Would This Be A Good Combination?

[Yardbird Mac]

Would an ash back flame maple top be a good wood combination for building a Strat? I'm thinking about a custom build.

Thanks!

[phantomman]

Visually, it would be stunning. Be prepared for a relatively bright tone though.

[chuckocaster]

Ain't nothing that some judicious electronics tweaking couldn't fix. Might I suggest an all maple body? Yes, maple is "bright"... But, it also has awesome low end integrity! I get all weak in the knees whenever I just think of my '73 Ric bass. I am a firm believer in subtractive EQ. Meaning I would rather cut treble (or any other frequency) than try to add it in.

[Yardbird Mac]

Ain't nothing that some judicious electronics tweaking couldn't fix. Might I suggest an all maple body? Yes, maple is "bright"... But, it also has awesome low end integrity! I get all weak in the knees whenever I just think of my '73 Ric bass. I am a firm believer in subtractive EQ. Meaning I would rather cut treble (or any other frequency) than try to add it in.

I 2009 I had a set of Kinman noiseless pickups (complete with pre wired Volume and Tone pots) installed. I got the mid priced package that has the bridge tone pot that allows some completely different tones apart from the 5-way switch... (simiar to what I could get when I had my G&L Comanche). I have no complaints with the electronics.

"I am a firm believer in subtractive EQ. Meaning I would rather cut treble (or any other frequency) than try to add it in." I'm inclined to agree with that to a point. I just swapped out the pickups and electronics on my 2003 GIBSON Les Paul Standard. It came equipped with BurstBucker Pros. No matter what I did, I couldn't dial out the shrill harshness of either pickup. Cutting the treble turned the tone to absolute mush/mud. Cutting the bass made it sound too thin. After installing new aftermarket pickups, new 500k CTS pots, and BumbleBee caps, it's a totally different (and useable) guitar.

Since the new neck is massive compared to the FENDER neck, I suppose there will be some noticeable change in the tone/volume/suatain?

[Don]

Since the new neck is massive compared to the FENDER neck, I suppose there will be some noticeable change in the tone/volume/suatain?

Maybe. Maybe not. I put a huge USACG boat neck on mt Hwy1 Strat and did not notice a difference in tone.

[chuckocaster]

You can also swap cap values since even when it's on "10" it's still bleeding off treble. So if you're using a .047 and the guitar is too bright you can try a .1, or even make your own that falls somewhere in between.

[jrgtr42]

I have one. A Schecter USA Custom.
Ash back, flame maple top, with birdseye neck (the amber-ish guitar in my avatar)
It has a hum-single-single setup with a push-pull to bring the second coil in (I think...)
It actually sounds pretty midrangy, not as toppy as you'd think.

[Yardbird Mac]

Maybe. Maybe not. I put a huge USACG boat neck on mt Hwy1 Strat and did not notice a difference in tone.

Well... I purchased the neck from LAY's and had it installed (and set up). Over the past week I've had a chance to tweak this guitar a little. The main thing I did was raise the pickups according to Kinman's recommendations. I've found their pickups to be extremely sensitive to string/pickup height distances. Right now I have the pickups adjusted about 1/64" below their minimum suggested distance. For this guitar, that seems to be the distance that kills any noticeable string pull. The sustain and "bloom" are spot on. I seldom use any pinch harmonics, but since I had the new neck installed I'm able to get those (and other harmonics) with no effort!

After having this experience I'm tempted to NOT buy a custom body for this guitar. The original selling point for this instrument was how good it sounded and how "alive" it was compared to the other Strats in the music store where I bought it. I compared it to a couple of EJ Strats they had and this humble little MIM Strat ended Up coming home with me.

At first the new neck felt a little awkward. I'm used to playing rosewood, or ebony, fretboards on Strat style guitars. It only took a couple practice sessions to get used to the high gloss maple fretboard.