CA Guitar Repair Blog: 1996 MIK Squier Stratocaster Overhaul

Completing the Refret

With fret end beveling taken care of, I was able to move on to the next step, which was fret leveling. Following leveling was (in sequence), recrowning, fret end dressing, abrading, and polishing.

Fret Tops Marked Before Leveling

Fret Leveling in Progress

Recrowning the Frets

Fret End Dressing in Progress

Polishing the Frets

Hardware Servicing

This stage of the overhaul took a really long time. The plastic components such as the pickguard, back plate and knobs were the easiest to service, as all they needed was a thorough scrubbing with soap and water. The metallic components, on the other hand, needed a lot more work. Servicing these basically involved a good long soak in lube, scrubbing, another soaking, and more scrubbing, ad nauseam.

Hardware Disassembled for Servicing

A Good Soak in Lube

Bridge Reassembled After Servicing

Electronics as Received

The good news was that all three pickups were in working order, albeit a tad grimy. Interestingly enough, someone had apparently swapped out the stock ceramic neck single-coil for an Alnico. Besides the mini toggle switch, other mods installed by the previous owner included aluminum foil shielding in the body cavities, an Oak Grigsby selector switch, and a Switchcraft #11 output jack.

Meanwhile, the bad news was that grime and corrosion had degraded most of the electronics to such a degree as to make them unusable. Making matters worse was generally poor wiring and soldering featuring lots of burnt insulation, solder blobs and dull (possibly cold) solder joints. All said and done, only the pickups, Switchcraft jack, jack plate, and tremolo claw would be retained after servicing.

Mini Toggle Switch and Volume Pot

Tone Pot 1 and 0.022uF Tone Cap

Tone Pot 2

Corroded Oak Grigsby Switch

Close-Up of Switch Tabs

Switchcraft Jack and Rusty Jack Plate

Existing Aluminum Foil Shielding

Corroded Tremolo Claw

Servicing the Jack, Jack Plate and Tremolo Claw

Replacement Parts

Let's take a look at replacement parts now. Replacement hardware included screws (pickguard, intonation, bridge mount, strap button, and pickup height), springs (humbucker and tremolo), roller string trees, and pickup tubing. Meanwhile, replacement electronics comprised an Alpha Korea 5P selector switch, a 0.022uF polyester tone capacitor, and full-sized Alpha Korea A500K pots.

Replacement Parts - 1

Replacement Parts - 2

Replacement Parts - 3

Upgrading the Electronics and Related Hardware

As the majority of the electronic components were pickguard-mounted, we started off by scrubbing both surfaces of the pickguard with soap and water to remove existing crud and grime. Following this, the underside of the pickguard was shielded with self-adhesive copper foil, and overlapping tabs added to the existing aluminum foil shielding. These tabs would make contact with the underside of the pickguard shielding, thereby creating a "Faraday Cage" which would serve to minimize electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Pickguard After Cleaning

Pickguard Shielding Installed

Overlapping Shielding Tabs Installed

The pickups, pots and selector switch were then installed on the pickguard and wired in. An extra shielding ground was also wired in. One end was soldered to the back of Tone 2, and the other screwed into the control cavity shielding. For this particular circuit, I chose a "modern" Strat tone control configuration, with Tone 1 affecting both neck and middle pickups, and Tone 2 dedicated solely to the bridge humbucker.

Pickups, Pots and Switch Installed

New Screws, Tubing and Springs

Pickguard Rewiring Completed

Shielding Ground Lug (Circled)

Switchcraft Jack Wired In

Tremolo Claw Ground Wired In

The Home Stretch

As the owner had requested a genuine bone nut, a buffalo bone blank was carefully sanded down to size, and successfully test-fitted. With the bone nut in place, the guitar was strung with D'Addario EXL120s (9 - 42), and roller string trees installed. Then came the actual nut setup. Fret slots were marked with a StewMac String Spacing Rule, and cut with a Tamiya Craft Saw and nut slotting files. As for nut slot depth, this was determined by stacking feeler gauge blades.