Seymour Duncan STK-S10 YJM Fury Signature Model for Strat

Today's pickup is a Seymour Duncan STK-S10B, the "B" indicating that it's meant to be installed in the bridge position of a Strat or similar guitar. Seymour Duncan also offers specific STK-S10 variants for neck and middle positions. STK-S10s are stock on the Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster. Without going into too much detail, allow me to explain that STK-S10s are actually single coil-sized stacked humbuckers featuring Alnico 5 rod magnets, 4-conductor lead wire; and wax potting for "squeal free performance." Further information is available on the Seymour Duncan website. Now, since the pickup is already in my hands, let's take a closer look; shall we?

MIJ Squier Silver Series Stratocaster | Part Three

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Here is the third and final post on this totally awesome MIJ Squier Silver Series Stratocaster. Happy owner Enche' Nodi dropped by after the photoshoot and entertained me with a bit of spanky cleaned-toned stratolicious noodling. I managed to shoot a short video of Enche Nodi's adventures in Stratland; which you may view HERE. Well, folks, that's about it for this post. Thanks for visiting. Stay home, stay safe; and God bless.

 

 

MIJ Squier Silver Series Stratocaster | Part Two

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

In Part One, we saw just how badly this MIJ Squier Silver Series Stratocaster was in need of an overhaul; so to speak. I started off by dismantling all hardware and electronic components. The neck and headstock were cleaned with naphtha, rosewood fretboard reconditioned; and frets polished. Then, as the pickup covers were being removed for cleaning; I noticed that the fragile coil windings were totally exposed. This simply would not do, and so they were gingerly wrapped with black cloth pickup tape.

The body cavities were shielded with conductive shielding paint; and the whole underside of the pickguard with aluminium foil. As for the electronics, everything was replaced save for the pickups. Among the new components were Alpha A250K pots and a Neutrik/Rean NYS229 output jack.

There was also a rather large teardrop-shaped patch of wood exposed just below the "football" output jack plate. The nice part about this "injury" was that the wood showed a distinctive grain pattern. So, it definitely was not basswood. I'm guessing it's either alder; or even Japanese Ash (Sen). This was indeed an exciting discovery (for me, at least). The exposed wood was stained with ColorTone #5030 Vintage Amber and sealed with several coats of super glue.

Perhaps the most challenging part of this job was restoring the vibrato bridge. The saddles were corroded right down to metal as most of the plating had gone the way of the dodo. It took me more than 8 hours to remove the frozen saddle-height adjustment screws and derust the saddles to where they looked presentable enough. As it turned out, the saddle-height adjustment screws, as well as intonation screws and springs; had to be replaced.

Once all that needed to be done had been taken care of, this MIJ Squier Silver Series Stratocaster was reassembled, polished; and strung with Ernie Ball 009-042s. In Part Three, we'll look at a mini photo shoot of sorts; where this lovely guitar was kind enough to pose for a few pictures :)

 

MIJ Squier Silver Series Stratocaster | Part One

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

One fine day, legendary Kuantan muso Enche' Nodi came a calling, bringing along his latest acquisition; a fine-looking MIJ Squier Stratocaster. He wanted the Strat restored to gigging/recording condition; as he is a working guitar, bass, and oud (gambus) player. 

According to Guitar Insite, this guitar was manufactured by FujiGen in either 1990 or 1991. I was also pleased to discover, thanks to Planet Botch and the Squier-Talk Forum; that this guitar was one of the early MIJ Squier Silver Series Strats that "did not have a 'Silver Series' identifier on the headstock." Besides this, I'd managed to determine a number of specs, as shown in the next paragraph.

Torino Red finish
Solid wood body
Zero shielding save for some foil under the pickguard
Individual cavities for each pickup
Gotoh tuning pegs
Vibrato bridge with no branding on the saddles
Ceramic single-coil pickups
Gotoh YM-50 five-way switch
Full-sized 250K pots
Plastic-bodied "Made in Japan" output jack
Truss rod adjustment on the headstock face
Maple neck with "skunk stripe"
7.25" radius rosewood fretboard
21 vintage-size frets

Time and tide had certainly taken their toll on this fine specimen of stratiness; and I knew that I had my job cut out for me. Grime, crud, rust and corrosion were the order of the day; as can be seen in the pics posted here. In Part Two; we'll take a look at what was done to get this Strat back into shape.

