Fender Bullet '81 Questions.

Lucamo · Post by **Lucamo** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:14 am

Hi, I am about to buy a 1981 Fender Bullet from my friend for 50 bucks, that's worth the price right?

I have some questions, and some very noobish ones too.
I am considering some Mods. First off, painting it surf green.

Second off, I was wondering if it would be possible to buy a mustang tremolo-bridge and put it on the bullet, and how much it would cost, I would be willing to get any tremolo bridge actually, that is affordable and smooth.

Also, this is gonna be hard to explain, the pickups on a bullet are these black plastic looking single coil pickups, similar to Mustang or Duo-sonic pickups. Would it be possible, or even a smart idea, to buy one pickup that looks like that, which happens to sound like a deep humbucker crunchy pickup for the neck position. And another pickup in that visual style with a twangy tele sound or anything sharp sounding for the bridge. Would those two types of sounds even sound good together when both on?

Thank you for any input or help. I am a newcomer to Modding, but reading some posts on this board has made me think big.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:19 am

do it.

installing a mustang trem on it will require routing the body.. and you can toss whatever single coil you like in their, those are just solid covers.. fit over most pickups, but not over rails pickups without some help from a hairdryer.

Lucamo · Post by **Lucamo** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:25 am

Frankly, I have no idea what routing is. I am this new to modding.

What company sells single-coils that can sound like that? Is it worth paying extra for humbucking single-coils?

Any idea on prices or where I can get a Mustang trem? Would installing a mustang bridge make the guitar short-scale?!

Woaaah! I just blew my mind. I do love shortscales much more then regular length.

Will · Post by **Will** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:25 am

Great price!

I used to have an '82 - those Bullets have fantastic necks and make wonderful guitars. I think I payed $225 for mine.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:31 am

Lucamo wrote:Frankly, I have no idea what routing is. I am this new to modding.

What company sells single-coils that can sound like that? Is it worth paying extra for humbucking single-coils?

Any idea on prices or where I can get a Mustang trem? Would installing a mustang bridge make the guitar short-scale?!

Woaaah! I just blew my mind. I do love shortscales much more then regular length.

routing would involve essentially cutting out bits of the guitar body, installing a mustang trem and bridge will not make this a short scale, there is no way of moving the bridge far enough forward and putting a mustang/jag neck on it to make it short scale..

however another option to add a trem would be via a surface mount
LANK

a fantastic first time mod for a guitar.
although with the stock bridge i'm not sure how well it would work.

Lucamo · Post by **Lucamo** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:34 am

I don't think I compute short-scale...

I play a CV duo-sonic, and my girlfriends 08 Jagmaster, these are both short-scale correct? IS this because the bridge is as close to the neck as possible? Are there necks also shorter?

Sorry for the dumb questions...

I really think I want a 'stang bridge and tremolo, they look so fly.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:39 am

they are, yes a shortscale. the bodies for the cv duo and the current jagmasters use magic to make it happen.. well not really.
they are both 21 frets, a mustang/jaguar has 22 frets

i've put a jagmaster neck on a squier affinity telecaster, had to do some bridge adjustments for intonation. (and the telecaster neck on the jagmaster, again had to adjust the bridge saddles a bit for intonation)
(there is a small gap at the heal, due to the jagmaster/strat/everything neck being rounded, and the telecaster neck being a square end.)
the squier shortscales use what we call conversion necks (see other threads)
however (and i've never had the pleasure of trying one) you may love the neck on the bullet, i've only read/heard good things about them.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:42 am

Lucamo wrote:Hi, I am about to buy a 1981 Fender Bullet from my friend for 50 bucks, that's worth the price right?

yes.

Lucamo · Post by **Lucamo** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:45 am

Any pickup company recommendations?

