Squier Strat - 2021 Bullet Build with Nighthawk p'up (CII ICS Serial)

[Butcher_my_axe]

This is a partscaster I built from a 2021 Bullet Strat neck. This became the second guitar I owned (which infected me with GAS). I built this as a standard SSS Strat late 2021, but as time went on I started getting crazy ideas. I tried combining two different selector switch setups (the additional lever switch cutout was going to house a "Contemporary" series circuit, and the bridge coil was enlarged to fit two single coils) that would be controlled by a push-pull, but I buggered up my wiring plans and execution. So, it left dormant until I noticed that a Nighthawk-style humbucker will fit the bridge pickup space I enlarged. With what I learnt regarding "Triple Shot" wiring, I went to work rebuilding this cobbled abomination using the selector switch slots for the "Tele" lever switches, and did some Gibson 50s wiring.

Features:

• locking tuners
• Poplar metallic blue ST-body
• Wilkinson WVC-SB tremolo
• A500K and B500K concentric pots
• Gibson-style 3 way toggle switch
• Epiphone humbucker, mated to a Axesrus Nighthawk-style baseplate
• 2P4T "tele" switches
• treble bleeds
• Strap locks
• cam-lever terminal blocks

This was a cheap and random 16K ohm Epiphone humbucker that I converted to a 4-wire pickup.




Pre-Nighthawk baseplate


This was one painful wiring job. It looks like a complete mess...


Those aren't the single coils I'll be sticking with; they were picked at random to test a proof of concept.


Done






Switching as follows:

• 3-way toggle switch (main)

1. bridge humbucker DP4T switch
2. both DP4T switches in parallel
3. single coils DP4T switch

• bridge humbucker DP4T switch

1. series
2. parallel
3. south coil split
4. north coil split

• single coils DP4T switch

1. middle single coil
2. parallel
3. series
4. neck single coil

So to break things down, the bridge humbucker DP4T is wired like an Esquire, and the single coils are wired like a 4-way telecaster similar to how Breja Toneworks did his wiring (to make selecting the neck and middle coils more intuitive). Then each active connection from both DP4T switches connect to their own volume-tone circuit. The concentric pots emulate the 2-volume 2-tone Gibson wiring. Because the volume pots are connected in an "independent" setup, it is possible to do machine-staccato sounds.

Whilst I have quite the range of sounds to choose from, I usually keep it in bridge humbucker mode. The slant does boost mids and highs a little compared to a conventional humbucker.

Well that completes my silly experiment. I did, however, returned the guitar serial back to its original HSS setup from factory. So yeah...

 

[fattboyzz]

 

[Lateralu_s]

thats sweet looks like the darker lake placid blue thats on some of the newer classic vibe strats..

dig the angled humbucker at the bridge jake e lee vibes.

 

[Butcher_my_axe]

thats sweet looks like the darker lake placid blue thats on some of the newer classic vibe strats..

dig the angled humbucker at the bridge jake e lee vibes.

Yeah, I think things are better angled and slanted.

 

[dhdiii]

That is drop-dead gorgeous.