PINK shit, help me out here

[MartinBarre]

My wife bought this piece of garbage YEARS ago when we first met (the STRAT copy, not my Black Beauty!!!) , presumably to impress me after I played her the "Sweet Child O' Mine" intro.



Anyway, I've been told it's a Marlin strat and I've spent all day trying to shim the neck, mess around with the action and stuff just to get it somewhat playable. I've just about got there after making a Heath-Robinson type string tree out of half a plectrum.

So I told her I'd paint it pink for her....

I'll do the headstock and body, get a cap for the pup switch and do it pink too.

Should I get/paint the control knobs pink? I'm not sure.

Most importantly - what about three new PINK pickups. I already have guitars with JB, Blackout, Custom 5 so for this I thought I'd go a bit more mellow.
Pink '59 bridge?

What about the single coils? I'd really like to get TRUE single coils. I may even change out the scratchplate and go for THREE single coils.

What do you all think?

[Bengal65]

Instead of painting the controls, you could get some DiMarzio pink knobs, single coil covers and a X2N (bridge) or other Pup in pink. Then, paint the guitar and headstock pink. Maybe a Pearl pickguard? Yeah, pink with a Pearloid scratch plate

[MartinBarre]

Instead of painting the controls, you could get some DiMarzio pink knobs, single coil covers and a X2N (bridge) or other Pup in pink. Then, paint the guitar and headstock pink. Maybe a Pearl pickguard? Yeah, pink with a Pearloid scratch plate

I like your thinking, I like it a LOT. I already thought of a black pearl scratchplate.
However, the pickups in this aren't great - actually, the humbucker is pretty chunky but the single coils are piss poor so I really would need to replace them. Yeah, ultimately it's going to be for my wife (or daughter now, I just ordered a decal for the headstock with her name on! "Freya STRATOCASTER Made In Scotland" in the Fender style) but I want it to be a good instrument so I'll need to replace the crappy pickups with something good.

I was thinking more a medium powered pup though, the X2N is a bit too heavy.

[Bengal65]

Yeah, I was just thinking of keeping the look of your existing bridge with the solid bar magnets, but there are lots of choices with single pole screw humbuckers. The Breed is a nice all around Pup. I have them in Alder and Basswood bodies. DiMarzio HS2's are great single coil replacements and are humbucking. I think Duncan is offering colors these day's as well.

[MartinBarre]

Duncan does colours but to get them (in this instance) in the UK is a pain in the arse. I'm not even sure they do true single coils in colours either.

I'm starting to think maybe I should just get a new scratchplate (black pearl as you suggest) with three TRUE single coils. I have enough humbuckers but not one really good single coil in my arsenal.

Please recommend some! In pink!

[Bengal65]

Duncan does colours but to get them (in this instance) in the UK is a pain in the arse. I'm not even sure they do true single coils in colours either.

I'm starting to think maybe I should just get a new scratchplate (black pearl as you suggest) with three TRUE single coils. I have enough humbuckers but not one really good single coil in my arsenal.

Please recommend some! In pink!

All of the DiMarzio Pups are available in colours. On the singles, you can get them in a specified colour and even change them with the available seperate covers. Single coils like the tried and true HS2 single coil hum, or for vintage flavor, the Virtual Vintage Blues or YJM. Medium Hums, like the DiMarzio Breed bridge and PAF Pro bridge are nice.

[MartinBarre]

All of the DiMarzio Pups are available in colours. On the singles, you can get them in a specified colour and even change them with the available seperate covers. Single coils like the tried and true HS2 single coil hum, or for vintage flavor, the Virtual Vintage Blues or YJM. Medium Hums, like the DiMarzio Breed bridge and PAF Pro bridge are nice.

Thanks mate, I appreciate your answers! I had a look on the DiMarzio site but NOT all their pups are available in pink, only a small selection.
I really want to get true single coils, not stacked hums. And they'd have to match a medium power humbucker in the bridge. I'll need to look into this more. The YJM and VVB you suggest are good starting points, thank you for that!

[Bengal65]

Most of the hums are available in pink. On the single coils, you can always change the covers. They practically fall off when you open the box

Blue, Black and Pink


Red, White and Pink

[MartinBarre]

Again, thanks for your input here, I'm not having much luck finding stuff out. Seymour DUncan's seem to be out, unless it's for a humbucker, and I can't find anything at all about pink DiMarzio single coils.
Where would I get pink covers?

That green guitar looks awesome. Second one I've seen in two days (someone posted a green Ibanez on the Duncan forum yesterday) that looks stunning. Really nice colour, even though I'm a Glasgow Rangers (die-hard blue!) fan!

[Bengal65]

Re: covers. If you can't find them at a local supplier or on-line (They show up on eBay as well, Mikes is one of them in PA), you can contact DiMarzio directly in Staten Island, NY. They have been very helpful to me over the years. Even as far back to the late 70's, when Steve Blucher had time to send me hand written wiring diagrams for my projects.
I just bought a bunch of covers direct from them last year.

[toejam]

Universal Jems sells bobbin toppers... http://www.universaljems.com/cart/bobbin.htm

Brian was a member here and is great to deal with.

[Bengal65]

Universal Jems sells bobbin toppers... http://www.universaljems.com/cart/bobbin.htm

Brian was a member here and is great to deal with.

+1 I have them too, although I prefer the real thing. The toppers are a quick easy fix as an alternative.

[MartinBarre]

Thanks guys, I ordered two pink bobbin toppers for the single coils and, yeah I know I wanted a low power humbucker but I went with a pink Duncan SH6 Distortion...it can be split too.
Hope they all look okay, but more importantly hope the SH6 sounds good. If it all comes together nicely I'll think about getting decent DUncan single coils.
I just love Seymour Duncan pickups.

[toejam]

Cool. I didn't see any pink covers, so I thought the bobbin toppers would be a good alternative.

[necrotechno]

That oversized bridge makes that not a standard pickguard. Looks even wider than a Floyd. It'll have to be custom made.

The only place to go for colored pickups:

http://www.swinesheadpickups.co.uk/plastic.shtml