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:46 am

I like dimarzio. you can put mustang style (known as "robroe" covers around these parts) covers on any strat pickup.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:48 am

play the ones that are in it first, see what your ears tell you, you may love them

a lot of people love the pickups from guitarfetish.com i haven't tried any
i usually buy twangy as fuck DiMarzios (twang king, class of 55, etc..) or the super distortions..
really it all boils down to personal preference

the pickups will fit under the covers, i leave the pole pieces staggered under mine, still work fine, robroe pushes his pole pieces flat so that the top of the pickup is at the cover. (IIRC)

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:50 am

AAAMAZING PRICE!
How easy it's going to be to make these mods will depend on wether this is an '81 Bullet or an "81 Bullet Deluxe

If it's a Deluxe, you'll definitely want to route the trem cavity carefully because the body is made of laminate and it might get a bit messy.

If it's a regular '81 Bullet, you'll still have the laminate to worry about but you'll likely find that metal pickguard to be a total pain in the scrote. You'll have to hack the crap out it because of the hardtail bridge/pickguard thing... I don't think it'd be possible to make a Mustang style tailpiece work without cutting the bridge out entirely and I'm not sure how far the wood extends under there. You might not have enough room to screw in some bridge posts.

Also, Putting a rail in there might prove to be quite the challenge as I recall the pickup routes in that guard to be very snug.
That wouldn't be such an issue were it not for the pickguard being made out of rolled aluminum!

I'm not saying any of these mods can't be done but they'll be unnusually hard to pull off, let alone neatly. Provided it's anywhere near in good shape and all original, I wouldn't fuck with it cause these are steadily rising in value. You could easily flip it on ebay and make enough money to buy something that fits your needs or something that can be modded to your liking with less hastle.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:52 am

i think this requires a meetup in Peterborough, Ontario? for canadian shortscalers...
yeah.. its only out of the way for everyone but the noob

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:34 am

putting a mustang trem on there will not make it short scale. if you don't know what routing is then i think you're biting off a bit more than you can chew, and hacking up a 30 year old guitar in order to make it more like a mustang sounds pretty silly. just buy a mustang perhaps?

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:28 pm

how close is this dude to buffalo?

i want to see this thing before you blow it up.

im working on a 84 bullet right now. replaced all the guts on it, pickups, pots, caps, switch, all the wire.

the solid plastic covers on your bullet should just pop off and you can put them on any new pickup you buy to keep that vibe going.

honestly, after you buy the guitar, i would play it non-stop for at least a month and then decide what you want to change.

ignoring everything else on the gutiar, is the body shaped like #1 or #2 ?

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:33 pm

just checked your location on google maps. peterburough is 3.5 hours from here. too rich for my blood.

i always welcome more people from canada on here. there are about 4 or 5 of us who talk hockey all year long on here just to piss off the basketball folks

Lucamo · Post by **Lucamo** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:25 pm

I was just throwing ideas around, I know I am in over my head, but I have a guitar shop owner in Peterborough as a mentor and helper.

I am just really excited, due to monetary concerns I will play it stock for atleast a month or two, don't worry, I won't jump to conclusions. Though I do want to paint it.

Robroe, it is the more telecaster-y design, Peterborough aint far from Buffalo, a friend of mine goes to buffalo monthly to see the sabres.

I can't be the only canadian shortscaler in Ontario...

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:28 pm

no theres a couple dudes but we are spread out.

ok if you have the telecaster styled bullet you got big problems with your bridge mod idea. reason being is that the pickguard IS the bridge.

someone at fender thought it would be an awesome idea to make the pickguard out of metal, and then bend a chunk of it straight up in the air and screw the saddles into it.

so the bridge / tail / pickguard is all one unit. adds to the charm and uniqueness of the guitar but doesn't make it that easy to mod

fender looked at Henry T. Fords model of standardization of parts and threw that instruction book right down the shitter with this guitar. very much like the super sonic some 20 years later

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:35 pm

robroe wrote:ok if you have the telecaster styled bullet you got big problems with your bridge mod idea. reason being is that the pickguard IS the bridge.

...Unless it's a Bullet DELUXE.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:38 pm

hoooo PISS !!!!

you right

Fender Bullet '81 Questions.

Fender Bullet '81 Questions.

Re: Fender Bullet '81 Questions.