Whoowhee... When a man has cash burning a whole in his pocket and a desire to pimp something out, the results can only be exciting. ?

@Jazz-Cat just be sure to make peace with the fact that you generally don't get your value's worth when eventually selling an "upgraded" guitar.

oh... Guitar Modding..
http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/features/25-strat-tips/

There is a wiring mod i would like to try.. supposed to give better tonal control.. just need to find it.
basically you end up putting an extra cap on the tonal in series.

the Mod i did on my Strat, i put a Seymour Duncan cool rail Strat single coil sized humbucker in the bridge position.

@Jazz-Cat : I'd break down mods into : Sound, feel, reliability/giggability and looks.

Sound : Pickup upgrades, wiring mods, certain setup mods (E.g. setting blocking out the trem), setting pickup heights.

It's a personal thing - you've probably got ceramic magnets in your pickups, tend to be a bit brighter, with slightly brittle tone. Alinco magnets tend to have a smoother, mellower sound. Not all brands are similar, you can get single coil sized humbuckers, P90's etc...

I've had a cheap ass set of ceramic pups and have had a few different alinco pups (inc noiseless kinman's) - just because you paid big $$$ for pups doesn't mean you'll like them - I've reverted to my cheap n nasty, super microphonic ceramic pickups because I like the dirty lofi-ness of them. That said, the Squire Classic Vibe pups are well regarded as good alinco pickups with a strat-y tone.

Blocking the trem (aka hardtailing a strat) worked for me - I thought it thickened the tone a bit. Noticed this on a few strats.

Wiring mods : I've had a few, the treble bleed on the volume is a must do imho. I also really like the blending the neck pickup with other positions (aka gilmour mod), I don't use it often, but I do like having it available as a option.

Feel : Rolling the fretboard/fret edges, string gauges & pro level setup

My strat feels great (I am biased!), I've rolled the fret edges and fretboard and it made a world of difference. I like a taut string feel so it's elixir 10's - 9's feel too floppy to me and 11's a bit too much like hard work. I like elixir's because they last forever - YMMW.

A proper setup is real important - relief, action, pickup height and a proper string radius'ing will make your guitar feel goooood.

Reliability/Giggability : Graphtech saddles, nut, string tree's, strap locks, shielding, locking tuners

A lot of mods I did (unknowingly) were for giggability. Which is exactly what I have not done with this strat (haha!). Graphtech nut, saddles & string tree's and locking tuners - tuning is smooth, predictable, I hardly ever break a string and string changes are quick n easy. Not necessary for jamming though.

Looks : Well...that's entirely personal and a great attraction of the strat. It's plain jane, but you can do sooo much with it and generally it'll look cool.

Jazzman105 @Jazz-Cat just be sure to make peace with the fact that you generally don't get your value's worth when eventually selling an "upgraded" guitar.

Very true! It might make it more appealing than a similar (but stock) guitar to a buyer who's looking for something that's got those mod's. But usually, for resale, I'd keep the parts stock.

Tuckstir oh... Guitar Modding..
http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/features/25-strat-tips/

@Tuckstir Nice find! - I've had about half of those on my strat (and undone many of them ?). The two I'd definitely do again - block the trem and put a treble bleed on the volume. The other thing I havn't done yet, but really should is properly shield the cavities - my strat is quite noisy with RF.

Thanks for all the feedback, unfortunately the money doesn't get a chance to burn any holes lol, I would be going with a small budget, first need an idea of some pricing though. Firstly I would like to upgrade the tuning pegs as a few of them feel loose, secondly my volume pot seems to go from quiet then only about halfway gets loud, although that could also just be Rocksmith messing it up, and it's quite noisy at times, tapping on one of the knobs seems to quieten it, maybe I just need some electronic spray on the pots but I also would like to shield it, as tedibear mentioned, so basically most of what V8 mentioned. As for resale, not looking to sell right now.

If you have budget constraints then free upgrades can be done by tweaking your setup if you haven't done this already. Lower your action by lowering the bridge saddles and adjusting your truss rod. Often this can drastically improve the playability. If you're feeling particularly adventurous you can file the nut slots to lower the action there if it's particularly high, but do this with caution a little bit at a time; it's possible but difficult to undo. Lubricate the saddles and nut to improve tuning stability.

You can also adjust the pickup height. Fender give recommendations but some people prefer to do this by ear to tweak things to their liking. It's not going to drastically alter your tone but can mellow out a harsh pickup, or give a bit more punch to a dull one if it's currently set quite low.

Then if you're handy with a fine file you can try rounding the fret edges for that professional rolled feel, which can give a budget instrument a high-end feel.

If you're uncertain about any of the above just watch a few YouTube tutorials and you'll be good to go.

Yea, as a meme I saw says, the definition of a muso is someone who loads $5000 worth of gear into a $500 car to drive 100 miles to a $50 gig lol, regarding soldering, that and some electronics knowledge I need to and would like to learn, I have sealed Stagg tuners, turns out I overlooked tightening the screw in the button as V8 mentioned and yes it's a standard SSS setup, I think I could live with a hum, it's when it screeches that's the problem, mainly it gets sensitive when touching the strings, which as far as I understand, shielding would get rid of.

I would love to learn some luthier skills, I'm sure it's a huge satisfaction setting up your own guitar, just the way you like it plus it saves some bucks, I feel my action is fine, I did use a little trick to lube the nut, pencil lead. Found that tip when wanting to maintain tuning while using the trem, I don't use it often so I could just hard tail it but I'd like to keep my options open, I'm still a novice.

Jazz-Cat

Jazz-Cat I will definitely have a look at some diagrams and YouTube videos for help.

must let me know how it goes..
This week I finally got round to making my Strat copy playable.. and its sounding awesome..
I printed some radius gauges.. got my string radius sorted..also made a quick fret leveling file, using a off-cut of skirting..made sure it has a straight edge and glued some sandpaper on.. using a permanent marker, And marked all the frets. then sanded evenly till all the marker was off on the tops.. then with a marked the tops of the frets again, and VERY VERY carefully with a needle file rounded the tops till there was just a sliver of marker left..
then cleaned and oiled my fret board..
replaced my strings, and boom.. a guitar that is now not only playable.. but I think my new favorite 6 string..
my next Upgrade will be some decent strings and thanks to Norio that is already on hand)
and something that was going to cost money to do if sent in..( and my last guitar I sent in I ended up resetting up anyway.. couldn't play it as they didn't fix my string height at the nut.)

my little Luther guitar kit

Yup, that's the spirit. Before forking out cash for upgrades that might not satisfy, optimize setup. My guitars all need more setup, slowly getting there, I will look into the string radius on my Strat copies, and eventually do a fret-level. When I eventually do get all the capacitors and resistors, I want to "refresh" the wiring on my current Go To (old) Squier Strat. Seriously debating the "treble bleed mod" now, seeing as the tone sweetens up nicely when I lower the volume! I am on 10 - 46 (?) strings, debating whether 9-42 will work for this guitar.

Do the bone nut. Live with the instrument. Silly single coil noise. I would recommend the tone pot mod - one tone pot to neck, share bridge and middle on the other pot. My problem is, you think these super pickups will be what you need, but once in your guitar, well, do they sound like what you hoped? If not, ??. When I do get all the bits, and remove the scratch plate, I will see if I can "custom stagger" the pickup poles. There is a lot to do with the standard junk on the guitar, before it gets to the point where a more expensive "ideal" instrument becomes a necessity. Which it is, anyway.

Oh, yes, of course, amp makes a difference too. So many options, so little money.