Mex strat specs?

daveyh

My son has a mex strat, a 2008/9, chrome red with a maple neck and a parchment scratch plate (which seems unusual). Quite frankly, it’s absolutely awesome and possibly the best strat I’ve ever played. What pickups are fitted on these? They are stunning in this guitar. It’s a guitar where everything just works to it’s absolute best, and he bought it second hand for steal. Lucky bugger.

Fuengi

I've got a 2008 Mexi Strat, it had ceramic pickups which from memory were good but I was persuaded to whip them out for a set of hand wound pickups by a local maker. Bad choice!

Lovely guitar with a great neck and nice big lump of a trem block which seems to help it ring. 

joetele

I think the Mexican standard pickups were upgraded around the mid-2000s to be a bit hotter than the ones from the early 2000s. That was certainly the case for the telecasters. 

I've been lusting after a mex strat for a while now. 

Fuengi

I stripped the cow hide thick poly finish off mine and oiled it with Crimson guitar oil. More pieces of timber than a sheet of OSB but I like it. 

Changed the pickups again for Entwistle AS57's and I absolutely love it now. At some point in the future I'll get a decent replacement trem installed. Tried one of the cheap Wilkinson ones but it was horrible. 

I like having a guitar that you have mucked about with to such an extent it's practically worthless to anyone else yet is highly personalised. Everyone who plays it likes it a lot though.  

thegummy

Fuengi said:

I stripped the cow hide thick poly finish off mine and oiled it with Crimson guitar oil. More pieces of timber than a sheet of OSB but I like it. 

Changed the pickups again for Entwistle AS57's and I absolutely love it now. At some point in the future I'll get a decent replacement trem installed. Tried one of the cheap Wilkinson ones but it was horrible. 

I like having a guitar that you have mucked about with to such an extent it's practically worthless to anyone else yet is highly personalised. Everyone who plays it likes it a lot though.  

Was going to say I can't help but think you bought the wrong guitar but then read the last paragraph so fair play.

Got a photo? Would be interesting to see all the different bits of wood.

thegummy

On that note, I've heard people state outright that multi piece bodies don't sound different to one piece.

But if you took it to the extreme and cut a body into matchsticks then glued it back together, surely that would change the properties of the wood to the point of it being as different as a different type of wood?

If so, it would surely then mean that there was a scale of how much the sound is affected based on how many pieces were used?

munckee

thegummy said:

Fuengi said:

I stripped the cow hide thick poly finish off mine and oiled it with Crimson guitar oil. More pieces of timber than a sheet of OSB but I like it. 

Changed the pickups again for Entwistle AS57's and I absolutely love it now. At some point in the future I'll get a decent replacement trem installed. Tried one of the cheap Wilkinson ones but it was horrible. 

I like having a guitar that you have mucked about with to such an extent it's practically worthless to anyone else yet is highly personalised. Everyone who plays it likes it a lot though.  

Was going to say I can't help but think you bought the wrong guitar but then read the last paragraph so fair play.

Got a photo? Would be interesting to see all the different bits of wood.

I've played this strat quite a few times. The entwistles are good and it's great without the finish. Good quality guitar.  

Fuengi

thegummy said:

Fuengi said:

I stripped the cow hide thick poly finish off mine and oiled it with Crimson guitar oil. More pieces of timber than a sheet of OSB but I like it. 

Changed the pickups again for Entwistle AS57's and I absolutely love it now. At some point in the future I'll get a decent replacement trem installed. Tried one of the cheap Wilkinson ones but it was horrible. 

I like having a guitar that you have mucked about with to such an extent it's practically worthless to anyone else yet is highly personalised. Everyone who plays it likes it a lot though.  

Was going to say I can't help but think you bought the wrong guitar but then read the last paragraph so fair play.

Got a photo? Would be interesting to see all the different bits of wood.

Here's a thread on it with photos throughout the process. Final post has the finished guitar photos which is where I am now with it, although the colour has definitely darkened since. 

