Squier Mini Strat (Upgraded Pickups) - Does It Make A Difference and Is It Worth It?

In this video, we are once again taking a look at my Squier Mini Stratocaster, this time after we have done one of the more major upgrades that you can do to a guitar...swapping the pickups! Does it really matter if we change the pickups in a 3/4 scale guitar? Does it sound any different? Do you have a Squier Mini that you have upgraded? Let me know down in the comments!
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[@futurebnd_floof]

Thank you for this and make sure to keep the upgrades coming >:3 I just bought a Mini because I have small hands and it’s relatively cheap, but I want it to look and sound high-end, so these videos help a lot :3

[@Electric.Flamingo]

I'm glad you dig the video and I'm happy to hear it helped! ⚡️🦩

[@ArtOfShredYT]

It sounds good, but tough to say if that's due to the new pickups or the tone stickers.

[@Electric.Flamingo]

You've never heard a strat sound as good as this one...probably due to lack of tone stickers. 😉⚡️🦩

[@danielbrowniel]

I have a hard time gauging tone with a clean amp. don't know the range of how the volume changes things or tone. Sometimes you turn the volume way down and boost the amp and that's when all the magic happens. With the right amp, you can make the cheapest of guitars sound okay. And it took me an embarrassing amount of time to learn not to crank the volume ALL THE TIME. And definitely don't crank the tone. This is a cool guitar, no doubt. Are bends extra easy on it?

[@Electric.Flamingo]

Amps are a fickle thing, most certainly. And yes bends are incredibly fun and easy on this thing. I up the gauge a bit to compensate and so I don't over bend, but it's not bad unless you're using like 9s or something.

[@eldesgraciado6690]

I put a Seymour JB Jr (That I had laying around) on the bridge. Sounds pretty cool.

[@Electric.Flamingo]

I bet that ROCKS. Can't ever go wrong with a SD. Is that a stacked pickup? I'm not really too familiar with those.

[@eldesgraciado6690]

@@Electric.Flamingo Mini humbucker. The middle one is a single coil from an American Strat. The neck is the original one.

[@Electric.Flamingo]

Nice blend there!

[@Sean_Plays_Guitar]

Fun y how that worked out with the VM strat! Mini sounds awesome bro 😎

[@Electric.Flamingo]

It surprised me. It's a little ripper for sure! ⚡️🦩

[@crimadellaphone9374]

