Here’s a DIY project for tone chasers: how to turn a $199 single-coil Squier Bullet Strat into a beefy humbucker-voiced 6-string, with coil-splitting in the neck pickup.
If you try this project yourself, you’ll need three Seymour Duncan JB Jr. pickups, a Pure Tone Multi-Contact Output Jack, one .022MFD orange drop capacitor, two 500k CTS potentiometers, a push/pull pot DPDT on/on switch assembly, 60/40 rosin core solder, 22 AWG non-shielded PVC-insulated circuit wire, heat shrink tubing, small zip ties, and a set of your favorite guitar strings. For tools, Dave uses a Hakko Soldering Station, small clippers, small round-nosed pliers, a Phillips screwdriver, a 1/2" nut driver, a strip of painters or masking tape, and a small jar with a lid. A Stratocaster circuit schematic will also come in handy for reference. You’ll also need to brush up on your soldering skills. (Consult “Soldering 101: A Step-by-Step Guide” at premierguitar.com to get on the good foot.)
Step one will be removing and stripping the pickguard, and then cutting wires within the circuitry so the new components can be put into place. Since this is an S-style guitar, much of the work will be done on that pickguard, which helps simplify the process. Installing the pickups—in this case, Seymour Duncan JB Jr.’s—is simple. You might need to do some routing on the pickguard to accommodate the new pots. Duncan’s JB Jr.’s come with about 10 inches of four-conductor circuit wire already attached. Strip off about 3" of that wire’s outer casing. Then you’ll see red, white, black, green, and ground wires. Peel about 1/2" of casing from the tips of each of those smaller, color-coded wires. For the neck pickup, the green and bare wire are tied together and attached to ground—soldered to the top of the middle (tone) pot. Dave carefully explains each step. For a written version with photos, see “DIY: Hot-Rodding a Squier Bullet HT” in the May 2023 issue or at premierguitar.com. There's also a companion video, specifically focused on replacing the output jack. Got a question for Dave? Go to scalemodelguitars.com.
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Godin unlocked a lot doors for players when they first introduced their popular Multiac. They continue striving to improve their design with slight tweaks and this year was no different as they brought a pair dazzlers that have new, comfier neck shapes (designed to lure the electric player to the nylon-based instrument) and dreamy finishes like the Opalburst (with a maple fretboard) & Oceanburst (with a richlite fretboard). They also are packed with updated custom-voiced LR Baggs electronics. Both models have hollowed silver leaf maple bodies & necks, a solid cedar top with figured flame leap top (that's sunken into the body).
Fishman introduced a new set of Greg Koch signatures, the Gristle-Tone ST Strat-style trio, at NAMM 2025, as part of its Fluence series. They are remarkably hi-fi sounding, with exceptional definition, clarity, and punch. And while they come stock in Koch’s latest Reverend Signature model, the Gristle ST, you can get ’em from Fishman for your S-style axe at $269 (street) per set. PS: You gotta watch the demo video!
Naw, this ain’t a DI. It’s Radial’s NAMM-fresh Highline passive line isolator, which comes in mono ($179 street) and stereo ($249), and uses premium Jensen transformers to preserve your signal’s pure sound. The Highline takes 1/4" cable (with XLR outs) for connecting amp simulators or pedals to your amps or a DAW. It’s compact and pedalboard friendly, and the Mono version sums stereo sources down to mono. The Stereo can take four 1/4 ” inputs and deliver a stereo signal, but it can also sum stereo sources down to mono. And it fits snugly under a pedalboard.
Ren Ferguson is a master luthier and has worked with several companies throughout his impressive career, but his current venture is building custom instruments under his own name (with some help from family). He's putting all the knowledge and expertise he's absorbed over the decades he's worked constructing workhorse guitars that not only sound stellar, but look the part, too. He showed us his slope-shouldered dread that was a clydesdale of an acoustic that looked regal and sounded powerful.