Talk me into selling,trading in or modding out my EC. 34 yrs of sucky tone and misery

[70 Mach 1]

I get attached to shit. what can i say.
I cant part with it even though i hate the fucking thing tone wise. feel wise i like it

or I was thinking of swapping out the whole PG and electrical boost shit for preloaded CS 69 PG.
would make much more sense to me financially anyway

 

[JohnnyGtar]

or I was thinking of swapping out the whole PG and electrical boost shit for preloaded CS 69 PG.
would make much more sense to me financially anyway

CS 69 would probably be great in your guitar. I love the Clapton Strats, but the Lace Sensors don't impress me at all. There's no sparkle in them. Having said that, Lace makes a lot of pickups that I think are great. If you want to go noiseless, the DiMarzio Area and Virtual Vintage pickups are awesome. If you get the 69's, the Ilitch hum cancelling backplate works wonders. ---> https://ilitchelectronics.com/

 

[VonBonfire]

Those strats had awful pickups, what can I say. @JohnnyGtar is right. Personally I think Fender makes some good sets that would give that guitar a new lease on life. Fat 50's, CS60, CS69, all solid. I would just get a new guard and load it and keep the original one intact in case you decide to sell it some joker won't lowball you cause you put better pickups in. Those guitars are starting to be wurf munny these days.

 

[JohnnyGtar]

Those strats had awful pickups, what can I say. @JohnnyGtar is right. Personally I think Fender makes some good sets that would give that guitar a new lease on life. Fat 50's, CS60, CS69, all solid. I would just get a new guard and load it and keep the original one intact in case you decide to sell it some joker won't lowball you cause you put better pickups in. Those guitars are starting to be wurf munny these days.

 

[JackBootedThug]

Those strats had awful pickups, what can I say. @JohnnyGtar is right. Personally I think Fender makes some good sets that would give that guitar a new lease on life. Fat 50's, CS60, CS69, all solid. I would just get a new guard and load it and keep the original one intact in case you decide to sell it some joker won't lowball you cause you put better pickups in. Those guitars are starting to be wurf munny these days.

Yjm furies are the schizznitt… to me they are the gold standard of strat pups…. I also have a virtual vintage bridge in the neck position of my Jackson dk2 and it’s awesome.

 

[Music&Chaos]

I get attached to shit. what can i say.
I cant part with it even though i hate the fucking thing tone wise. feel wise i like it

or I was thinking of swapping out the whole PG and electrical boost shit for preloaded CS 69 PG.
would make much more sense to me financially anyway

Planet Tone makes some killer strat pickups. I really dig their DG set. Very , very reasonable prices. If you wanted to upgrade any other electronics like your pots, I would highly recommend the 275k CTS pots from Atlantic Custom Guitars. What kind of tone cap and wiring is in there? Is there a grease bucket or a treble bleed? All of these also affect the tone in ways you may or may not like.

 

[rushcentrale]

I say keep it OG and try to sell it. You can probably clear $2k USD and get something that inspires you. 34 years of misery...you deserve some enjoyment man.

 

[VonBonfire]

Yjm furies are the schizznitt… to me they are the gold standard of strat pups

There are a lot of nice strat pickups out there now. I had a korean "60's reissue" strat for a while back in the 90's that had nice pickups. Then I got one of those thousand dollar GC blowout woodstock strats and it had great sounding pickups. I checked out those yjm's, pretty sweet sounding stuff.

 

[JackBootedThug]

There are a lot of nice strat pickups out there now. I had a korean "60's reissue" strat for a while back in the 90's that had nice pickups. Then I got one of those thousand dollar GC blowout woodstock strats and it had great sounding pickups. I checked out those yjm's, pretty sweet sounding stuff.

Quiet and they sound like single coils…very very toneful imo…

 

[CDawg]

Swap the whole pickguard with the new electronics that you want. I have a Fender Ultra that I did that to and I have no regrets. Got what I wanted and I can go back to stock with ease.

 

[70 Mach 1]

Planet Tone makes some killer strat pickups. I really dig their DG set. Very , very reasonable prices. If you wanted to upgrade any other electronics like your pots, I would highly recommend the 275k CTS pots from Atlantic Custom Guitars. What kind of tone cap and wiring is in there? Is there a grease bucket or a treble bleed? All of these also affect the tone in ways you may or may not like.

