This is my second of three Strats that I have and the oldest guitar I have by age. It’s a 1995 MIM that I purchased off Craigslist a while back.
While it’s not a true partscaster I have replaced quite a few things:
- Black pick guard for aesthetics
- Locking tuners
- New OEM American neck. Several frets were worn on the old neck and it didn’t fit Fenders current locking tuners so I replaced the whole neck. I still need to file the nut down a bit on some strings because it has innotation problems.
- I had Tele style knob on it but they didn’t quite fit so I put the OG knobs on.
Since I have 3 Strats I keep this one in DADGAD tuning just to have some different options. I have it strung with Ultra Slinky strings (10-48) to get those deep open tones.
I don’t play it as much but I don’t think it’s worth selling since I have space to store it. Plus it’s fun for me to work on it every now and then.
Did you have to adjust the bridge springs at all for the tuning?
Yes I had to adjust the bridge springs on the saddles but not the tremolo strings.
The tremolo strings on this guitar are VERY strong for some reason. With the strings off I can move the bridge but even with the heavy gauge the bridge is flush on the body.
I don’t quite know what I’m doing so it’s kind of trial and error. I bought some luthier tools with an action ruler so that’s been my guide plus checking for fret buzz.
When I unpacked my guitars in '21 after their decades long disuse, I had to reflect back on how much basic care I had no idea about back in the 90s before YouTube.