Dimarzio single coils...no springs included?

[Axewielder]

Sometimes these seemingly minor details can really drag projects out. I'm building a custom strat with a pickguard, and trying to mount a new Dimarzio HS3 in it. I was expecting to find all the mounting hardware included with the pup, but there are only screws and no springs. That's not cool! What are the correct springs that I need? I found these at Stew Mac, but they look a bit weird to me:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Hardware,_parts/Electric_guitar:_Screws_springs/Single-coil_Pickup_Height_Springs.html

Also I understand you can use tubing, although that doesn't seem like a good solution to me.

[dg]

Those springs should be fine. Tubing works well too, but I prefer to use a little bit of foam rubber weather-strip tape under my singles.

[metalchurch79]

Those springs should be fine. Tubing works well too, but I prefer to use a little bit of foam rubber weather-strip tape under my singles.

Agreed, those spring should work.

What are ya building? A Strat and an HS-3 I can make a guess as to what inspired that.

[Axewielder]

What are ya building? A Strat and an HS-3 I can make a guess as to what inspired that.

You guessed it, the electronics are basically an Yngwie strat. The body is a custom swamp ash build from Musikraft, the bridge is a Warmoth narrow-spaced vintage hardtail, the neck is a CBS headstock Highway One. So, it will be a 70's strat with a 60's custom color (shell pink) and 80's tone! Here's a mockup:



EDIT: my tech had the springs in stock, so I'm back on track!

[straycat]

Does the MK body require a narrow spaced bridge?Most narrow spaced strats are the mexican Squires and Korean Squires.
Any fender dealer sells the tubing style used on the strats.If you find the reg springs are too long just cut them in half and use them.Works fine.I like the tubes the best.

[metalchurch79]

That is so damn cool, axewielder!!! I like the Shell Pink color, and the Maple neck really contrasts well with that!
Are you gonna have the neck scalloped?
What about a Brass nut?

So you basically have 3 decades covered with that:
60's body-70's neck-80's Tone. That right there my friend is a prime example of Hot Rodding!

Btw, love the hardtail setup also!

Keep us posted on this badass would ya?

[Axewielder]

Does the MK body require a narrow spaced bridge?Most narrow spaced strats are the mexican Squires and Korean Squires.
Any fender dealer sells the tubing style used on the strats.If you find the reg springs are too long just cut them in half and use them.Works fine.I like the tubes the best.

I spec'ed out the narrow spacing when I ordered it from Musikraft. They were really cool to deal with, and I actually sent them the bridge and the neck. I like a bit of extra fret margin, and struggle with vintage spacing.

Thanks MC79! There won't be any other Yngwie mods, just the pups.

The other thing is this baby is light! I paid a bit more for Musikraft to use lighter swamp ash, and they really delivered. I don't have a scale, but it's noticeably lighter than my other USA ash strat.

[metalchurch79]

Either way, it is still pretty damn sweet! But the Brass nut would be tits!
So, you have the Hs-3 in the bridge, are you using the YJM in the middle and neck pos.?

[Axewielder]

The pups are HS3 bridge, HS2 middle, and YJM neck. I recall another thread recently where these pups were described as being very very low output. The resistance is pretty high (23 ohms), but Fender puts 250K volume pots in those YJM strats. That's what I'm going to try at first, but if I find I need a bit more oomph, I'll swap it out for a 500K right away.

Here's a link to that bridge. It's narrow spaced, but has the appearance of a vintage bridge. Very cool!

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/bridges/bridges.cfm?fuseaction=bridges_narrow_strat

[metalchurch79]

Awesome! That will be a nice looking guitar when she's finished, and I'm willing to bet that it will have the sound to back it up. Kind of like a wolf in sheeps clothing so to speak. And in the Hot Rod world, you could say that you're building a sleeper.

Definitely keep the pictures coming during the build up, and please give a review after you get to play it.

p.s. I'm tellin ya, a brass nut is what you need man!

[metalchurch79]

How's this coming along? Any updates or pictures for us?