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/140446/

Fuengi

thegummy said

Was going to say I can't help but think you bought the wrong guitar but then read the last paragraph so fair play.

Incidentally, for reference I bought it used for £220 about five years ago so it was ideal for modding. 

The date under the scratch plate is Oct 2008. 

crunchman

What model is the Strat in the OP?  Is it a basic Standard Series, or a Classic Series, or a Classic Player?  They don't all have the same pickups.

thegummy

Fuengi said:

thegummy said:

Fuengi said:

I stripped the cow hide thick poly finish off mine and oiled it with Crimson guitar oil. More pieces of timber than a sheet of OSB but I like it. 

Changed the pickups again for Entwistle AS57's and I absolutely love it now. At some point in the future I'll get a decent replacement trem installed. Tried one of the cheap Wilkinson ones but it was horrible. 

I like having a guitar that you have mucked about with to such an extent it's practically worthless to anyone else yet is highly personalised. Everyone who plays it likes it a lot though.  

Was going to say I can't help but think you bought the wrong guitar but then read the last paragraph so fair play.

Got a photo? Would be interesting to see all the different bits of wood.

Here's a thread on it with photos throughout the process. Final post has the finished guitar photos which is where I am now with it, although the colour has definitely darkened since. 

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/140446/

Cheers man. The last imgur link didn't seem to work but could see it from the second last one.

Fuengi

thegummy said:

Fuengi said:

thegummy said:

Fuengi said:

I stripped the cow hide thick poly finish off mine and oiled it with Crimson guitar oil. More pieces of timber than a sheet of OSB but I like it. 

Changed the pickups again for Entwistle AS57's and I absolutely love it now. At some point in the future I'll get a decent replacement trem installed. Tried one of the cheap Wilkinson ones but it was horrible. 

I like having a guitar that you have mucked about with to such an extent it's practically worthless to anyone else yet is highly personalised. Everyone who plays it likes it a lot though.  

Was going to say I can't help but think you bought the wrong guitar but then read the last paragraph so fair play.

Got a photo? Would be interesting to see all the different bits of wood.

Here's a thread on it with photos throughout the process. Final post has the finished guitar photos which is where I am now with it, although the colour has definitely darkened since. 

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/140446/

Cheers man. The last imgur link didn't seem to work but could see it from the second last one.

Try this;

Strat finished https://imgur.com/gallery/hTszMgP ;

Sorry for the thread hijack!

thegummy

Fuengi said:

thegummy said:

Fuengi said:

thegummy said:

Fuengi said:

I stripped the cow hide thick poly finish off mine and oiled it with Crimson guitar oil. More pieces of timber than a sheet of OSB but I like it. 

Changed the pickups again for Entwistle AS57's and I absolutely love it now. At some point in the future I'll get a decent replacement trem installed. Tried one of the cheap Wilkinson ones but it was horrible. 

I like having a guitar that you have mucked about with to such an extent it's practically worthless to anyone else yet is highly personalised. Everyone who plays it likes it a lot though.  

Was going to say I can't help but think you bought the wrong guitar but then read the last paragraph so fair play.

Got a photo? Would be interesting to see all the different bits of wood.

Here's a thread on it with photos throughout the process. Final post has the finished guitar photos which is where I am now with it, although the colour has definitely darkened since. 

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/140446/

Cheers man. The last imgur link didn't seem to work but could see it from the second last one.

Try this;

Strat finished https://imgur.com/gallery/hTszMgP ;

Sorry for the thread hijack!

Looks really cool!

joetele

Fuengi said:

thegummy said:

Fuengi said:

thegummy said:

Fuengi said:

I stripped the cow hide thick poly finish off mine and oiled it with Crimson guitar oil. More pieces of timber than a sheet of OSB but I like it. 

Changed the pickups again for Entwistle AS57's and I absolutely love it now. At some point in the future I'll get a decent replacement trem installed. Tried one of the cheap Wilkinson ones but it was horrible. 

