Blue Strat replica (Weezer content)
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mywhitenoise
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It was everything I could hope for. They played a bunch of deep cuts, including "Angel and the One", a song I had been requesting for many years, and it was only the second time they played it! It was at The Constellation Room, a small 250 capacity venue.
Thank you @kerouac.
From what i've read in this thread it's kind of debatable whether there was a Black Ice mod/passive overdrive in the OG Blue strat, there's some evidence to prove that there isn't one. But is there any evidence that there was one in the guitar at all? Besides the Rivers Equipment page on Weezerpedia
From what i've read in this thread it's kind of debatable whether there was a Black Ice mod/passive overdrive in the OG Blue strat, there's some evidence to prove that there isn't one. But is there any evidence that there was one in the guitar at all? Besides the Rivers Equipment page on Weezerpedia
Wheelbirds
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Howdy folks, been lurking in this thread as well—thanks for sharing this awesome research!
Wanted to ask if y’all are running 250K or 500K pots in your builds and if you have any guesses as to what’s in either the Red or Blue strats.
Thanks! Also thought this info from Pat on the ProSoundWeb forum was interesting. Was the original Blue actually 7/8 or was he mistaken? Seems like an odd detail to mention.
Wanted to ask if y’all are running 250K or 500K pots in your builds and if you have any guesses as to what’s in either the Red or Blue strats.
Thanks! Also thought this info from Pat on the ProSoundWeb forum was interesting. Was the original Blue actually 7/8 or was he mistaken? Seems like an odd detail to mention.
Wheelbirds
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Also I know that some of the Weezerpedia gear info was updated in the past ~4ish years by someone that spoke with Jason about guitar info (might be old news at this point though).
@Wheelbirds That's interesting - I've never heard that before. It looks like it's standard spec, but that's just basing it on the pickguard in relation to the body. I'll have to find a head-on photo and see which one it matches.
I used two 500k volumes in the blue one, but I'm thinking of trying it with neck volume + master volume. Red one has 500k volume and tone (push/pull coil split) with 22nf capacitor. Wired for HSH with a 5 way switch, but the middle pickup isn't working.
I used two 500k volumes in the blue one, but I'm thinking of trying it with neck volume + master volume. Red one has 500k volume and tone (push/pull coil split) with 22nf capacitor. Wired for HSH with a 5 way switch, but the middle pickup isn't working.
fridgelightbulb
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Definitely a mistake from Pat.
The Warmoth 7/8 uses a smaller pickguard made by Warmoth since they’re not compatible with a full-sized one.
Here’s the original blue strat with a Fender strat pickguard, it’s not screwed on but it’s clear it wouldn’t be problem if it were since it aligns perfectly.
d0t.cl4ire
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anyone figure out the wiring for the red strat? i know about the coil split for the neck pickup, but what about the hot rails and bridge pickup? and do yall think the switch was a 3-way or 5-way?
Wheelbirds
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Awesome, thanks! Curious to hear how the MV setup compares to the VV wiring.
Wheelbirds
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Ah, that makes sense—appreciate the comparison pic! Weird, I wonder why Pat would think it’s a smaller size. Maybe that was the original idea before going to the standard size, but who knows.
Wheelbirds
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Very curious on this as well. I asked the boardie that spoke with him and updated Weezerpedia about the Red Strat info, but they only told me that it’s just a Strat with a coil split…
If I had to guess based on the vague Karl comments about the many sounds it could do, maybe it’s a coil split option for the humbuckers and a five-way switch? Or at the very least a coil split for the two humbuckers.
mywhitenoise
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Is there information on what pickups are used on his Seafoam Green "Mei" Strat? i assume he's using the same Super Distortion 2 in the neck, but the spacing for the bridge looks like it's NOT a trembucker, maybe it's a Seymour Duncan SH-1b '59? Different pickguard on this one, might be a Warmoth in the 8-Hole Conversion configuration. Also I can't tell if the neck has a vintage tint, or roasted maple (most likely a worn vintage tint).
fridgelightbulb
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Probably a Gibson 490T/498T without the metal cover if the pickup swap between his strats and SGs actually happened, you can still see some glue residue on it.
mywhitenoise
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it kind of looks like an upside down neck pick up, right? The little copper square holes (sorry not sure what to call these) are on the right side of the bridge.
fridgelightbulb
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Not necessarily, it depends on the manufacturer and/or pickup model. From what I’ve seen Seymour Duncan pickups will always have those holes on the left side as long as the screws are on the bottom row.
This is what a 59 neck pickup looks like so turning it upside down won’t help.
However Gibson pickups or at least the 490T/498T (the stock Gibson SG standard bridge pickups since the 90s) have those holes on the right side with the screws on the bottom row.
Here’s an uncovered 498T bridge pickup.
This is what a 59 neck pickup looks like so turning it upside down won’t help.
However Gibson pickups or at least the 490T/498T (the stock Gibson SG standard bridge pickups since the 90s) have those holes on the right side with the screws on the bottom row.
Here’s an uncovered 498T bridge pickup.
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mywhitenoise
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Thanks again for your help. I think I had read that information about the pickup swaps, but I can’t seem to recall from where. Do you happen to have a source for it?
Wheelbirds
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For what it’s worth, Brian’s 2001 Silver Sparkle Explorer bridge pickup also has the same appearance.
This might already have been mentioned, but in the Maladroit Guitar World article he said he wanted to get his Strats closer to the Explorer tone. There was something along the lines of that it was still a work in progress, but that they’d eventually figure it out since he hated the look of them.
Guess it was just easier to switch to the lightweight SGs rather than try to keep with the Strats, and maybe the Diezel was a factor as well.
From what I can tell, ‘90s to 2002 ‘76 Reissue Explorers (not the special edition versions like Brian’s which are loaded with 498Ts ) should have come stock with Gibson 500T in the bridge for that entire run. Maybe some ended up with 498Ts at some point, but the listings I found all say 500T for the standard reissues that he played around that time.
Does anyone have pics from around that Maladroit into Make Believe period where he was still using Strats? At least it seems that we can narrow the pickup down to being a Gibson and most likely either a 498T or 500T depending on what was available as an aftermarket option.
Almost wondering if the Seymour Duncan in the SG Standards might be a hotter model as well. Would seem a bit odd to go from a 498T to something with less output in the bridge, but who knows.
Best guess is that it had a 5-way switch, but the middle pickup wasn't functioning. There was a coil split on the tone pot.
I posted this last year when I was working on the replica. I used a 1988 US Telecaster neck pickup, which is probably what the original had (assuming it was from Jason's Telecaster)
They’re braided 2-conductor with a teflon inner wire… so they can’t be soldered to the back of a pot, otherwise the inner wire melts and shorts out, resulting in no sound from the middle pickup. This is exactly what happened - but I’ve left it for now, as I suspect the original had the exact same error
I think that's what's happening at the beginning of Lullaby for Wayne (pre-production recording) - he's flicking the pickup selector back and forth, and it's sort of acting as a kill switch... but not exactly.
As for the neck on the seafoam, Karl said it's the neck from the original blue one.
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