What ever the hell came stock is still there
I replaced a bad vol pot 10 yrs ago.
Only mod is i went from a .022 cap to a .015

Now my TBX split shaft just busted trying to make the knob stay on.

I epoxied it for now until i have time to operate

 

[70 Mach 1]

Those strats had awful pickups, what can I say. @JohnnyGtar Those guitars are starting to be wurf munny these days.

Thats been on my mind as well.
91 was first year of Blackie.
Frets still good and finish looks the same as when i bought it.
I keep all my shit clean clean clean

Love the neck and weight. So may be a solid investment for a preloaded PG
And keep the original shit in a box for future sale

 

[cobrahead1030]

It’s so easy to find a nice preloaded strat p/g, going that route would be a no brainer to me.

The parts emporium on TGP has some really great used ones pop up from time to time, if you’re not wanting to drop a bunch of cash on a setup you’re unsure of.

 

[Music&Chaos]

Thats been on my mind as well.
91 was first year of Blackie.
Frets still good and finish looks the same as when i bought it.
I keep all my shit clean clean clean

Love the neck and weight. So may be a solid investment for a preloaded PG
And keep the original shit in a box for future sale

Here is a pretty sweet preloaded deal. They may even have a 20% off coupon in my inbox somewhere for the 4th, making this like $160 total with hand wired American pickups.


https://planettone.com/collections/...one-sss-custom-loaded-pickguard-design-center


That link is for SSS but they have HSS and HH configs as well.

 

[70 Mach 1]

Well i may have found a solution.
I removed the TBX and installed a regular
500k tone pot with a .022 cap

I read this is a positive move for some players.

Changed the whole dynamics of the guitar. It took the nasely mud out.
Took out the cloudy mids

The EQ shifted to a cleaner less compressed tone

Even with the BS boost up high i can dial in a nice chimey clear tone.

Tone knob is living on 5 with a bump to 7 on positions 2 and 4.

Leaves me plenty of meat to play with

Its like I took a wool blanket of the damn thing.

Naturally i have to try it a practice but so far im liking what im hearing

 

[JohnnyGtar]

Well i may have found a solution.
I removed the TBX and installed a regular
500k tone pot with a .022 cap

I read this is a positive move for some players.

Changed the whole dynamics of the guitar. It took the nasely mud out.
Took out the cloudy mids

The EQ shifted to a cleaner less compressed tone

Even with the BS boost up high i can dial in a nice chimey clear tone.

Tone knob is living on 5 with a bump to 7 on positions 2 and 4.

Leaves me plenty of meat to play with

Its like I took a wool blanket of the damn thing.

Naturally i have to try it a practice but so far im liking what im hearing

That's great, man! It's always cool when a small change turns things around. Rock dat thang!

 

[Music&Chaos]

Well i may have found a solution.
I removed the TBX and installed a regular
500k tone pot with a .022 cap

I read this is a positive move for some players.

Changed the whole dynamics of the guitar. It took the nasely mud out.
Took out the cloudy mids

The EQ shifted to a cleaner less compressed tone

Even with the BS boost up high i can dial in a nice chimey clear tone.

Tone knob is living on 5 with a bump to 7 on positions 2 and 4.

Leaves me plenty of meat to play with

Its like I took a wool blanket of the damn thing.

Naturally i have to try it a practice but so far im liking what im hearing

That's awesome! All those years and it was just a change or two away from being far closer to what you wanted. Congrats on the "new" guitar.

 

[grooveHT]

I say keep it OG and try to sell it. You can probably clear $2k USD and get something that inspires you. 34 years of misery...you deserve some enjoyment man.

This; sell it, buy an EJ body from Stratosphere and a neck from Musikraft, fender pure vintage bridge and whatever pickups you like; i love Fralin for true singles and Kinman noiseless. I think you can do that really easy for less than 2k, no wood cutouts for battery compartment, etc.

But good on ya for getting it performing better! I'm guessing that you won't love the Lace in the end, but i really hope you do!