Anyone who's been around this forum for a while, will have heard once or twice that I was going to make updates to a couple of my guitars. My Strat and my ES. Well, that day has finally come and updates are done.

The two guitars are a 2003 Gibson ES333 (Memphis made) and a 1989 Fender Strat. Some of this work is appearance but ultimately the updates are for seeking a specific sound.

The work was done down here in the Atlanta area by the great Dave Onorato. Absolutely fantastic work and a seriously nice guy with encyclopedic knowledge of just about everything. Note: The after photos are Dave's (better lighting than my dimply lit room...)

Here's the 'before':

This Strat is USA made...in a way. This serial number identified it as made in the states but made for export. It' an 'I' serial number. However, how much of it is American made is harder to tell. The best guess is that it was assembled in the US. It's Fender making a Fender Partscaster. The pickups were likely 80's era Squire pickups and a few other things tend to indicate that Fender was grabbing whatever is on the shelf to assemble some guitars to export. That is to say, save cash to maximize the export profit. No idea of the orignal value but on a good day, you might get $700 for one.

But, it plays great.

For updates, I replaced all the electronics, pickgurd and knobs. I replaced the pickguard with a Fender pearloid guard. I also relaced all the wireing with a Mojotone full harness kit and the big change is the pickups. Here I went with Fender Texas Specials.

Wow! What a difference.

The original pickups were at best adequate and could be a bit flat. They were ok but nothing to get excited about. The Texas Specials are a great set of pickups. First, like the StewMacs, the neck pickup came from Fender with a dead neck pickups. Yes, really. Both guitars had DOA neck pickups from the factory. Fender did a nice job of rushing out a replacement.

Everyone has a different goal for their pickup choice and mine was exactly what I got. Big, biting bluesy rock a la SRV. These, in fact, do that very well. I love positions 2 (bridge+middle) and 5 (neck). These pickups are very respinsive to how hard you strike. I could get some subtlety and some bite depending on how agressive I attack.

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So, there ya go. I mostly posted this just for info purposes as you often see people looking at pickup changes and no idea where to start. I kn ew my goals and worked to find out what actually got me there. These guitars ended up on the wall after a while but now I can't stop grabbing them. Yes, it is like a new toy but a new toy I was hoping to get....