Changing an ASAT Special to a Classic......sort of

[shiner51]

I have an Blonde ASAT special that I bought new last May. Of the 50 or so guitars I have owned over the years it is the best built guitar with the most perfect neck I have ever seen. I like everything about it except the pickups, especially the neck pickup, because it lacks the clarity that I prefer. I even replaced it with a Nordstrand Al-SAT replacement which was an improvement, but still not quite what I am looking for. My favorite neck pickup is the Duncan alnico ii pro and Bill Lawrence Keystones, and I find myself playing my Teles with those pickups more than my ASAT Special. I guess you could say that my preference is for alnico ii pickups . I was wondering if it would be possible to replace my pickguard with one that has the neck pickup hole cut to fit a standard Tele pickup and mount it with two tele screws and wire it up. the bridge pickup would remain the same and the only permanent change I can see would be to make two small holes in the neck cavity for the Tele pickup. Seems like it would be a totally reversible mod and shouldnt effect resale value although I cant see ever selling this blonde beauty. Only expense would be having a custom pickguard made.......I have the pickups and soldering gear. Has anybody ever tried this or see any downside to giving it a try? Thanks!

[Salmon]

The concept your are aiming for is cool. I'd like to see the LE II F100 bridge large MFD combo in an ASAT. I don't care for the single coils in my G&L bridge positions but do like the MFD bridge of my S-500.

If I were thinking about doing this one of the first things to find out would be whether the existing route is large enough for whatever pickup I wanted to stick somewhere. The large MFD's are large but the neck Tele pickups are not as small as they look from the outside considering the pentagonal mounting plate thingy. It is just something I don't know and would want to find out.

If you don't have to alter the route some people still might be put off by the additional screw holes in the body. Some are bothered by more or less than others when it comes to mods and their definition of "stock." If you care more about making the guitar something you will like better then little screw holes will not likely eliminate that many potential buyers down the road anyway.

I like the ASAT Classic neck MFD more than the large MFD of the ASAT Special. I perceive them both as demonstrating clarity, the Special's large MFD more than the Classic's small MFD IMO. Perhaps it is a combination of things including the guitar and personal taste, expectations, etc.

[Craig]

I have an Blonde ASAT special that I bought new last May. Of the 50 or so guitars I have owned over the years it is the best built guitar with the most perfect neck I have ever seen. I like everything about it except the pickups, especially the neck pickup, because it lacks the clarity that I prefer. I even replaced it with a Nordstrand Al-SAT replacement which was an improvement, but still not quite what I am looking for. My favorite neck pickup is the Duncan alnico ii pro and Bill Lawrence Keystones, and I find myself playing my Teles with those pickups more than my ASAT Special. I guess you could say that my preference is for alnico ii pickups . I was wondering if it would be possible to replace my pickguard with one that has the neck pickup hole cut to fit a standard Tele pickup and mount it with two tele screws and wire it up. the bridge pickup would remain the same and the only permanent change I can see would be to make two small holes in the neck cavity for the Tele pickup. Seems like it would be a totally reversible mod and shouldnt effect resale value although I cant see ever selling this blonde beauty. Only expense would be having a custom pickguard made.......I have the pickups and soldering gear. Has anybody ever tried this or see any downside to giving it a try? Thanks!

Have you considered having the neck pickup rewound? There are a number of pickup builders who also custom wind existing pickups. There have been some mentioned
on the G&LDP in the past, so I will leave it up to you to search for them.

There is another drop-in replacement pickup made by Rio Grande and they use alnico magnets, which seem to be what you are looking for.
I have no experience with these pickups and I personally would not replace my ASAT MFD pickups.

Either of these two paths will not required a pickguard replacement nor body mounting changes.

Just my $0.02.

[shiner51]

Craig, I considered the Rio Grande but all the info I could find suggested that it was a really hot , so I went with the Nordstrand Al-SAT. I have decided that before I do any major changes , I will use some styrofoam or cardboard shims, some double sided tape, and mount the Duncan Alnico pro ii temporarily in the neck cavity and wire it up to see if it is the tone I like. If it doesn"t sound good its just a matter of reinstalling the Nordstrand pickup and maybe using my amps tone controls to get close to what I am looking for. I may be being too nit picky about this because the guitar still sounds great and the differences are subtle and I have no intentions of getting rid of it.

[Craig]

Craig, I considered the Rio Grande but all the info I could find suggested that it was a really hot , so I went with the Nordstrand Al-SAT. I have decided that before I do any major changes , I will use some styrofoam or cardboard shims, some double sided tape, and mount the Duncan Alnico pro ii temporarily in the neck cavity and wire it up to see if it is the tone I like. If it doesn"t sound good its just a matter of reinstalling the Nordstrand pickup and maybe using my amps tone controls to get close to what I am looking for. I may be being too nit picky about this because the guitar still sounds great and the differences are subtle and I have no intentions of getting rid of it.

If that does not work out for you, you might look into having the AI-SAT custom wound to your taste. I'd check with Nordstrand and see if they do custom windings or check into the
other major pickup builders who do custom windings.