Unfortunatly the Guitar Emporium is no longer trading

Whether you have spent £319 or £749, there are still some things you might want to do to enhance your instrument, particularly if you have chosen one of the lower cost models. The build quality of these guitars is so good, you might opt for a cheaper model then have it customised to your perfect specification. I guarantee that this route will be significantly cheaper than buying a US custom and you will probably have a better instrument.

The guitar that started it for me: 1996 Fender Japan 62 Reissue customised by CCGX. 

Body	Basswood
Neck	Maple Oval 1962 Vintage
Fretboard	21 Fret, Rosewood, Plek Graduated Radius
Pickguard and Backplate	Fender Pearloid
Hardware	Gotoh Gold
Tuners	Gotoh Kluson Style
Bridge	Gold Callaham Vintage Vibrato with   Callaham Steel  Tremelo Block
Pickups	Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot
Controls and Switches	5-way switch, Neck Adder, 1 x vol 3 x tone

I have owned and played many strats; nothing comes close to this one in terms of playability, output and sound. We can supply a new one of these for around £750. Compare that with the Americans starting at £1200 - if you need a tweed hard case to make the whole thing viable then you can have an OEM one for £60 or a Fender one for £180.

Custom Setup

We check all of the guitars before putting them up for sale. The factory set-up is usually spot on medium action. All you need do is to loosen the Stratocaster vibrato.

If you want something special, the following two options are available.

Standard Setup: £40
Truss rod adjustment, vibrato setup, nut height, action, intonation, pickup height, strings of your choice e.g. D'Addario 009's.

Plek Setup: £120
Truss rod adjustment, vibrato setup, nut height, action, intonation, pickup height, strings of your choice and Plek Profile Fret Dress.

• Precision: The Plek sands to the nearest .001mm (1/100mm) or .00039in.. Work done by hand has a precision of approximately .1mm. Differences in fret height of ca. 0.03-0.04mm or more can be felt by a guitarist (as buzzing). Making this possible is extensive research into the physics and theory behind strings, sound and instrument design.
• Guitar-friendly processing: This precision also allows minimal material removal because it is so accurate. With the Plek it is possible to perform more fret dress procedures before it becomes necessary to replace the frets. Thus the service life of the instrument is extended.
• Individuality: The Plek Profile is a "customized" solution, adjusted to the personal style of the player, not an arbitrary "one size fits all" approach.
• Balance: "Low", for instance, not only means that the saddle and nut are set lower, but also that the curve of the neck is reduced. The neck curvature or relief, is more pronounced along the length of the lower (thicker) strings than the higher (thinner) strings.
• Standard: We guarantee a consistent standard. Any setup will be reproducible with precisely the same quality in three months or three years.
• Clarity: Since it is possible to know beforehand what the result is going to look like, the player can see this and be involved in determining the final specs. The measurement graphics clearly show how the neck relief, fret height and string action will have changed.

Custom Style

The most basic customisation is to change the look of your guitar by replacing the pickguard, pickup covers and knobs so you could spend £319 on a standard and turn it into this SRV lookalike: with the addition of gold hardware (£100) and black 3-ply pickguard (£20) - if you really wanted a true SRV signature - we might get you the SRV pickguard and install the opposite tremelo for £120! We would probably counsel you otherwise in terms of best spend!

I personally went for a pearl one on my '62 Sunburst Re-issue: here's a selection, they are available for Telecasters also, a black Tele with a black pearl pickguard looks stunning:

Custom Sound

There are two very low cost options to provide greater flexibilty to your existing pickups:

• Hot Little Knob
  The Hot Little Knob is a totally passive device that will expand the tonal possibilities of guitars fitted with three single coil pickups and a five way pickup selector such as may be fitted to a standard strat. It replaces the middle pickup tone control with a push-pull device which leaves the guitar exactly as standard with the knob in the down position but gives a range of new sounds with the knob in the up position. The new sounds are based on a series combination of the middle and bridge pickups, but with special filtering to control the way in which the two pickups interact. With the hot little knob activated the five way selector switch is still operational but gives access to bigger, fatter and higher output sounds which are better able to drive amps into distortion. The new sounds can be controlled and fine tuned by rotating the knob.
• Neck Adder
  The Neck Adder is a rotary tone control which will blend in the neck pickup with with the bridge pickup, the middle pickup or the bridge/middle pickup combination on strat type guitars. This gives you the missing combinations on a strat type guitar, i.e. the neck and bridge together or all three in combination.Using the neck and bridge together gives a tone reminiscent of a telecaster, whilst using all three together gives a bigger, more powerful sound than is usually available on a strat. However, since the Neck Adder is a rotary control and not a switch, you can choose to blend as much or as little of the neck pickup into the mix. The effect of adding a small amount of the neck in to the bridge is that the sound has a little more warmth and fullness - perfect for taming slightly shrill bridge pickups.Callaham Stratocaster Tremelo Block
  Most of our Fender Japan Guitars come with the same specifcation diecast block that is fitted to the Fender American range. When the Stratocaster vibrato was originally designed in 1954, it had a machined steel inertia block as found on our  Fender Japan 1954 Re-issue Stratocaster. Replacing a diecast block with the Callaham block provides a dramatic increase in both sustain and harmonic content.
  The next step might be to upgrade the pickups; we recommend Lindy Fralin here's what Guitar Player magazine has to say about the Lindy Fralin Vintage:

Of course, it is not just the electrics that affect the sound of quality guitars, the choice of body wood and hardware all come into play. Again, a relatively low cost customisation is to upgrade hardware that impacts the sound of your instrument.

