Turn MIM Strat (90's purchase) into the real deal

Apology also I somehow forgot you were looking for vintage Strat tone on the MIM conversion. I just had another conversation about MIM Strats IRL, and mixed them up! I was talking about what I'd do to mod a MIM Strat, but had been reading this thread also. Brain wiring is wearing out...
Hey no worries at all. The thread has been very educational. I can prolly sell it and build a Warmoth for what I was going to put into it to make it sound 'right'. Seems like about a $300 delta.
 
Can you describe the sort of difference those Callaham saddles make?

I'm wondering whether there would be any point to putting them on my EJ strat. My guess is no, EJ and Fender probably did right.
From what I understand, the E.J. Strat doesn’t need them.

Both my Strats had the American Deluxe bridges and saddles, and I wanted to push them toward the older Strat sound. I already had Raw Vintage RV-50 pickups in them, which are what Xotic puts in their XSC-1 guitars. The Callaham bridges push the guitars even more that way.
 
From what I understand, the E.J. Strat doesn’t need them.

Both my Strats had the American Deluxe bridges and saddles, and I wanted to push them toward the older Strat sound. I already had Raw Vintage RV-50 pickups in them, which are what Xotic puts in their XSC-1 guitars. The Callaham bridges push the guitars even more that way.
Agree, but I'm less concerned with "vintage" tone, more with heading away from the trebly stuff I don't care for. So ironic that the king of fat tones uses a guitar that for most people isn't that at all.
 
Agree, but I'm less concerned with "vintage" tone, more with heading away from the trebly stuff I don't care for. So ironic that the king of fat tones uses a guitar that for most people isn't that at all.
Mine didn't add more treble, they sound less trebly now, with a better balance between lows and highs. It's a little more of an acoustic sound, or, like I said, like an old Strat, very much like what Eric Johnson gets when he's running clean.

One of my Strats has a rosewood fingerboard on the maple neck with standard Strat frets, the other has a roasted maple fingerboard and neck with stainless steel frets. The second one is the one that'll nail the bright sound Johnson gets if I use a Twin-type model with the bridge pickup, but it used to be even brighter with the Fender Deluxe bridge and saddles. Reducing that brightness was part of my goal.

Raw Vintage makes a similar bridge and saddle set that is used in the Xotic guitars. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=peach+guitars+xotic is a number of well-recorded videos from Peach Guitars reviewing various Xotic guitars. The XSC-2 is the sound I'm chasing now, and I'm very close, but that's as a "see if I can do it" contest with myself because my actual goal is to get rid of my two Strats and buy one of the XSC-2 instead.



PS - In the above list of videos, "The Strat & Strat-Nots - Which would YOU pick?" compares Suhr, Music Man, Xotic and one other, and it's interesting to hear the differences.
 
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My EJ has the rosewood board, and I like it, I just could stand a little less brightness. Esp bridge by itself, not less brightness maybe, just more fullness. I'm considering swapping it out, but that's such sacrilege, when Mr Tone chose what's in there.
 
Hey no worries at all. The thread has been very educational. I can prolly sell it and build a Warmoth for what I was going to put into it to make it sound 'right'. Seems like about a $300 delta.
Holy cow... Reverb has used MIM Strats listed around $650 ?!! Unbelievable. I think I only paid $400 max at the time. I'm pretty sure I could settle for something around $500 or less to move it quickly. Out of curiosity for anyone that keeps up with it, is the used market dead or are things moving?

Edit: I didn't realize the price of building went up too...lol. It's all relative.
 
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