I Modded My Squier Debut, Can You Tell The Difference?

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On this episode I upgrade (mod) my Squier Debut and compare audio examples. Which change had the biggest impact? Can you tell the difference between a plastic nut and a synthetic bone nut?

Chapters:
00:00 - 05:40 Intro and Discussion about modding the Debut
05:41 - 10:00 Audio comparisons between stock nut and upgraded Tusq nut
10:18 - 10:33 Sustain test with new nut
11:12 - 11:49 Sustain test with new bridge and trem block
11:54 - 12:37 Audio comparisons between stock bridge and new bridge
13:42 - 15:47 Audio comparisons between old pickups and new pickups
15:48 - 20:04 Conclusions and Final Thoughts

Costs:
Guitar Cost with Shipping: $127.19
Total Cost of Upgrades: $137.75
Total Cost of Guitar: $264.94

Guitar:
Squier Debut

Nut:
Tusq Model PQ-5010-00 Slotted Strat Style

Bridge:
Wilkinson WOV01 52.5mm (2-1/16 inch) Vintage ST Guitar Tremolo Bridge 6-Screw Assembly with 36mm Steel Block for Fender Squier/Mexico Strat

Wiring Harness:
Musiclily Pro Electric Guitar Auto-Split Pre-Wired Wiring Harness Kit Upgrade for American Style Strat HSS with 5-Way Switch and 3A Pots, Nickel Jack

Pickups:
Wilkinson Vintage Voice Alnico V ST Strat Single Coil Pickups Set SSS for Stratocaster Electric Guitar, White

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[Leo_ofRedKeep]

I think people spend way too much time worrying about tiny tone differences that no one will care about.
One important "upgrade" I made to a cheap Strat' was shorter grub screws in the saddles so they don't dig in my hand while palm muting. I care about this each time I play.
Levelling frets for proper action was another thing I did. And lubricating nut and string trees for tuning stability.

[Great-Documentaries]

Larger pots are not "better" than smaller ones. It is irrational to think otherwise (at least if you understand how they actually work and how they are manufactured). Pickups are 1930s technology. Spending $100 on one is insane. The magnet type and number of winds of copper has FAR more to do with the resulting (subjective) sound than where they were made or who made them. Which is why Jayce preferred the ceramic bridge pickup to the "upgraded" alnico. Guitarists fool themselves by making needless "upgrades" that are at best "sidegrades."

[Barflew]

Bought 1 of these for Black Fri. for 99.00.I have a Fishman loaded pickguard that's been collecting dust for ages going on it.Listened in HD on good studio monitors.Nut & Block made a difference. Alnico pick-ups really stood out for me.Rolling the fretboard edges makes a huge difference.Same with getting right height screws to not dig into the palm of your hand.For Comfort..Looking forward to checking out the lighter thinner body. Thanks for All the Effort to make this video.I liked it.

[RonJames-rbeg]

A friend of mine has several high end Strats he's in a blues band, for a joke one night I told him to gig my stock debut it held up well apart from tuning stability. I have since put a hard tail bridge on it and it rocks. He intends to try it again..hehe!

[hotcakesman]

I am in the middle of doing the mods. I put the big block trem in, then I added the roller saddles to it. New 62 Alnico 5 pickups. Big boy pots. Kept the switch cause it is fine. Then I added a brass nut. Not in love with the brass nut, will replace it with bone. Still in the mail is the black aluminum pickguard, and locking tuners. The tuners it came with are terrible and keep slipping. Frets were insanely sprouting. Fixed that. I love this guitar. I am also going to put the yellow squier logo on then nitro over it. I am surprised by how heavy it is. Neck is beautiful, the grains are almost flame. Killer guitar!

[Alwaysonlyforme]

Jayce, Got here from your link on the piece you did about the strap lock. Concerning pots here is some general info that I found, take it or leave it. The higher the value (500k) the brighter and lower (250k) warmer. 250 for single coil and 500 usually for humbuckers although there are no rules. Type A is audio taper and type B linear. When you make adjustments to the sound audio will respond quicker, linear will be more uniform. Think of a line graph inside a square box, linear will go from the bottom left corner in a straight line to the upper right corner and audio will have somewhat of a curve. The human ear being what it is, even though you may not notice the difference as much from 0-5 compared to 5-10 on the linear pot you're actually at 50 percent when you hit the mid point. As much work as you've done on guitars I'm thinking you know all this. This information may be helpful to someone and again they can take it or leave it.

[strumminronin]

Thanks for sharing!

Both before and after mods made workable noises. If anything I am more surprised the stock sounded actually fine, may be a smidge thin, but not the end of the world!

Apparently the tonal changes hinge more on the pot values and the capacitor, and the tone bleed. I too am doing mods and those are the areas I am focusing on.

[JoaquinGonzalez]

As in most guitars (in my experience), the biggest difference was, as you pointed out, in the electronics and pickups being replaced for better ones. If I can make any guitar play comfortably (according to my taste), whether it is a cheap or expensive one, changing the electronics and pickups will do it for me.

