Wadeaminute's Super-Sonic Thread

[wadeaminute]

I've decided that I will simply have this one Super-Sonic thread and keep adding to it whenever I change something to one of them, so that they are all in one place.
Here are the current nine (six Squier Vistas, three Fender Pawn Shops):


I will write a post on each one.

[triviani]

Yes, please.

[wadeaminute]

The blue one:
Squier Vista, June 1997 on neck, Crafted in Japan


The way I got into these was that I decided that I wanted to buy a sonic blue left-handed Jag-Stang in about 1996 (I was probably inspired by the one Peter Buck and Mike Mills played after Courtney Love gave Kurt Cobain's first one to REM). I went into a shop in Montreal, PQ, Canada called Kitts Musique to order one from Tony. He showed me the new Squier propaganda for their upcoming Vista Series, as a Super-Sonic sort of accomplished what I was up to without the complications. I hesitated. Eventually, at the end of 1998, I got word from my guy at Tom Lee Music in Coquitlam, BC, Canada that the chain was blowing out the Super-Sonics for $299 for their Boxing Day Sale. I asked him to make sure that he had a blue one for me. So I got my first on Dec. 26, 1998. The tag says Reg. $1099, Sale $299. Back then, the sparkle finishes were $100 more.

I immediately started modifying it. At first, it got white Dimarzio humbuckers - a Tone Zone and a PAF - and had push-pulls installed to split the pickups. And white strat volume knobs. And then a one-piece clear pickguard and trem cavity cover made by a family friend named Jake (RIP).

At some point, the jack was moved to the side, the three-way toggle was moved to the jack-hole in the pickguard, and a red kill momentary button was installed where the stock three-way toggle had been located. (In Vancouver)

I eventually had these humbuckers put in my first white one. The guitar was next modified in Toronto for three Custom Shop Fat 50s strat pickups, originally with black covers, an aged white moto pickguard, a black volume knob, a five-way switch, and a push-pull on the volume pot to reverse phase in the middle positions. It also had a blue momentary button where the stock three-way toggle would go. I eventually installed a small red momentary button close to the volume knob, and glued a white moto pick over the hole.

The latest setup, as pictured, has white pickup covers installed, a black momentary button, a tone knob, and two sliding switches. The switch closest to the neck is a five-way. The one in between the knobs is a three way with the following options - straight through, volume and tone knobs functional, volume knob and fixed cocked wah tone. And it still has the phase switch on the tone pot.

I think that it is done now. It has thus far lived in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg, and Saint John, NB. I have had it for sixteen years.

[wadeaminute]

The Black one:
Squier Vista, May 1997 on neck, Crafted in Japan


I bought this one new, too. But much later. I was on a trip with my girlfriend in 2005 to Quebec City, and we took a boat across a river. We found a little mom 'n' pop guitar store with a brand new black Super-Sonic. Long story short, I got it for $400, tax in, with its original gig bag.

This one was immediately modified, too. I still have the original electronics and pickguard - control plate all mounted together in storage. It was modified in Vancouver by Barry at Ewart Guitars to have a one-piece black pickguard, a single Dimarzio YJM stacked humbucking strat pickup, a red momentary button up top where the three-way was supposed to go, no volume or tone pots, jack moved to the side, and a three way tele switch wired for humbucker, single coil, and off.

A few years back, I decided to swap some things around and took the Dimarzio Tone Zone and PAF pickups out of the first white one, put some chrome pickup covers on them, and mounted them in Seymour Duncan Triple Shot rings on the black one. It now has separate volume and tone knobs, and the three-way is now down south by the tone knob. It has also been hard tailed by filling the strat cavity with a piece of mahogany and by installing a cut-off tele bridge that is top mount and has compensated saddles. I made another black guard for it with the help of Joey on Offset, and the red momentary button is where I like it.

The idea with this one is that it would be my Les Paul-ed Super Sonic, whereas my blue one is obviously my Strat-ish one.

The older one-piece guard and the YJM pickup is on the old white one now.

[wadeaminute]

The Silver one:
Squier Vista, Nov 1996 on neck, Made in Japan (only one I have that has "Made" and not "Crafted")


I bought this one, on eBay, for around $500 used in around 2009. I needed a new idea, and I had just seen P-Rails pickups, so that's the direction I went. Initially, the stock P-Rails set, mounted in the original Super-Sonic pickguard. I honestly don't remember how it was wired at first, but it didn't work properly. I eventually learned about the Triple Shot mounting rings and re-wired it myself in 2012.

