Squier 51 Modification: GFS Nashville Bridge Pickup

Time for Modifications?

Despite not being convinced that the Squier 51 is a keeper, the charm and general good looks of the thing, combined with the happy accident of a pair of GFS Nashville pickups being available locally for $20, meant I was was committed to modifying it. The presence of the chrome control plate and bridge made the all black pickups an odd, if financially understandable choice. How much better though, would this look with a chrome covered humbucker in the bridge and a lipstick single in the neck?

A couple of things were standing in the way though. First, I was without a workspace, having sacrificed it to the needs of a certain 4 year old and her lego. Second, while I wanted to make the mods, I couldn't be bothered. Not sure why, but there it is.
This weekend though, both kids sleeping with nothing to do meant there was a window open, and I was going to take it.

There are a couple of things worth noting before I get into how I'm a moron.

1. The cavities on this guitar are clean.  Not much in the way of spotty workmanship.
2. The Stratocaster really is a brilliant design.  Disconnect the pickguard from the output jack (hot and ground) and you are left with a much more manageable canvas for soldering.
3. If you can't separate the guitar from the wiring, PROTECT THE GUITAR.  Covering it with towels means no scratches or hot solder mucking up an otherwise good looking finish.  I learned this one the hard way.

Moron 101

Having wired GFS pickups before, I was pretty sure I could get this done in a relatively short amount of time. I recalled being impressed with myself on the Blacktop Stratocaster rewiring, so this one should be a breeze. I would open up the Squier, make notes regarding wiring location, be off to the races.  The patient would only be on the table for 10 minutes, tops.

Figure 1

I made some quick notes on original wiring locations (and took a photo - Figure 1) before unsoldering the OEM pickup and then unsoldered it, thinking I was already half way done.

The trouble was that as soon as I turned my attention to the GFS pickup, I realized I had made a critical mistake.  The Squier pickup had 3 wires - on to the switch, one to ground, and one to a pole piece on the push-pull pot.

Figure 2

The GFS had 4, plus an exposed ground.  You can see it near the arm cut in Figure 2.  To make matters slightly MORE confusing, the original owner of the GFS had soldered green and white together.

This seemed wrong to me, but I couldn't bother to figure out why.

Instead of sitting back and thinking about the problem, I started to make some pretty wild assumptions about where what wire should go where. I remembered that every pickups has a hot and a ground, but wasn't quite sure what to do with the rest.  I assumed that trial and error would get me to where I wanted to go.

Wrong.

It Looks.  It does not Sound.

Taking a Step Back

After about 20 minutes of trial and error, I was frustrated. I checked online for wiring diagrams specific to the Squier 51 and to the GFS, and was still left scratching my head.

I wasn't getting anywhere, and was feeling pretty defeated.   I'm not really this stupid am I?  I wired two humbuckers to a super-switch and was able to split both in positions 2 and 4.  This SHOULD be easy.

Other Pickup Guy to the Rescue

After cleaning up the mess I had made and taking a break, I cracked open the laptop and went over to Seymour Duncan to look at some wiring diagrams. Despite Seymour's new diagram selector system being absolutely terrible, it caused me to look a a number of different wiring diagrams and think about what I was doing.

Clean workmanship. No Sounds.

This is the important part: When stuck on a problem, I always find it helpful to abstract the problem, rather than getting hung up on specifics (components in this case).

The diagram that saved me was a Stratocaster wiring diagram that had blade humbuckers in the neck and bridge, wired to a push pull on the volume.  With color coding being the same on GFS and Seymour Duncans, I had the epiphany I needed to.

Red and White together for the split.  No contact is humbucker.  Grounded (shorted) is single.

Shielded cavity. Also no Sounds.

Black to switch.  Green AND unshielded to ground.

That last one got me.  Unshielded and green to ground, not just green.  Ignore the unshielded at your own peril, dummy.

Does NOT Go to 11

With the wiring issues solved, it was time to restring. The guitar came with 9s, but I have 9s.  I only have 11s.  I like 11s.

No, it isn't a Nigel Tufnel thing.

Goes to 11? No, no it doesn't... Sounds.

Strung up, I immediately realized that putting 11s on this guitar is a mistake.  The neck is not uncomfortably small, but it IS noticeably smaller than either my EJ or my LP, and the ratio of neck size to low E size is jarring.  More importantly, the low E didn't sit properly in the nut, meaning there is less total surface area of contact with a pretty vital component, even if it is just plastic.  Soon I'll be off to the local guitar shop for a set of 10s.  Tens should work, even if they only go to ten.

The Verdict

Like most stuff from GuitarFetish, I'm pretty impressed. The GFS Nashville splits well and has a very nice character to it - hard to explain, but maybe a bit more top end zing to it than other humbuckers. In any case, it sounds great, looks fantastic, and for $10 it's hard to argue the results.

Looks about right.  Also Sounds.

I'll turn my attention to the neck pickup next, probably a lipstick type pickup to maintain the chrome theme.

Not Done Yet

After that, I'll probably post it to see what kind of action I can generate.  Given how little I've spent on the entire package, I might just be able to generate a few offers.

If not, it'll look great on my wall, in addition to sounding great now too.