Mod Your Strat

Published on
November 1, 2024 at 1:28:53 PM PDT November 1, 2024 at 1:28:53 PM PDTst, November 1, 2024 at 1:28:53 PM PDT

At Mojotone, we’re always looking for ways to improve guitar tone while preserving the vintage vibe that drives our passion. So, when Fender introduced the new Player II Stratocaster series, we couldn’t resist taking it for a spin.


First Impressions

Right out of the box, this Strat impresses—its sleek design, smooth playability, and signature tone hit all the right notes. With its contoured Alder body draped in a classic black finish and a gloss-front, satin-back Maple neck featuring 22 medium jumbo frets, this Strat is built for comfort. The Modern "C" neck profile feels great in the hands, and the overall weight and balance of the guitar make it a joy to play. Topped off with a 2-point synchronized tremolo system that offers both stability and responsiveness, along with rock-solid and smooth Classic Gear tuners, this Strat feels every bit the modern classic.


Plugging into the Deluxe Reverb

Of course, we had to plug this beauty into a Deluxe Reverb circuit to see what it could really do. The Alnico 5 single-coil pickups deliver exactly what you’d expect from a Strat: bright, chiming tones with those unmistakable quacky 2nd and 4th positions. The 1st, 3rd, and 5th positions are wide open and full, but there it was—the notorious 60-cycle hum. Rolling the volume control back and forth also altered the overall treble response, which is another classic quirk of the original Strat circuit.

"Get rid of the noise but don't sacrifice the tone."

This was the consensus from our staff when asked what they would tweak about the guitar. Challenge accepted. Fortunately, Mojotone has the perfect solution for preserving tone while eliminating that pesky hum.


Upgrading the Stratocaster

So, how easy is it to upgrade this Strat? Incredibly easy—especially with one of our prewired pickguards and convertible wiring harnesses. No soldering is required, and only a few tools are needed to get the job done. For this build, we selected our '67 Quiet Coil Strat Prewired Pickguard to maintain that classic black-Strat tone, and here’s what we used:

  • Philips-head Screwdriver
  • Heavy-duty String Cutters
  • String winder
  • 1/2" hex driver (for the output jack nut)
  • Wire strippers/cutters


Step-by-Step Installation

Step 1: Remove the strings. This is not absolutely necessary, but it certainly makes the rest of the process a whole lot simpler.

Step 2: Remove the screws from the original pickguard and jackplate and put them aside for the re-install. Lifting up the pickguard shows us the original Fender components, which can be compared to our '67 Quiet Coil Prewired Pickguard.

Step 3: Cut the connections to the input jack, leaving the wires long so that the Fender pickguard can be installed into another guitar if needed. Unscrew the nut to remove the jack, saving the plate to be reinstalled.


Step 4: There are two wires near the bridge: the tremolo ground and a body ground attached to the shielding paint around the electronics. These were left long from the body, so that we can wire them into the new pickguard.


Step 5: Once the original pickguard and electronics are removed, it’s time to install the new Mojotone setup. BUT FIRST! Our '67 Quiet Coil Strat Prewired Pickguard comes with customization options so that it will work best for whatever you want to throw at it. In this case, we chose the "Blender" setting for more tonal possibilities than most Strats ever see. We also turned on the Mojotone Volume Mod to preserve tone and improve the taper when rolling back the volume control.


Step 6: To choose the Blender setting, find the small red switch box on the electronics side of the ‘67 Quiet Coil Prewired Pickguard, and flip switches 2 and 4.


Step 7: Feed the wires from the new output jack through the body by inserting them through the exterior of the jack hole.


Step 8: Push back the cloth covering on the ends of each wire and fasten the lead wire (white) into our solderless block in the ‘J’ terminal. Fasten the ground wire (black) into the ’G’ terminal.

Step 9: Strip about an eighth of an inch of PVC covering off the tremolo and shielding ground wires to get enough wire to work with.

Step 10: Twist the two freshly stripped wires together and fasten them into our solderless block at the last ‘G’ terminal.


Final Assembly

Step 11: Install the jack back into the jack plate that was set aside earlier, and reinstall the original screws into both the jack plate and the pickguard.


Step 12: If you removed the strings at the beginning of the installation process, restring the guitar.


Conclusion

With this modification installed, we have eliminated the frustrating 60-cycle hum and retained all the high-end tone while rolling the volume back, all while keeping that classic, vintage Strat sound.