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Agile ST802 Project | Agile AL3000 Goldtop P90 Project

January 2007 - I recently did some upgrades to my 1998 Fender California Series Stratocaster. I always loved this guitar, but could not get the sound I was looking for with the stock "tex-mex" pickups, so I did a lot of research online and decided to get a couple of pickguards and load them with some boutique wiring and pickups. The original pickups were very noisy and did not have the clean sound that my ears were craving. I did keep the original loaded guard and only unsoldered the two connections at the jack. I added some male/female connectors for quick changes between the three pickguards.

I already had a white Fender three ply pickguard and some 1969 Fender Custom Shop pickups that I loaded into it along with a Torres Bluescaster wiring kit that I had from a previous project.

I did have to replace the Volume control pot on this since the original volume pot had gone bad on it. I also used the stock Fender capacitor that came with the pot. This is the cleanest, most articulate sound that I have heard come out of a Stratocaster. I love this set up and is what I am currently using on the strat now.

I also purchased a tortise pickguard and loaded it with a Lindy Fralin Blues Special set of single coils along with an rsguitarworks wiring kit. I really like the sound of the Fralins as well. It is a darker sound than the 69's, but very well suited for the blues.

I now have a choice when I want to record my strat. I can go from pristine clean to dirty blues in a matter of minutes. All I have to do is loosen the strings and remove the eleven screws that hold the pickguard down and disconnect the connectors. I then can reload the guitar with another pickguard and have a whole new sound in a matter of mintutes.

I think I will purchase one more pickguard and load it with a humbucker and two single coils to see how that works out. That won't happen for a while as I am tapped out of money. I just ordered a songworks little lanilei 33 watt practice amp. I can't wait to see how the strat and amp will sound together. Stay tuned for some clips of the guitar and amp in action in the very near future.

I am going to post some pictures of the guitar and pickguards. I'll also post some links to online guitar part dealers where I buy my parts.

February 23rd, 2007:

I purchased an Agile ST-802 in a sunburst finish from Rondo Music. I am shocked at the quality of this instrument. The finish is excellent and the neck is smooth and very playable. It compares to my American made Fender Stratocaster as far as feel and frets. Very nice, a lot nicer than a Squire Pro Tone I got back in the late 90's. I still have it, but hardly ever play it anymore, it is going up for sale now.

The Agile's quality is more along the lines as my American made California Series Stratocaster . Solid, no gap in the neck joint. It came ready to play, no set up on my part except to tune it up and break in the strings.

The weakest link are the pickups. The stock ones are okay, just not what I am looking for. I play blues, so I am swaping out the pickguard with one that I wired and put together myself. The pickguard is loaded with Lindy Fralin Blues Specials and an Acme wiring kit. I did all the soldering and adjustments. Today, I am going to take the Agile and hot rod it.

Full Frontal Shot:

Wilkinson Trem Close up:

Original Pickguard:

Body Shot:

New Pickguard Back:

New Pickguard Front:

Finished Guitar:

Okay, finally got the pictures up.

Just wanted to comment on this project. Nothing ever goes as planned, you have to expect the unexpected.This is always true when tinkering with guitars and this is not for the faint of heart. I had to take the neck off the body to get the old pickguard off and put the new one in. It was more than I had planned to do, but in the end the extra hassle was well worth it.

It took quite a while to tweak the trem and get the guitar to play like it did before I took it apart. When I put it together I found that the strings were fretting out at the twelth fret. I put a piece of cardboard under the trem to block it off, then tuned it again and finally got it back to the way it was before I took it apart then removed the cardboard and tuned it up again. It kind of scared me at first, but I like challanges, so I kept at it until I got it right. Now, I have a nice quality beater blues strat. It sounds great, as good as my Fender. I will put up some sound clips when I get some time.

Here are some more pics of my two strats together:

Here are two sound clips of a slow blues recorded with the Fender and one more of the same song recorded with the Agile.

You can also see my two favorite amps in this one, the Little Lanilei and my prize 1962 Fender Princeton.

Here is a close ups of the Little Lanilei 3350LT.

Here is the back view:

Here is the top view:

July 22nd, 2007:

I upgraded my Agile AL3000 Goldtop P90 with some new pickups. I chose Seymour Duncan Antiquities for this project. I wanted to get that late 60's, early 70's tones from the guitar and these pickups did the trick. Previously, I had installed some Gibson pots that came out of my Les Paul Vintage Mahogany along with some Tone Factory Vitamin Q .022µF oil and paper capacitors. I left the stock pickups in until this last string change. Since most of the work was already done it only took me about fourty five minutes to an hour to change out the pickups and change the strings.

Before removing one screw I laid out all the tools and materials I would be using for the project. I arranged everything within hands reach to make things easier on myself and to save me time as well. While I was digging out my tools and materials I left my soldering iron warming up. When I finally was ready to start the iron was ready to work.

The first thing I did was remove the cover on the back of the guitar to expose the wiring. I laid the cover next to me and put the four screws that were holding it in place on top of the cover. I then proceeded to remove the strings. I did all except one. The reason I did that was to allow me time to tape down the bridge and tail piece with painters tape. Another reason is so that the tail piece doesn't come off and ding the paint. It also keeps the correct height when it comes time to restring. Once everything is tapped up I remove the final string.

I removed the cover of the neck pickup first. I put the cover and two screws and springs together next to me. I then got the soldering iron and unsoldered two points to remove the pickup and pulled the wire out. I marked the pickup "NP" in case I ever want to reinstall it later. I repeated the steps for the bridge pickup.

With the pickups out of the way, I opened the first box with the Antiquity neck pickup. I carefully unpacked it and pulled the wiring cable straight. I got a small piece of painter's tape and put it over the end of the wire. This makes it easier to push through the cavity and out to the pots. Once I pull it through I soldered wires in place. I then connected the guitar to an amp and turned it on. I tapped on the neck pickup and heard the knock. That insures that the pickup is working. Now, I repeat the same steps on the bridge pickup and I am good to go.

I restring and plug in and my jaw drops. This modification takes this guitar to a whole other level. The guitar sings and growls now without any muddiness. I highly recommend any of the products mentioned above.

For the record:

GuitarStrangler is in no way way affiliated with Fender®, Gibson®, Epiphone®, Vox®, Martin®, Ovation®, Blueridge®, Guild®, RSguitarworks®, Lindy Fralin®, Torres Engineering®, Song Works®, Little Lanilei Amplifiers®. I only mention these brands because I own and use products made by these companies.