Mick wires up new pickups for his American Vintage Strats… then briefly compares to an original 1961 Fender Strat.

Welcome! After being lucky enough to spend some quality time with some genuine 1960s Stratocasters, can I get my favourite 2001 Sonic Blue Strat to sound a bit more like the old ones?

I’ve got some Ron Ellis ’64 pickups and also some Fender Custom Shop Fat ’60s, and in this vlog I wire them up with Ellis pickups in Blue and the Custom Shop pickups in Transit Van (the black Strat).
Please note that I’m only talking about vintage-type spec. I have no idea about modern switches etc etc etc. Nor any interest, so apols if I don’t respond to questions on anything that isn't 'vintage' relevant. And…

• Why didn’t you try X pickups?
We all have to make a choice at some point. These are my choices – explained in the video. The rabbit hole is endless, and I’m already bored of it! Go to 20:05 in the vid.

• Why no grounding plate on the back of the pickguard?
a) Never had one. b) Didn’t buy any, but in future videos I will add them.

• Can you put the old pickups in the new guitar?
No. Please go to 15:05 in the video.

• What are the best pickups for my guitar?
With the very greatest of respect, I don’t know. Every guitar is different, every player is different, every rig is different. So many variables.

Pedals & stuff in this video
• Jim Dunlop Jimi Hendrix JHF1 Fuzz Face Pedal
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• Klon Centaur Professional Overdrive
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Dawner Prince Boonar
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• Free The Tone Flight Time FT-2Y Digital Delay
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• Supro Tremolo
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• TheGigRig QMX2
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INTERESTING BITS & GO-TO SECTIONS
- Intro and context: 0:00
- What are the best Strat pickups? 1:35
- The 1961 Strat? 1:50
- Transit Van (The Black Strat): 2:20
- The Human Variable: 2:40
- The huge questions? 3:35
- The massive grey area: 5:00
- The dreaded middle man: 6:15
- Not another new bridge!? 6:50
- Pickguards: 7:55
- …compared to the old one: 8:42
- Pickups: 9:20
- More plastics, wire, pots: 10:00
- The rabbit hole is insane: 10:30
- Choices: pickups, guards, covers… 11:26
- Pickup cover colours: 12:10
- Knobs: 12:45
- Tone capacitor? 14:35
- I’m NOT taking the pickups out of the old guitar: 15:05
- Where do you start with wiring? 15:38
- Switch orientation? 16:16
- Pots o the guard? 16:38
- Checking the pot tolerances: 17:35
- Fender Fat ’60s pickups in the guard: 17:45
- RWRP: 19:30
- What can you hear? 19:56
- Why did I choose these pickups specifically? 20:05
- Putting the Ellis pickguard together: 21:35
- Mental health progress? 22:45
- Wiring! 23:55
- Grounding plate: 24:45
- Soldering basics: 25:55
- Solder? 26:50
- Why do I find this so hard? 28:28
- Six hours for two pickguards?! 29:22
- Initial playing and tones: 30:25
- Clean tones: 31:10
- Fuzzy tones: 32:24


Guitars in this episode
• THE OLD ONE: 1961 Fender Stratocaster
• BLUE: Fender American Vintage 1959 Stratocaster 2001
• TRANSIT VAN: (The black one) Fender American Vintage 1959 Stratocaster 2012

Amps in this episode
• Two Rock Classic Reverb Signature and 212 cabinet (TR1265 B speakers)
• Marshall 1987x (reissue) with custom Zilla 212 (Celestion Alnico Ruby speakers)


If you're interested in the mental health stuff, I added this in February 2022.
The books I talk about in this video are…

• The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle - all about rejecting psychological time, accepting what is and being present in the now, not constantly in the future and past.

• The Courage To Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga - a retelling of Adlerian psychology/philosophy. Not everyone likes you, so just get over it and stop worrying about it, basically.

• The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck by Mark Manson - if the above are too academic and 'heady', Manson basically says all the same stuff but in more contemporary language.

There are many more books out there. I’ve since done wider reading on logic, stoic philosophy and motivated reasoning/bias. All of it boils down to one basic thing: adjusting your perspective and getting out of your own compulsive thinking. Other routes to this path may work better for you, but these have changed my life beyond anything I could ever have imagined. No drugs, no doctors. Just the will to be free and at peace. Oh, and getting a spaniel. Everyone should have a spaniel. Ha!
Good luck!

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Our preferred retailers!
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Australia: Pedal Empire [ Ссылка ]
USA: That Pedal Shop [ Ссылка ]

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