My 4 Fenders

photo taken September 10th, 2011
from left, White Standard Stratocaster Mexico,
White HSH Fender Standard Stratocaster Mexico,
Black Fender Stratocaster HH Japan,
Amber Fender Stratocaster Highway-1 HSH USA

An older photo, about 2008

photo taken summer of 2011

I have to comment on great response from Fender's Consumer Relations and especially Mr Matthew Brown! Really helpful, fast  and customer caring. Thanks !

#1 Amber Fender Highway-1 Stratocaster HSH, USA, bought 2005

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Originally came with white pickguard, I changed it mysef to a much better black.

Also replaced 2 of the 3 original pickups.

Bridge pickup: DiMarzio Tone Zone DP155F with parallel-series switch

Neck pickup: DiMarzio Tone Zone DP189 (hot rails style)

Middle pickup: Factory Fender

This guitar has my Reverse 5-way switch wiring

November 2010: she got the white Hot Rails pickguard that was in the white MIM strat

#2 White Fender Standard Stratocaster, Mexico, bought 2007

I removed the original pickguard and bought a new one, pots, 5-way switch and pickups and assembled all of them in one piece!

Bridge pickup: Seymour Duncan Hot Rails with parallel-series switch

Neck pickup: Seymour Duncan Hot Rails with parallel-series switch

Middle pickup: Factory Fender

This guitar has my Reverse 5-way switch wiring



November of 2010: I put the black pickguard in the white Fender, now it's a lot of Adrian Smith ... !!! Here is a recent photo
August 2011, I kept the same pickups (Dp155f, Dp189) and put them on the white HSS pickguard that originally belonged to the amber Highway, again with single volume control

#3 Black Fender Stratocaster, Japan, bought Sept. 1993

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This one is my main live axe for over 10 years now.

Originally had the classic 3-single coil white pickguard. I totally changed it.

Bridge pickup: DiMarzio Tone Zone DP155F with parallel-series switch

Neck pickup: DiMarzio Tone Zone DP155

Also put up-down push-pull  switches for controlling Behringer V-amp 2, but I took them off , Summer of 2009, here is the recent photo (I covered the 2 holes next to the neck pickup with round cuts of an old pick)

SUMMER OF 2011 SETUP

1. Dunlop 6100 Jumbo frets
2. Grover Mini Rotomatic locking tuners
3. Graph Tech nut and string tree
4. Warmoth HH pickguard (like Fender's Big Apple with rounded corners)
5. DiMarzio DP155 Tone Zone neck pickup
6. DiMarzio DP155F Tone Zone bridge pickup with series-parallel switch
7. Goldo Japan 500K pots
8. Goldo chrome saddles
9. Custom AntAnt sketch on headstock!

#4 White 2003 MIM Stratocaster bought 2011

bought used (perfect condition) without the pickguard

I already had a Warmoth HH pickguard in which I installed the DP155 and DP155F Dimarzio Tone Zone, with a single volume pot (Goldo) and a 3-way switch... looks and plays superb! You can see the routing for the neck humbucker, also the minor drill I did for the long bolts for the bridge humbucker. Also, the volume pot was a bit larger, so I had to chisel out some wood in the control cavety.

-->The black saddles are Gotoh S-199, same as them chrome ones in the Black Jap strat

Reverse 5-way switch wiring

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#1 Middle pickup

#2 Middle and Neck pickup

#3 Neck pickup

#4 Neck and Bridge pickup

#5 Bridge pickup

The obvious advantage of this wiring is #4, giving you the popular neck and bridge combination. #2 is classic Fender, noiseless.

Guitar mounted up-down push pull switches for controlling Behringer V-Amp II

(now there are not there, but it was fun)

When we played live sometime in 2007 (with the black Fender), a smoke-effect on stage made it impossible for me to trace my up-down footswitch. I then decided to make one right at my fingertips, so I could move onstage without having to be at the footswitch spot at the moment that I would like to go from clean to overdrive, or to switch the solo mode. So I made such a system in my black Strat and in my black Cort. It is very easy to handle, because it is placed next to the neck pickup, so your middle finger easily can reach the two buttons. Also, if you occasionally sing, it’s easier to press these buttons (even if you don’t look at them) rather than moving the footswitch near the mic and pressing it by foot.

I added a stereo input jack to both of the guitars ( Strat jack, Cort jack) and I made two double 6m cables, each consisting of a monoTS-to-TS cable and a TRS-to-TRS cable. The TS cable is the usual signal cable. The TRS jack goes to the V-amp footswitch input. If I want to use the footswitch at the same time with my Strat or Cort, I plug a converter to the V-amp and plug both the guitar and footswitch to the converter.

 

 

 older Cort KX5 with the same switches