The issue I have with my Mini is the pole pices on the PUPs do not line up with the strings. People debate a lot about whether that matters and I just wonder, do their ears work? Of course it matters. Now, it does matter much less on the low strings, 6 through 4, maybe 3, but on the 1 and two strings it matters a lot. When they aren't lined up on these strings you can literally hear it in a very big way. Even with my full size strat, because the 2 and 1 string do not center on the poles there is a huge sound difference between an up pick and a down pick on these strings. The up pick sounds about how it should while the down stroke has significantly reduced volume. This 8s easily explained by the science behind it so, so much for the 'debate' on it, you don't need a debate for something you can easily confirm, for they are just facts. Why it matters so much on these two strings are, of course, because of the diameter of the strings and what is occurring that produces the electrical signal in the PUPs. Contrary to some's belief, the PUPs only capture the motion of the string vertically, side to side does not induce a current or at least not enough current to make it audible. Why, because this is how induction of a coil works, the field lines of magnetic fields have to pass over the coil in a specific direction to induce current, and unfortunately the way PUPs are designed this direction is up and down. It's the motion of the string moving directly towards and away from the pole piece that induces the current. I'm going to experiment with a new PUP design the would line the coil up in the correct direction to capture side to side movement rather than up and down movement. To achieve this the coil has to wrap lined up vertically rather than from left to right. I'm not sure how this is going to work out, the point 9f experimenting, simply because the string is above the coil. When you are trying to induce current in a coil with magnetic Flux the most efficient way to do so is for whatever pole, for example the north pole of a magnetic field, to pass through the coil. But, this is merely the most efficient way, the field lines will still be moving in the correct direction so it will induce a current, the question is how much of a current. I'm no scientist by the way, and I do not have an education in coil induction from magnetic Flux. There are many things to consider but I have been reading about it and have learned a good bit. Though, I don't have a teacher to correct me when/if I am wrong. While my better judgment would suggest that if this worked and worked good then this technique would already be used by manufacturers BUT that is not always the case. Though, my more rational side suggests that this idea wouldn't require a genius to figure out so I kinda lean towards it not working good enough. But I'm also very creative so who knows, there is never any harm in putting something to the test, either way I'll learn that it either works are doesn't, as a chemistry student once told me, result are empirical. Hmm, not really sure why I even shared this, a trail off, it happens, I'm aut-ist-ic(KZbin Algorithm would remove my comment if I didn't dash that word up, they don't like my politics and knowledge of propaganda). Why exactly they chose that word to add to the words I can't use without my comment being auto deleted within 10 seconds is beyond me. The only instances I've ever used that word on KZbin is to identify myself as it. The thing I was actually wanting to say is regardless of whether or not my idea works I'm 100% going to be making a custom set of PUPs for my mini strat to correct this problem. A design I know will work is to wrap the coil in the normal direction but use a steel pole that's just a bar. I believe I've seen PUPs like this but not exactly sure. Regardless, I've learned how a magnetic field interacts with a pole aka a magnetic material in close proximity or in contact with a permanent magnet. Say in just normal single coil pickups with steel poles and a permanent magnet below them, the field lines just use the magnetic pole as a path to extend the pole of the magnet upwards. If the pole piece is sitting on the north pole of the magnet, the magnetic field lines travel through, not around, the pole piece and making the top of the pole piece the new north pole. While I'm not 100% sure on this part, it would seem that the bottom of the guitar string would also be the north pole, and the current is induced because the string is a pole in motion going up and down, though at a slant because of the side to side motion. I already have the stuff to make my own pickups and I've already made the base and upper plates. I just used a nice thick piece of plastic that I got from a shipment package of a large object, a desk not put together, the pieces were used to support the corners of the box. Then I have then steel plates almost the right size that I took from a power supply transformer, to convert AC to DC, so it's an ideal metal for the task. In the power supply these pieces are stacked together to go through and around the coil specifically because it increases the inductance of the coils in the transformer. The more iron particles within a metal, the more inductance it will give a coil which is an inductor, basically. Steel ranges from 90% to about 98% iron. With an inductor there are two main ways to increase the inductance, you can add more wraps of insulated coil or you can give it a iron core, as well as inclosing the coil in a metal with a heavy concentration of iron. This increases the strength of the magnetic field from a permanent magnet, or in the case of a transformer the AC Sinewave is a changing magnetic field as it rises in positive voltage then drops to zero voltage then lowers in negative voltage which is just reversing the polarity, positive becomes negative and vice versa. Lol, I guess I just felt like typing way too much, this was the too long version of just stating that I'm going to make my own pickups to correct the problem on the 1 & 2 strings so up-strokes and down-strokes sound the same, full volume, on these strings

[@Electric.Flamingo]

I agree. The pole pieces do need to line up with the strings, I think it might be more of a clarity thing since the strings would all ring out at the same volume, if that makes sense. It's goes right along with thr fact that pole pieces are adjustable sometimes too.

[@0000song0000]

The "solution" would be to make a custom made pickguard with the pickups holes slanted even more... What's the string to string spacing on the mini? (or the E to e?) Obvi, the 3 pups would be more slanted, but they would sound better in theory

[@HappyHermitt]

It matters for those with ocd

[@stevechance4422]

What gauge strings are on the mini?

[@Electric.Flamingo]

I usually use 11s on short scale guitars, MAYBE 10-52s if you can make it not too bendy, if that makes sense.

[@RobertLofrano]

Where can you get these pickups and how much are they?

[@Electric.Flamingo]

I'm sure you could find them on Reverb or eBay. As far as what they cost, that is up to the seller. You can find them in some guitars stock, too.

[@justinnentwich2779]

I have a Bullet Squier Fender, and I am having an issue finding these pickups. Where can I get them, and what is the model number so I can be sure to get the right ones?

[@Electric.Flamingo]

I think they are called the Duncan Designed SC101. You can find them on eBay or Reverb would be my best guess. I think you can only get them used since they come stock in the Vintage Modified guitars.

[@justinnentwich2779]

@Electric Flamingo thank you for replying and the information. I will make sure to think about it 👍🏼🎸

[@LonePigsyAndCub]

I wonder if you could put a full size neck on this thing?

[@Electric.Flamingo]

I feel like you probably could, I don't see why you couldn't!

[@LonePigsyAndCub]

@@Electric.Flamingo I found a pic of one with a tele neck, looked pretty cool.

[@Electric.Flamingo]

Niiiiiiiiice ⚡️🦩