[Nutty]

My neice is selling hers. I don't know how old it is, around 4 years old. It says it was made in Indonesia. It has hardly been played. What is it worth? Is $200 fair? It does need a set-up. I don't think it was ever done. Also, is this the guitar where people change the pick-ups and it makes a huge difference?

Thanks.

Nutty

[Nutty]

Well, I bought it. Afterall, it was my neice. I didn't expect the amp to be that good, but I can't get it to stop buzzing. Once the volume goes past 1, it buzzes or is all static. Anything I can do about that?
It's a Fender Frontman 15G.

Thanks.

Nutty

[eCowboy]

I am definitely not the most knowledgable person on the forum in these matters but I think that one of the first things you need to do is determine where the buzz is coming from. Does the amp buzz if you turn it on without the guitar being plugged in? If it does there is probably nothing that you can do, if not it could be a poorly sheilded cord and a better cord might stop the buzz.

Rick

[Andy S]

eCowboy is on it! If the amp buzzes if the cord is NOT plugged in, then you have a problem.

With that guitar, first thing, it has what are called single pole pickups. They are very susceptible to electronic noise from lamps, and other household appliances. The cheaper the model of the guitar, the noisier they usually are.

It could be the cord you are using. Perhaps try a new one. If that cuts it down a bit, that was problem. But it will still be noisy, just to a lesser degree. If it is buzzing when you try to play it, there are a couple of problems that seem to come up in that amplifier that would call for a repair.

I would try a new cord (cable connecting the guitar to the amp). If that doesn't work, take both to a store and let them take a listen. If it is just the noise from the pups, that, unfortunately is one of the traits with that guitar. If it is just the amp, the repair price should be around $25 to $30 American. No more than that. Anymore and you would be better off buying a new amp.

Good luck! and keep us posted.

[Nutty]

Thanks guys for the tips. I did try my "good" chord and it makes a huge difference. There is still a slight hum, but it's hardly audible.

About the pick-ups. I don't want to invest a huge amount of cash into this guitar, but are there some reasonably priced pick-ups I can change to that would make a difference or should I just keep it for a knock-about guitar?

Thanks again.

Nutty

[Stratrat]

GFS (Guitar Fetish) makes some pretty decent pickups that are very affordable. I don't know which specific models would be good for a Strat, but if you poke around on their website I'm sure you'll get some ideas.

[Andy S]

Ditto on what Stratrat said about GFS pickups.

They have some good sounding pups at very good prices.

[Nutty]

Thanks. Any tips on kind of pick-ups? I'm totally clueless here.

Nutty

[chuckswood2001]

Guitar Frets - Refretting, Leveling, Dressing, Crowning

check this site out for buzzin problems, might have some info to help u

Chuck

[Stratrat]

Originally Posted by Nutty

Thanks. Any tips on kind of pick-ups? I'm totally clueless here.

Nutty

What don't you like about the current pickups?

Some people fall into the thing of swapping out pickups just because everybody says it's the thing to do, without knowing specifically what they're looking for in new pickups. That's kind of a crapshoot because you're aiming at a target that isn't there......if you don't know what you're looking for, it's pretty hard to find it! I'd play it first and get a feel for the pickups that are currently in it - figure out what specifically you'd like to change (are they too bright, too muddy, too hot, etc.), and then you'll have a much better idea of what you're looking for.

If you just want to go for it, I'd suggest a set with alnico magnets (as opposed to ceramic), with specs close to "vintage" windings. Pretty hard to go wrong there - a lot of great music was made on vintage Strats with those kind of pickups. As I said in another thread, I prefer staying close to "vintage" specs as opposed to overwound ("hot") pickups - you can always add dirt (overdrive/distortion) to a clean sound, but you can't add clean to a dirty sound (and hotter pickups are usually aimed toward a dirtier sound).

[fly135]

I just got in the mail today a set of pups from GFS that I talked about in this thread....

Upgrading my squier!

I'll be putting them in my Squier Affinity Tele this weekend if time permits. These pups are humbuckers instead of the std single coils. I wanted to fatten up the sound. Plus I'm putting in push/pull pots that can switch between HB and SC mode. No idea yet how it's going to sound. But I have a Schecter C1 with HB's that I like the tone, but don't like the jumbo frets, which feel like speed bumps. Since I really like the neck on my Squier, I'm hoping that it will replace my C1. Then I can sell it.

[Nutty]

Thanks Fly. Let me know how it turns out then I'll thnk about changing mine.

Nutty.

[cshude]

Stratrat makes a good point about how you can add a degree of "dirt" to a clean pickup sound, but can't go the other way (sort of like in cooking- you can always add more salt, but you can't take it back out). I put in some Texas Blues style pickups in my Squier strat a couple years ago. I really like the big sound, but it does come with a tradeoff in increased hum in the 1,3, and 5 position. I have given some thought to doing further customizing work on it.
In my case, I actually bought the whole set that was already preinstalled and wired into a new pickguard. All I had to do was solder the leads into the jack. Doesn't get much easier than that. Had the thing changed out in about 10 minutes, and 8 of that was waiting for the iron to warm up.

[fly135]

Originally Posted by Nutty

Thanks Fly. Let me know how it turns out then I'll thnk about changing mine.

Nutty.

Did it this weekend. The new pups sound better than the stock tele pups. However, the coil split didn't really make that much of a tonal difference. When I was installing them I use a small Gorilla practice amp to test and I couldn't hear much diff at all when splitting the coils other than a slight loss of volume. When I hooked it up thru my pedal board and regular amp it was much more noticeable. One problem I ran into was my 3 way switch went bad on the bridge connection. Apparently the solder tab on the switch lost continuity with the circuit board trace. Fortunately I had a new switch laying around.