GC-1 Tailpiece Upgrade - Any Experiences?

Started by vtgearhead, January 23, 2017, 05:52:48 PM

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vtgearhead

I've always found my GC-1 Strat to be very "dark" sounding and am interested in fitting a replacement tailpiece and possibly new pickups.  There are a handful of companies offering replacement tailpiece assemblies for Made In Mexico strats (2-1/16" mounting hole width).  I'm looking at SuperVee BladeRunner and Callahan units.  Anyone on the forum have experience with this conversion? 

Any recommendations on replacement pickups?  I think the polepiece spacing might also be non-standard on the GC-1.

Elantric

#1
Many here have installed SuperVee trems on GC-1
(8 pages of reading
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=5152.0

QuoteI've always found my GC-1 Strat to be very "dark" sounding

Thats to be expected with many- most GC-1's and Roland Ready Strat arrive with  made in Mexico single coils   that are built more like a small p90 PU's with bar magnets  - nothing like a vintage Strat pickup


GC-1 PU



Vintage Strat PU

Pete1959

Quote from: snhirsch on January 23, 2017, 05:52:48 PM
I've always found my GC-1 Strat to be very "dark" sounding and am interested in fitting a replacement tailpiece and possibly new pickups.  There are a handful of companies offering replacement tailpiece assemblies for Made In Mexico strats (2-1/16" mounting hole width).  I'm looking at SuperVee BladeRunner and Callahan units.  Anyone on the forum have experience with this conversion? 

Any recommendations on replacement pickups?  I think the polepiece spacing might also be non-standard on the GC-1.

For my GC-1 Strat (Black with maple fingerboard), I bought a set of second hand Fender Lace Sensor pickups (Rainbow) and had a friend/tech install them as well as Sperzel tuners. The seller had the original Fender Lace boxes and the pickups were in perfect shape. Significant improvement in tone compared to my originals IMHO as well as less noise.

vtgearhead

Quote from: Elantric on January 23, 2017, 06:13:01 PM
Many here have installed SuperVee trems on GC-1
(8 pages of reading
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=5152.0

That's very informative reading.  I had just about written off the SuperVee after seeing a large number of bad reviews on other forums.  There were numerous complaints about tolerances being off to the point where their own screws wouldn't clear through the holes in the bridge plate.  Mechanically, I think their scheme makes the most sense and believe I'll take another hard look.

Quote
Thats to be expected with many- most GC-1's and Roland Ready Strat arrive with  made in Mexico single coils   that are built more like a small p90 PU's with bar magnets  - nothing like a vintage Strat pickup


GC-1 PU



Vintage Strat PU

I had no idea the MIM pickups were that different in design.  Out they go... 

mooncaine

Quote from: Elantric on January 23, 2017, 06:13:01 PMThats to be expected with many- most GC-1's and Roland Ready Strat arrive with  made in Mexico single coils   that are built more like a small p90 PU's with bar magnets  - nothing like a vintage Strat pickup
Speaking of differences in Strat pickups: I got a $90 Squier a few years ago, I think it's an Affinity, and its pickups are so trebly they'll cut your eyeballs in half right down the middle.

I rewired* it to get Neck + Bridge, and it's set up to have 2 tone knobs, which is really necessary, because all three pickups need the Tone rolled off to avoid injury. I swear it made my eyes water when I plugged it into my Mustang III V2 on a basic Twin patch.

I have a 70s 3-bolt Strat w/ original pickups that's not nearly so bright.

*actually, I just swapped the bridge and middle pickups, or maybe it was neck and middle. No soldering required.

vtgearhead

Thanks to all who replied.  In the next week or so my GC-1 will be upgraded:

- AllParts compound radius neck w/ stainless steel frets, Graphtec nut and HipShot open locking tuners
- Babicz FCH tailpiece

After those are in place I'll evaluate what to do with the pickups.

Elantric

#6
QuoteBabicz FCH tailpiece
I had to modify my palm mute technique to work those

and unlike the SuperVee - there was no "knife edge" fulcrum for pivoting the tremolo plate.


vtgearhead

Yes, that's the beast.  I don't have palm mute issues with floating tremolo setups, so should be fine.  What tipped me over to the Babicz was a glowing recommendation from my guitar tech combined with my realization that aluminum parts made a huge difference when I restored my trusty '68 Les Paul Std.  I had replaced all the original Gibson pieces with ugly, heavy brass during the 70s and it really killed the sound.  Last year I put on an aged aluminum string anchor and Faber tune-a-matic lookalike and - wham.  Tone came right alive.

aliensporebomb

#8
Supervee Bladerunner works for me.  It's awesome.  But, like any non-locking trem there are caveats to a certain extent - you can do Floyd like things but if you dump the strings for 10 minutes continuously it won't stay 100% perfectly in tune but it's WAY better than any non-locking trem I've ever used.  I keep meaning to do a video.

It made the instrument brighter, fuller with more acoustic volume and longer sustain..  The one on my white strat with the hex pickup is my second one and it's very nice.

But, that said I've wanted to try the Babicz though because it's a beautifully machined piece of gear - you can tell a lot of thought went into it.

I like the looks of the bigger brother product by the Supervee people, the Supervee tremelo but it's more like a Floyd Rose in that there is a locking nut and fine tuners.  And certainly more expensive than a SuperVee Bladerunner.

And this new trem Elantric clued me in on that's on Nordegg and Vai's guitars, looks intriguing.


My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

vtgearhead

Just a quick update:  My GC-1 came back from the tech's last weekend.  I had him put on an AllParts compound radius neck w/ SS frets and Hipshot tuners, plus the Babicz tailpiece.  Wow.  What a difference!  Plays and sounds great.  I'll post a picture ASAP.

GuitarBuilder

I upgraded my GC-1 with Fender Custom Shop Lineage Red (50's) pickups.  Superb sound!
"There's no-one left alive, it must be a draw"  Peter Gabriel 1973

vtgearhead

New pickups are the next step.  Unfortunately there are literally hundreds of choices for strat style pickups and it's hard to know where to start in making a decision.

mooncaine

Quote from: snhirsch on March 14, 2017, 04:40:58 AM
Just a quick update:  My GC-1 came back from the tech's last weekend.  I had him put on an AllParts compound radius neck w/ SS frets and Hipshot tuners, plus the Babicz tailpiece.  Wow.  What a difference!  Plays and sounds great.  I'll post a picture ASAP.
Dude, I want to see that, and even hear it, if you wanna.

vtgearhead

Yes, I will get a photo up.  Hear it?  Have to think about whether I want to subject anyone to my playing. 

DickBanks

You might want to try mixing divided pickups with the stock MIM ceramics. I was all set to replace the stock ceramics in my GC-1 when someone on this forum suggested this to me. Instead, I just listen to Strats played by good players with pickups that I like, and then attempt to match them with my GC-1 and GP-10. I can get pretty close, and in some cases, a better tone that I was originally after...

After doing that for some time, I have given up the idea of pickup replacement. For me, I feel like I've already have replaced them, with LOTS of others.
Fender GC-1 Stratocaster, Fender Locking Tuners, Super-Vee Blade Runner Trem
Boss GP-10
Line 6 L3T
Record to Scarlett 2i4 --> Ableton Live