Custom Pickups

“...If you took the traditional sound of Fender's '57 & '62 and sprinkled magic dust on it, you'd hear something resembling Lindy Fralin (calibrated trio, $220) single-coils. They've got everything--nuts, ring, shimmer, detail--in sensational balance. They're slightly hotter than stock Fenders, but not as potent as the Texas Specials."

Lindy Fralin have an extensive range of replacement pickups for both Strat and Tele (including some more potent than Texas Specials)! You might want for instance to put a humbucker on the bridge. Lindy's pickups come in calibrated sets for the cleanest sounds available.

Buzz Feiten Tuning System


The Reason - Standard intonation is not pleasing to the ear
Guitars are designed and built using a standard formula for intonation and nut placement. Each string is intonated only to itself resulting in what is called 'equal temperament'. Piano tuners abandoned equal temperament long ago because it simply is not pleasing to the ear. Instead, piano strings are 'stretch tuned' to make them play in pleasing intonation anywhere on the keyboard. The resulting 'tempered' tuning is superbly musical, and most important, in tune.

The Solution - The Buzz Feiten Tuning System
Inspired by the piano's tempered tuning, the Buzz Feiten Tuning System is a revolutionary intonation model for guitar that intonates each string not only to itself, but also to every other string. Furthermore, to eliminate sharpness in the first three frets, the nut is moved a prescribed distance closer to the bridge. The result - play any note, any chord, anywhere on the neck and you'll be in tune. And, it doesn't change the way your guitar looks or plays.


The Buzz Feiten Tuning System® Authorized Retrofit involves two steps:

Step 1: Install Shelf Nut - The nut is moved closer to the first fret to eliminate sharpness at the first three frets caused by end tension. Your Authorized Retrofitter removes the original nut and installs our Shelf Nut according to our patented formula for your guitar based on its scale length, fret width and string gauge. This step employs our exclusive Shelf Nut branded with our light>ning-bolt logo for authenticity. Installation of this part is non invasive - your guitar is not changed at all. And our Shelf Nut is machined from only the finest, natural bone for the absolute best in tonal transfer. And every Authorized Retrofit comes with a Serial Numbered Buzz Feiten Tuning System Guitar Decal for verification.


Step 2: Intonation - Your guitar is intonated according to our patented pitch
offset formulas using the Korg DT-7 Tuner in Buzz Feiten Tuning System mode. This step is performed by adjusting the bridge saddles until each string is properly intonated according to our pitch offset formulas. These slight, but exacting adjustments, when combined with our Shelf Nut bring your guitar into proper, balanced intonation across the entire fingerboard of your guitar. Your guitar's original bridge is used so there is no alteration in its look, feel or tone. Several models of Peterson Tuners have also begun to employ the Buzz Feiten Tuning System and may also be used by your Authorized Retrofitter when retrofitting your guitar.

What do top guitarists think ?
"I think it's one of the greatest innovations in guitar technology" - Steve Vai

"Having played guitar for nearly forty years, I've learned to expect intonation problems. But now, for the first time, the problems are gone. I'm in tune." - Robben Ford

"I've been playing guitar since I was six years old, and it's finally in tune." - Larry Carlton

New Guitars with the Buzz Feiten Tuning System
A growing family of quality manufacturers and builders have implemented the Feiten System on new electric and acoustic guitars, basses and more - with a wide range of models and prices. Ranging from leading manufacturers like Washburn and Garrison, to renowned custom lines like Tom Anderson, as well as custom luthiers like Suhr, Baker, McPherson and Galloup. You can even get the system on basses from MTD, tap instruments from Warr and Mobius, and Red Diamond Mandolins.

"Listening to the Anderson 25.5"-scale and 24.75"-scale guitars convinced us of the Buzz Feiten System's abilities. We know Anderson builds great-sounding guitars, but these were unreal. Gone were the sharp low-register notes. Close- interval chords sounded much more in tune than they did on any of our guitars, and the bloom of sustained chords was beyond anything we've heard." - Bench Tests: "The Buzz Feiten Tuning System" Guitar Player Magazine

"Before the Buzz Feiten Tuning System, I lived in the dark age of tuning where every session and every gig was a potential tuning nightmare. You never knew what would happen. After the Buzz Feiten Tuning System, I was completely free. Who could ask for anything more!" - John March - LA Guitarist"

What do Shania Twain, Alanis Morissette, NSYNC, Aaron Neville, Babyface, Bette Midler, Bob James, Bob Seger, Boyz II Men, Brandy, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Dave Koz, Earth, Wind & Fire, Fleetwood Mac, Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, Julio Iglesias, Luis Miguel, Mariah Carey, Neil Diamond, Reba McEntire, Ringo Starr, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ruben Studdard, Sarah Brightman, Stanley Clarke, TLC, The Bee Gees, The Corrs, Tom Scott, Toni Braxton and literally hundreds of other top recording artists have in common? The ace studio guitar work of Michael Thompson. One of the world's most recorded guitarists, Michael's guitars all use the Buzz Feiten Tuning System. Want to make sure your next guitar track is in tune? Take a hint from Michael.

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The Problem - Your guitar doesn't play in tune
Tune an E chord at the first fret so it sounds in tune with itself. Now play the A and D chords and at least one or two notes are sharp or flat. No matter how carefully you tune your guitar, you can't compensate for this 'brick wall' in intonation. So you play around the bad notes or avoid certain notes and chords altogether. Besides cramping your technique, it's a constant annoyance when performing or recording.

In my experience, nobody ever tells you this and there has been many a broken whammy as a result! Strats are shipped with the vibrato springs tightened for protection. If you want a 'floating' bridge, you must:

1. Loosen the strings
2. Take off the backplate and loosen the two spring retaining screws
3. Wedge the bridge 'open' with the back plate (approx height 3mm)
4. Tune the guitar so that the string tension maintains the bridge height.