[briankeenan]

Ive modded cheap strats. Its so nice to hear the difference. It really makes it into a good guitar. Thanks for sharing this.

[jjcollins]

I am currently in this process, hopefully with videos to come in the future. At the end of the day, if you are happy with the results then it was worth it. In your video I do hear an improvement overall with each step, but certain variables are making the change, if that makes sense. On my guitar when I changed the bridge and the strings (which I did first) made a big improvement. The guitar originally sounded "dead", and after the change it became much brighter with more sustain. I also think it comes from the way the tremolo is set up. I haven't changed the nut yet, but I did a lot of work on it to it to get it right. On my guitar I HAD to change the tuners because I received a bad low E tuner right out of the box, And my tremolo block was defective from the factory as well. So that had to be done just for functionality. With the change in electronics you will definitely notice a difference in performance, pot rolloff and better tone with a better capacitor. That may or may not be noticeable on video. Also adding a treble bleed to a guitar that didnt have it originally will also change everything quite a bit. The wilkinson pickups overall are not that much different from the stock, but I do hear a clearer tone with a little more brightness, which I do like. Cool video, I did enjoy it, and I hope you are happy with the changes. Sounds good on my end.

[johnnieChords]

I bought two of these Debut Strats, got 2 -prewired pick guards (HSS & single EVH Humbucker), 2-trem bridges with brass blocks, I'll be ordering new graphite nut & locking tuners later today.

[mrbienvenu]

I actually love the tone from the older MIM Fender stratocasters even though they have ceramic magnet pickups. They have the pickups with two smaller magnets on both sides of the pole pieces and the pole pieces stick out on the back side of the pickups.

[birdman]

i got a grote LP special2 clone from bamazon a few months ago that sadly arrived with a broken neck...
they took it back no problem...
that debut is shaping up nicely!
i need to get crakkin on doing the modz on mine too! looks like wilkinson pups ya got in yours now....

[monmac]

More sustain can be had by adding creamy mild gain or a bit of compression.

[mykhedelic]

I just unboxed mine yesterday and those paltry boxes they put them in meant mine had been smacked on the lower arm rest and the paint had chipped off. Still, the neck pocket fit like a glove and the rest was solid so I dug the chips out of the bag, taped them up with a bit of magic tape and tuned it up and went to town. Didn't want to take the chance on getting an even more messed up one as everything else was so surprisingly fit. Only "mods" I did to it was added a green pickguard to go with the matte red finish for a corny Christmas theme and rolled edges of the fretboard a bit. My tuners aren't "perfect" but they hold, tones are crispy, comfort level is nice, intonation wasn't too far off and bingo: Christmascaster. If I were to replace anything, maybe the nut as rhe rest (tuners, teeny pots, pickups, switch, bridge) don't require much fuss from me. Maybe upgrade the string tree situation. But really, this is a fine enough little buddy to get you from total newb to calloused fretboard wizard without any real fight from the guitar-- the rest is up to you. And that's my Debut review.

[CaptainRon]

Hard to tell. Youtube has compression.. You should try the Peterson strobe tuner. I have the StroboPlus HDC and it's excellent. Always had trouble getting my tele to sound right. Made intonation tuning much more accurate as well.

[christopheraaron]

I just got my Debut today (2 tone sunburst.) I only bought it because I had a loaded pickguard I put together laying around with alnico v pickups, big pots and thick braided wires and a set of new locking tuners, and the guitar was only $120, so I kinda had to.
I'm very impressed with the instrument for the price, but it'll be a real shredder when I'm done with it. This is Strat #6 in my current lineup, and once it's upgraded, I suspect it'll be on par with my 2 Affinity Strats. Obviously not as nice as my MIM Fender, but still a great instrument.

[chrisswenson]

Great video, Jayce! Question for you: did you have to shim up the new Graphtech nut? I installed the same one on my Debut, and have to shim it up to make the high clear the first fret.

[Earthshaker]

I like your modifications, I think it sounds a little better. But the difference is not that noticeable. Still, it's a very nice guitar for the money. Awesome comparison video.

[Mr.PhatsVarietyVibesShow]

"I believe our perception of sound, much like our perception of color, is highly subjective. Just as individuals who are colorblind perceive colors differently without it impacting their daily lives (as I learned from a TED Talk), our auditory experiences can vary greatly without necessarily being a hindrance.

In my opinion, the Alnico V pickups do produce a distinct sound compared to the original guitar pickups, but the difference, to my ears, is subtle at best. One crucial factor to consider is that I’m not physically present to hear the guitar live. Instead, I’m relying on my computer’s processor and speakers to deliver the sound, which may not fully capture the nuances of the live experience. To form a more informed opinion, I would need to perform the upgrades myself and hear the results firsthand.

At this point, my impressions are based solely on the video. Therefore, I can’t definitively confirm or deny whether the pickups made a significant difference in the sound."