Mymozika Frankenstrat Build | Part One

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

I seem to have a number of regular clients who are not only into run-of-the-mill kit builds; but also mix-and-match "Frankenstein" mutants. Fine with me, always give the client what he/she wants. I do get a thrill putting together one-of-a-kind instruments; such as the Frankenstrat Partscaster and Yamaha EG112C - OLP MM1 Hybrid.

So here we have an old Applause Strat copy, the body of which has been decorated front and back with Mymozika head honcho Wan's own sticker design. For those who aren't familiar with Mymozika, they're an up-and-coming local rock band. Do check out their Facebook Page and YouTube Channel. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

Back to the Applause, then. The sticker design is pretty intricate, and reminds me of the '60s for some reason. The body is all Wan wants retained. To complete this build, he's brought me a custom '70s Strat-style reverse-headstock Canadian hard rock maple neck, black pickguard, gold hardware; and three pickups. The neck and middle are from a Japanese Fender Stratocaster; while the bridge pickup is a used Fender SCN ST-BR Samarium Cobalt Noiseless.

As the leads on all three pickups are woefully short, I've removed them and soldered on longer hot (+) and ground (-) leads. And, for simplicity's sake, I've bridged the triangular and square solder terminals of the SCN for a common ground (black lead), and maintained the round terminal for the hot lead (white). 

At the owner's request, the stock black pickup covers on the neck and middle pickups have been swapped out for a pair of StewMac Parchment Pickup Covers for Strat. They do contrast nicely with the black pickguard, and more or less match the aged white SCN cover. Okay, that's taken care of. Now, on to the wiring.

I've upgraded the electronics with Alpha A250K pots, a Russian K73-16 0.022uF tone cap; and Neutrik/Rean NYS229 output jack. The neck and middle pickups work together well, and the middle is RWRP (reverse-wound, reverse-polarity) -- nice! So far so good; or so I think. Then, when I kick in the bridge pickup; all hell breaks loose. There's only the faintest of signals, drowned in hum and noise.

What do I do, what do I do? I decide to reverse the leads on the SCN. Now the square and round terminals are the common ground (black lead), and the triangular; hot (white lead). And, who would've guessed; the SCN is behaving as it should. No more weird noises and annoying hum. I heave a huge sigh of relief!

We've settled the wiring issue, but there's still lots more to be done. Do stay tuned for future updates on this Mymozika Frankenstrat Build. See ya real soon :)

Note: Fender®, Stratocaster®, Strat®, Telecaster®, Tele®, P Bass®, Precision Bass®, and the distinctive headstock designs of these guitars are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

 

Squier California Series SSS Strat Upgrade

Rust never sleeps. Grime and gunk spread like Covid-19. Two things to remember if you love your guitar. The current owner of this Squier Strat bought it used for MYR200 (USD47). Quite a good deal, I must say. It was grimy, rusty and caked in various evolutionary stages of gunk; testament to years of neglect.

On the plus side, this Strat had been recently refretted (there was hardly any fret wear). Someone had also upgraded the stock ceramic pickups to Alnicos (probably Alnico 5s, as printed on the pickup covers). Popping the neck revealed a seller's note on the heel, indicating that it had once been up for sale in 2007 for MYR960 (USD223). Now I knew that this Squier was at least 13 years old. Nice :)

Poor guy -- he could not even plug it in coz the output jack was broken. Now, I could have just replaced the broken jack, serviced the electronics; and called it good. However, as the owner intended to keep this Strat; he requested that it be upgraded to gig-worthy specs.

The first thing I did was degrime/derust the whole guitar as best I could, and recondition the fretboard. A full shielding job ensued, followed by an electronics upgrade. This upgrade included Alpha A250K pots, generic PCB selector switch, Neutrik/Rean NYS229 output jack and full rewire.

As per the owner's request, the bridge was to be set flat. However, even with three springs and the trem claw screws screwed in to the max; the bridge was still lifting slightly from the body. I'm glad to say that adding an additional spring solved the problem.

Well, that's about it for this write-up. Now, boys and girls; burn this into memory:
(i) Rust never sleeps
(ii) Grime and gunk spread like Covid-19