Hi everybody!

I purchased a Fender Squire off a one of my sons friends (13) that was brand new for $25. So for that price I figured I'd put a few dollars into it and have a real player. The guitar played very well when I got but,..you guys know me,..always wanna upgrade all my guitars! LMFAO. Anyway,..I installed DragonFire Hot Rails (only $23 each with shipping) in the Bridge and Neck position and a Kinman AVn-56 ($119 in the Middle position. I also installed a Fender Black Pickguard ($19), Black Stove Knobs ($6 all three),black selector switch (free). After that I sanded the head stock front and painted it with Lacquer gloss black (10 coats) and sanded between coats. Then the guitar went to my guitar guy. He then leveled and polished the frets,.Filed the fret ends, Installed a Graph-Tech nut,Blocked the trem with a maple block and installed 5 new springs,Adjusted the truss rod,Set the action,Set the pickup heights,Set the intonation,Cleaned & conditioned the fret board,tightened all the hardware,and clean and polished the guitar, installed a set of Ernie ball 10s. My guitar tech guy only charged me $80 to do it all. Total cost for project $295.00. the guitar plays very well and sounds really great. I'm really happy with it and will be gigin with this one! The pictures don't do it justice! It's very sharp looking!
Here are a few pics of it before and after.
After the pic on the bottom of the post is a sample of the solo for Call Me The Breeze using the bridge pickup hotrail with only Chorus and the Mark IV setting on my Behringer V-Amp Pro.
Have a great weekend everyone!

BTW,..that's my Autumn in the background! She's my little angel and devil all in one! LOL

Johnny

Too much white on that guitar :lol: Looks killer mate!

Looks the business Johnny! Love the colour, a couple of cracking photos of your little un in there to boot. Rhys understands guitar now, he points at mine and says ' dudar' which is good enough for me. Seriously goes to show if you know what to do with adding the extras then you can buy a cheapo and make it real good. :woot:

Dude, somebody shaved a rat, and left it under the buffet in the first pic!!!LOL!!!! Guitar looks way cool bro...i like the all black with the white on the pups!!! And it sounds kickass too!!! Nice buy Johnny!!:rock: :thumb:

Dude, somebody shaved a rat, and left it under the buffet in the first pic!!!LOL!!!! Guitar looks way cool bro...i like the all black with the white on the pups!!! And it sounds kickass too!!! Nice buy Johnny!!:rock: :thumb:

That's my wifes cat model.:lol: She's a cat freak man! We have a Apple head siamese and a really cool all Black cat,..but she is nasty as hell,..you can't even pet her without her try to swat ya or bite you,..but she is cool man! Anyway,..thanks for the comps bro! The guitar looks really good in person! The pics suck! Oh well,..it rips!

Johnny

Looks the business Johnny! Love the colour, a couple of cracking photos of your little un in there to boot. Rhys understands guitar now, he points at mine and says ' dudar' which is good enough for me. Seriously goes to show if you know what to do with adding the extras then you can buy a cheapo and make it real good. :woot:

Yeah,.. she's learning already man. I can't even take her in the car without her singing to the radio and at dinner time she always puts of the music channels on the TV. Thanks for the comps bro!

Johnny

Too much white on that guitar :lol: Looks killer mate!

Thanks man! I really love the way it came out!
Have a great weekend!

Johnny

I've done a similar thing with my squire but it eventually became a completely rebuilt guitar and I'm now left with enough parts to make another one:lol: I love what you have done with yours mate,it looks very classy,I've always liked black strats.:)

Nice project Johnny. Looks and sounds a stunner ... and as for Autumn, she is one cutie ... watch out for her, she'll be stealing hearts left, right and centre (if she hasn't already!)

We have cats too ... vicious little brutes ain't they? (at least between feeding times and at any other time when they're not demanding attention :) )

:thumb:

Lovely Strat Johnny! Yeah you can't fall off with Black on Black.
I'm wanting a black scratchplate on me Precision,
I bought one once and ruined it, I'm all thumbs when it comes to filing around the neck cut away. Why don't Squier/Fender just sell spare parts?

thats come out really well john....black headstock blends in great. :woot:

gorgeous lil girl you got too mate, i bet shes a right handful! :thumb:

regards,
jim.

Great stuff mate, looks great and sounds like you've made a classy guitar out of that Squire :)

Hey Johnny

What a cutie! your daughter is..mine is 13 and it seems like yesterday she was that size.

Hey Nice job on the Strat all black is really a nice look.Are those Dragon Fly pup's made by GFS?.They look like the ones i have in my Mexican Strat.

Park:)

Great work Johnny, it looks and sounds great...I actually see an older white strat in a Pawn shop at weekend, marked up for $79, I could probably get them down a bit on price:boobies:

...nothing like modding your guitar, my # 1 Squire I modded a couple years back is the guitar I pick up the most.....

Cool piccys J! That strat looks real neat! One of these days I´m going to try build me a lefty one from parts. I think that german store sells bodies & necks. Not sure though. What´s the difference between those PU´s and the standard ones it came with? I guess a lot, but you know how clueless I am with those stuff, lol! And say hi to miss Autumn from uncle Tony, :hug: :woot:

I'm really into building strats from scratch at the moment!!I get my parts from e-bay and www.axesrus.com who are based in Hull and are very reasonably priced!:) Pete ,I think they do scratchplates for all import and american fenders and squires.

Pete ,I think they do scratchplates for all import and american fenders and squires.

Yeah Dave they do! I've had that site in my Favourites folder for quite a while. I got my last black scratchplate from here http://www.rosetti.co.uk/
they were the cheapest I'd seen for a 3 ply plate.(£9.50) but like I said it needed adjustments especially around the neck and pick up positions and this lad here is all thumbs when it comes to doing anything requiring tentative fiddling, I fucked the bastard thing right up!

Great work Johnny, it looks and sounds great...I actually see an older white strat in a Pawn shop at weekend, marked up for $79, I could probably get them down a bit on price:boobies:

...nothing like modding your guitar, my # 1 Squire I modded a couple years back is the guitar I pick up the most.....

Ya can't beat them if ya put a few bucks into them. I have another one that I always record with and I love it! Squires are good guitars..but almost every time they need some work. Mass productions,..ya know! Neck pockets not sanded and bubbling paint left in there,... pickup adjustments always needed,...intonation,...and on and on! But after ya tweak them they turn out great!

Johnny

Hey Johnny

What a cutie! your daughter is..mine is 13 and it seems like yesterday she was that size.

Hey Nice job on the Strat all black is really a nice look.Are those Dragon Fly pup's made by GFS?.They look like the ones i have in my Mexican Strat.

Park:)

I'm pretty sure you're right! They are pretty dark sounding compared to a Single coil but,they kick ass!
Thanks man!

Johnny

Cool piccys J! That strat looks real neat! One of these days I´m going to try build me a lefty one from parts. I think that german store sells bodies & necks. Not sure though. What´s the difference between those PU´s and the standard ones it came with? I guess a lot, but you know how clueless I am with those stuff, lol! And say hi to miss Autumn from uncle Tony, :hug: :woot:

Hey Tony! Thanks man! It's always fun to build yourself something cool man. I always wanted an all black Strat. I'm gonna build an all white one next. Anyway,..the pickups are humbuckers. They have no noise like a standard strat pickups has... and they have a lot more balls. It's sorta like a LesPaul Strat now! I really like the way it looks and plays. After the fret job and all,..it plays like butter,..real smooth feeling! I wanna record with it soon!
Thanks again man!

Johnny