I like having a guitar that you have mucked about with to such an extent it's practically worthless to anyone else yet is highly personalised. Everyone who plays it likes it a lot though.  

Was going to say I can't help but think you bought the wrong guitar but then read the last paragraph so fair play.

Got a photo? Would be interesting to see all the different bits of wood.

Here's a thread on it with photos throughout the process. Final post has the finished guitar photos which is where I am now with it, although the colour has definitely darkened since. 

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/140446/

Cheers man. The last imgur link didn't seem to work but could see it from the second last one.

Try this;

Strat finished https://imgur.com/gallery/hTszMgP ;

Sorry for the thread hijack!

Had a look at the thread. That's a lovely guitar and if you ever decide to sell it I'm calling dibs. 

mark123

thegummy said:

On that note, I've heard people state outright that multi piece bodies don't sound different to one piece.

But if you took it to the extreme and cut a body into matchsticks then glued it back together, surely that would change the properties of the wood to the point of it being as different as a different type of wood?

If so, it would surely then mean that there was a scale of how much the sound is affected based on how many pieces were used?

interesting results...

Funkfingers

daveyh said:

What pickups are fitted on these? They are stunning in this guitar.

Fuengi said:

ceramic pickups

... in a poplar body. The combination balances out. 

thegummy

mark123 said:

thegummy said:

On that note, I've heard people state outright that multi piece bodies don't sound different to one piece.

But if you took it to the extreme and cut a body into matchsticks then glued it back together, surely that would change the properties of the wood to the point of it being as different as a different type of wood?

If so, it would surely then mean that there was a scale of how much the sound is affected based on how many pieces were used?

interesting results...

His sustain "test" is laughable, nothing more than Youtube click bait.

The only thing to use from the video really is comparing the sound of the cut up one vs the full but it's a single arpeggiated chord played once on each so not really enough to properly compare, it could just have been played differently each time for example.

crunchman

thegummy said:

mark123 said:

thegummy said:

On that note, I've heard people state outright that multi piece bodies don't sound different to one piece.

But if you took it to the extreme and cut a body into matchsticks then glued it back together, surely that would change the properties of the wood to the point of it being as different as a different type of wood?

If so, it would surely then mean that there was a scale of how much the sound is affected based on how many pieces were used?

interesting results...

His sustain "test" is laughable, nothing more than Youtube click bait.

The only thing to use from the video really is comparing the sound of the cut up one vs the full but it's a single arpeggiated chord played once on each so not really enough to properly compare, it could just have been played differently each time for example.

Sustain isn't a big issue anyway. Pretty much any well built electric guitar will have more sustain than will ever get used by 99% of guitarists.

The body shape and wood do affect the tone, but that video doesn't really address that, and even if it did try to, it wouldn't be a lot of use given Youtube audio compression.

thegummy

crunchman said:

Sustain isn't a big issue anyway. Pretty much any well built electric guitar will have more sustain than will ever get used by 99% of guitarists.

Totally agree with that - always wondered why anyone cares about it and have asked before - how many bars are people holding one note or chord for that any guitar stops before they want it to?

The body shape and wood do affect the tone, but that video doesn't really address that, and even if it did try to, it wouldn't be a lot of use given Youtube audio compression.

Youtube uses the best codec there is, the audio quality is really good.

To go in to subtleties that would be obscured by Youtube's audio compression is getting very microscopic. I don't even know what point there would be for anyone to care about that kind of subtlety, what effect could it have on anyone in the real world?

I'd put money on most people being unable to pick out Youtube videos from the original audio in blind tests.

daveyh

crunchman said:

What model is the Strat in the OP?  Is it a basic Standard Series, or a Classic Series, or a Classic Player?  They don't all have the same pickups.

Thats the thing, cant find which model is it as I cang find reference to parchment scratchplates

tony99

classic players are parchment aren't they?