Making This Squier Stratocaster BETTER Than My Fender!

Having already addressed playability and hardware upgrades, today I do the "Gilmour Mod" and upgrade the electronics and pickups!
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[DarrellBraunGuitar]

Happy Mod day!
I think I may have found the perfect setup for this Squier! Enjoy :)

[agcacustoms]

Awesome to see a Squier mod. Can’t wait to see your next build.

[jcoulter]

Fender ought to offer that exact wiring config and pickup combination as a stock build. That is the perfect pickup compliment to any Strat. Looks and sounds amazing. That same pickguard look could be achieved in plastic to save some money. HSS is also my preferred Strat setup. The Gilmore mod and Obsidian wiring sends it over the top. Great stuff Darrell. God bless and rock on 😎👍🎸

[Firas-R]

In Kuwait where I'm from the only Strats available are the Squier Affinity Starter Pack ones which is what I bought as my first guitar. Watching all your videos has been really helpful in learning about all the different mods I can upgrade it with to bring it close to Fender level since I can't buy any of those here. So far I've bought new strings, setup kits, strap locks, locking tuners, nut, bridge set, saddles, pickups, knobs and now ObsidianWire electronics. Won't be anything left of the guitar other than the wood 😂 Thanks for all the great content, simple guides, and sound demos.

[marvinhanson]

Wouldn't the cheaper way be to just smash your fender up with a hammer, making the perfectly functional playing squier the better guitar out of the two

[ryansnydercg]

The solderless kits are complete game changers.

[LAMBERTONES]

Looks and sounds killer Darrell! That’s a great playing Squier now for sure. Thanks for sharing your experience with the Grinder, we’re thrilled you love the tones!

[scottreynolds]

That tone with all 3 pickups is INSANE!!!! Love it! Also, the pickguard is gorgeous with the Daphne Blue... Great mods!

[alexnaturalis]

Of all the guitars in your collection this is my favorite one. Beautiful to see and hear! Just stunning, congrats on the build!

[Stratocus]

I've been using a different wiring mod, for years, that also gives 7 combinations off a 3-way switch with master tone control. It works by turning the middle pot into dedicated volume for the middle pickup. No toggle switches or push/pull pots. It works with a bridge humbucker but there's no option for coil splitting. Gotta use a soldering iron but, still, it's a whole lot cheaper than the Obsidian rig.

[riphopfer]

I’m in PA, in the USA, and I LOVE that Squier. I ADORE the circuit layout, and those pickups all sound INCREDIBLY sweet. Not to mention how beautiful it is. Your builds are deadly, Darrell! Cheers, and thanks!

[dim]

Watched literally hundreds of your vids during all these years. Talking aesthetics, this is my favorite guitar of them all.

[ChristopherStandardTime]

unfortunately, it appears Logan Designs is out of business... but i have one of their pickguards on a tele project and it's gorgeous!

[Madchris]

That's one of the coolest pickguards I've seen. Very nice looking to say the least.

[dnn]

I did a total upgrade on my fender highway one. I replaced the tuner with fender locking tuners, the nut with tusq nut, jescar ss frets, pots caps switch to obsidian wiring, bridge to gotoh wilkinson bridge, trem spring with a brass stopper stabilizer and lastly texas pickups. I really think it is really close to american elite. I definetely loving it more than ever

[marcherwig]

I did a very similar thing to a Squier Strat I have. Upgraded all electronics/Pickups and used a Tone Shaper Blender kit. So I have a single volume and single tone and the 2nd "tone" knob is a blender knob to blend the neck pickup or bridge pickup depending on what position you're in, so many tonal options. It's an awesome setup and no additional switches or push/pull pots.

[chrisggoodwin]

I really like the pickguard. It's got the classic tortoise shell look at first glance, but has so much subtle detail

[spenky]

A dark neck like roasted maple, walnut or rosewood would look sick with that body and pickguard, maybe a fancy warmoth one with flamed maple fingerboard?

[rjb]

That is a sweet-sounding Squier; a bit of a looker. One of my Strats is a Squier 50th Anniversary, picked up on eBay years back for $85. Excellent player that now yearns for a bridge HB.

[naghiyev]

I wish I could give someone my guitar to do all this for me . Sounds so good !!!