Manipulating your Squier Strat
******************************

By Brad Torti

from SquierLab (http://squierlab.iwarp.com)

Table of Contents
1. WTF? (Basic Info)
2. Guitar Controls
3. Getting The Tone You Want
4. Other Miscellaneous Crap



1. WTF (Basic Info)
------------------------------
In order to REALLY use the Squier Strat, you have to
understand how to change the way it sounds, or its
TONE. Tone is considered very inportant to a lot of
guitarist. A guitar with good tone quickly becomes
the favorite of any guitarist, novice to advanced. A
good way of improving the personal value of your
Squier Strat is knowing how to milk sweet tones out
of it. This file applies ONLY to Strats, so if you
own a Squier Tele, you are out o' luck for today.

2. Guitar Controls
------------------------------
When you look at your guitar, there should be three
dials and one switch. If you don't already know, the
switch selects which pickups are active. (Pickups
are the electronics that 'pick up' the vibrations of
the strings on the guitar and make them able to be
amplifies electronically.) Let's deal with that
switch first.
The PICKUP SWITCH changes the pickup configuration,
as stated above. There are five positions on the
switch. Here is a diagram of how the switch works.

     PICKUPS ON BODY            PICKUP SWITCH
---  /0\  /0\    /0\   ]==      1 /\---- Highest                   
---  |0|  |0|    |0|   ]==      2 -/\---    |              
---  |0|  |0|   |0|    ]==      3 --/\-- Middle               
---  |0|  |0|   |0|    ]==      4 ---/\-    |             
---  |0|  |0|  |0|     ]==      5 ----/\ Lowest                 
---  \0/  \0/  \0/     ]==                       
                                                  
Neck  ^    ^     ^                               
Pickup+    |     |                               
           |     |                              
Middle     |     |                                
Pickup-----+     |                              
                 |                              
Bridge           |                               
Pickup-----------+               

1. The highest (cloest to you) selection turns on
   the NECK PICKUP ONLY.
2. The second selection turns on the NECK AND MIDDLE
   PICKUPS TOGETHER.
3. The middle selection turns on the MIDDLE PICKUP
   ONLY.
4. The fourth selection turns on the MIDDLE AND
   BRIDGE PICKUPS TOGETHER.
5. The lowest (farthest from you) selection turns on
   the BRIDGE PICKUP ONLY.

Knowing a little bit about how the pickups operate 
will also help you in finding your favorite tone.

*The NECK PICKUP delievers a warmer, bassier tone.
*The MIDDLE PICKUP delievers a normal, clean tone.
*The BRIDGE PICKUP delievers a sharp, piercing tone.

By looking at the possible pickup configurations,
you can more or less determine what each PICKUP
SWITCH selection might sound like.

1. warm, jazzy tone
2. fusion-type tone, not as bassy
3. normal clean tone
4. fairly sharp tone, though still clean
5. piercing sharp tone

With all that said, we next look at the dials on
the guitar, of which there should be three. One is
a VOLUME DIAL, which changes the amplitude of the
sound your guitar is making. The other two are TONE
CONTROLS. The tone dial closest to you (middle dial)
controls the NECK PICKUP. The tone dial all the way
down, farthest away, controls the BRIDGE PICKUP. We
will call the first tone control the NECK TONE and
the other we will call BRIDGE TONE.

On each dial are numbers going up to 10. The higher
a number, the more tone the pickup will deliever. If
you were to turn on the BRIDGE PICKUP and make its
tone a lower number, you'll get a rumbling, almost
treble-less tone. Go too low and you'll get an ugly
low noise. The same goes for cranking it up all the
way to 10. Altering the BRIDGE TONE to 10 or 9 gives
the BRIDGE PICKUP the expected sharp tone. By turning
the dial down to 5 or 6, you take the edge off the
noise. Now, with the knowledge of the guitar 
electronics, you can make the tone you want.

3. Getting the Tone You Want
----------------------------------
You will enjoy your guitar a boatload more when you
can make it sound exactly how you want it. Here's my
way of figuring that tone out.

1. Choose what kind of tone you want, from bassy and
   jazzy to sharp and piercing. If you can't decide,
   just mess around with the PICKUP SWITCH with the
   TONE DIALS on 8 or 9.
2. When you find a basic sound you like, stop messing
   with the switch and turn the TONE DIAL associated
   to the pickup(s) you are using.
3. Once you've got a nice tone, it is easy to remember
   it: Which pickup(s) are selected? What are the
   numbers on the dials? You can even write this stuff
   down if you don't think you can remember it on your
   own.

4. Other Miscellaneous Crap
----------------------------------
I'm taking this oppurtunity to plug my site. If you
found this file helpful, PLEASE e-mail me or leave me
a message in the guestbook at my site.

http://squierlab.iwarp.com

Thanks and enjoy your guitar.
Brad Torti