Squier Affinity Strat Upgrade Project

Tiga · Sat Sep 14, 2024 11:26 pm

I posted a few months ago about a 2001 Squier Affinity Strat that I picked up at a garage sale for $15. It was a bit dirty and showing signs of a little corrosion but other than that it was pretty much intact. Aside from a few light scratches the body was great. I brought it home and cleaned it and did some set up. Everything worked!

In stock form the I thought the pickups sounded really good. Very bright and clear and strat-like. And @toomanycats pointed out how good these were and I found a lot of fans online raving about how great were these ceramic pickups in the Indonesian Affnity strats. The neck on this was very slender with a narrow nut width. Here’s a few pictures of it in original condition.

Tiga · Sat Sep 14, 2024 11:28 pm

Considering how little I paid for this it made sense that this could be a great candidate for mods. I picked up a neck from Freestone Guitars for a good price to swap in. It’s a Gibson scale length (24.75”) conversion neck made of cherry wood with a zebrawood fretboard. It has a 43mm nut width and it’s a little bit chunkier than my Fender Standard strat neck. It looks and feels great!

Tiga · Sat Sep 14, 2024 11:59 pm

Once I had the neck a vision started to come together in my mind so I started looking for a new pickguard. Lot’s of great stuff out there and eventually found someone on Etsy who made neat custom designs so I ordered one. More on that later.

The existing electronics all worked great and consisted of dime sized 500k pots, a cheap box switch and cheap jack.

I have a set of Buddha strat pickups with A2 magnets here that have just been begging to be put into a guitar so I decided to use them. I ordered some CTS pots, Sprague capacitor, switchcraft jack and some new wire. Because of the narrow body of the Affinity the electronics cavity was not deep enough for an Oak Grigsby switch. I went with another import box switch from Kaish, although they claim this one is of better construction than other import switches (feels pretty good but who knows). I’ve never assembled a wiring harness before so I was looking forward to giving it a shot.

Tiga · Sun Sep 15, 2024 9:56 am

I had an old pickguard lying around that I used to set up the harness. Overall everything went together well and I set it up for the bridge to be connected to the bottom tone knob. Although when I tested the finished product there was no output – ugh!

I did some troubleshooting and realized it was the volume pot – the soldering had gotten away from me (as you can see in the pictures) and I fried it LOL. Ordered a new one and did a much better job soldering it and all is good.

Tiga · Sun Sep 15, 2024 6:35 pm

Since I was all about trying new things I decided to give a go at shielding. Applying it on the body went well and I tested everywhere for continuity with a multimeter. The new pickguard came with foil applied on the back so for the heck of it I decided to test it for continuity – and apparently it isn’t foil. So I applied copper foil to it as well.

Tiga · Sun Sep 15, 2024 9:51 pm

I picked up some Hipshot tuners, a bone nut and a string tree and started the assembly / set up process.

toomanycats · Mon Sep 16, 2024 6:33 am

This guitar is going to be a primo Squier.

Actually, now that I think about it, it's a legitimate question whether this guitar can even be considered a Squier any longer. An argument could be made that it has become it's own unique thing.

Maybe you should call it a "Tigacaster." That has a nice ring to it.

At this point only the Affinity body and bridge are left from the original guitar. The body is kinda a double edged sword in that it's:

1) Alder (good)
2) Thinner (good if you prefer a lighter guitar, bad in that it limits replacement options)

What are your plans for the bridge?

Tiga · Mon Sep 16, 2024 6:41 am

I kept the original bridge but replaced the saddles with Gotoh block saddles - they feel great. I've decided all strats should have block saddles LOL!

Tiga · Mon Sep 16, 2024 7:59 am

I also replaced the noisy tremolo springs with a set of fender springs which I like a lot more. The springs and the saddles really improve the feel of the trem. I thought about putting in a larger steel trem block but I'm ok without it for now.

Tiga · Mon Sep 16, 2024 8:19 am

I finished the assembly / set up process and it went together very well - although the new pots just BARELY fit into the cavity. The Buddha pickups are just great - they sound very clear and balanced and just seem to fit the vibe of the guitar. I'm going to save the original Affinity pickups to hopefully use on a future project - they are surprisingly good. I also rounded the fretboard edges and gave the frets a polish.

Tiga · Mon Sep 16, 2024 8:22 am

toomanycats wrote: ↑Mon Sep 16, 2024 6:33 am

Maybe you should call it a "Tigacaster." That has a nice ring to it.

That DOES have a nice ring to it!

Tiga · Mon Sep 16, 2024 8:28 am

Well here's some pictures of the final product. I was going for a retro 70s vibe. The guitar feels great - I like the thinner affinity body as it helps shed some weight. I really like the shorter scale of the neck - very comfortable. I set up the string height to Fender spec and it feels good to play and sounds great. This has been a cool project. Appreciate any feedback - this has been quite a learning experience.

andrewsrea · Tue Sep 17, 2024 11:24 am

It came out great!

Glad you put a set of Tim's pickups in it. IMHO ceramic magnets and steel rod pickups in a Strat is like finger nails on a chalkboard.

Tiga · Thu Sep 19, 2024 9:20 am

andrewsrea wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2024 11:24 am It came out great!

Glad you put a set of Tim's pickups in it. IMHO ceramic magnets and steel rod pickups in a Strat is like finger nails on a chalkboard.

Thanks - the pictures don't quite do it justice (colors washed out a little). Yeah, Tim's pickups sound really good. That middle pickup is my favorite. I still have to install the matching back plate and the new trem bar just arrived. I think it's just about done! I'm also a big fan of the 24.75" conversion neck - just feels better to me. I imagine this what a normal strat feels like to tall person LOL.

toomanycats · Thu Sep 19, 2024 10:37 am

Tiga wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2024 9:20 am
andrewsrea wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2024 11:24 am It came out great!

Glad you put a set of Tim's pickups in it. IMHO ceramic magnets and steel rod pickups in a Strat is like finger nails on a chalkboard.
I'm also a big fan of the 24.75" conversion neck - just feels better to me. I imagine this what a normal strat feels like to tall person LOL.

So funny. I never thought about it like that. Just yesterday I was watching a Rob Chapman video where he talks about meeting Yngwie and noting how ginormous his hands are. Apparently Yngwie is also quite tall. Any Stratocaster must feel like a toy to him.