster set. I was hoping to get close to those with this set. Duncan's STN-1 neck pickup has a brass cover, so a strat pickup will never sound quite the same. But a small roll of the tone knob gets me very close. Warm and complex.
The big surprise to me was the middle pickup. In that position, this wind sounds so very good. Big, broad frequency range. Crystal clear, but still has a little thump.
I wired the set up standard strat style, so the bridge doesn't have a tone control. And as such, it's a little too bright for my taste. I'm wondering if I can couple it with the neck tone pot. Rolling a little would make it also very delicious. I'll do that at the next string change, if not sooner.

As a set, they are great. Lots of compelling tones. The good kind of "character"

But the best part is the craftsmanship. Man. Tim does a great job. You can feel and see the quality. Head and shoulders about any big (or small) manufacturer I've ever used.