The current set-up is a new black pickguard, Hot P-Rails in the bridge, a regular P-Rails in the neck, two Triple Shots, volume, tone, a three-way, and the black momentary button. And, like the black one, it is hard-tailed with a cut-off tele bridge.

This one is getting modified in the next week to have, by my math, 76 tones. To be continued.

[wadeaminute]

The first White one:
Squier Vista, Dec 1996 on neck, Crafted in Japan

OK. This one rules.
After I had the first three, I obsesssive-compulsively needed the last of the original colours, of course. White was the hardest to find, but I eventually found one on eBay sometime in 2009. I paid around $500.
This one initially got the white Dimarzio Humbuckers from the blue one (now in the black one), and it was whited out. Jack was moved to the side, like the others.
At some point I decided that this one would make a fine Johnny Ramone tribute project. I realized that I had to have a one-piece black pickguard and a strat bridge pickup. So the black one was raided. My GFS telemaster came with a mini-humbucker, so that was installed (slightly wrong as it is not a Firebird pickup, but that is the least of its imperfections). And then a three-way toggle with a white switch tap was installed in the correct spot - requiring significant routing (this has proven to be my favourite spot for switches on Super-Sonics, as it turns out). And then volume and tone pots, with mismatched tele and les paul knobs. And because I like them, a black momentary kill button. (Notice the pick glued over the old momentary location.) I really could have left it here, but I didn't: hard tailed it, tele half-bridge, and a Gibson-Style stop tailpiece. This one also has replacement white plastic tuners, because - well just because.

Notice that they all still have the reverse-canted bridge pickup.

[wadeaminute]

The Coral one:
Originally silver-sparkle, Squier Vista, May 1997 on neck, Crafted in Japan

I bought this one as a box of parts for $350 on eBay in the Fall of 2010. A guy had attempted to take it apart and paint it, and then gave up.
I wanted to build my dream Super-Sonic - like a Fender Custom Shop version. It is supposed to be a hybrid between an Esquire and a Super-Sonic, and in my favourite Fender colour - which I used to think was a faded Fiesta Red, but as it turns out was a very rare Tahitian Coral. I got the paint from Re-Ranch. Painted by my dear friend Chris.
Let's see. I filled the trem cavities with mahogany. Routed it for a left-handed telecaster bridge (Gotoh, gold). Ordered a Seymour Duncan BG1400 stacked humbucker tele pickup (a beast). This was hand-wound by MJ, and she told me she made them at the same time as she made a batch for Billy Gibbons. I routed for a telecaster control plate (gold). Routed for a (gold) strat jack on the back ( I had seen this online - not my original idea).

Made the white moto pickguard. Custom ordered, left-handed, gold with white pearl Sperzel locking tuners.
It originally had a four-way tele switch that was wired by a company, but it never worked as it was supposed to. I recently rewired it with a 5-way super switch that goes straight through, volume only, volume and tone, cocked wah, Arlo cocked wah. And it has a coil-split push-pull on the tone knob. Gold tele knobs. Black momentary button. It also has an aluminum ferule bar at the back.

And all five of these so far have Schaller straplocks and vegan-friendly, leather-free nylon straps. (Schaller straplocks are way more expensive than the $4.20 nylon straps I buy from L&M.)

[wadeaminute]

The second White One:
Squier Vista, Jan 1997 on neck, Crafted In Japan

This one is bone stock - all original. Bought early in 2013 on Winnipeg Kijiji for $500. It honestly just bugged me that there was one in Winnipeg that I didn't have. Ridiculous. But it is nice to have a stock one. I'll either leave this one alone, or it will be sacrificed so that I can have a Daphne Blue guitar.

[wadeaminute]

The Purple one:
Fender Pawn Shop, 31 Oct 2012 on neck, Made in Mexico

I resisted the new ones for over a year. I had even predicted a Pawn Shop reissue on Offset six months before they were announced. And orange looked quite nice. But they didn't seem as good as the old ones, and were more expensive.
But I did find a neck, body, and a neckplate on The Stratosphere's eBay page one day, and thought that it would be fun to put one together. (About $500 for these parts, I think.) I was bummed that it wasn't orange, because gunmetal grey sounded boring. When it arrived, I was pleased that the sparkles are actually purple in the right light. Nice.
I built it with leftover Vista Series parts - an OG Japanese trem set-up, and Japanese OG tuners. I wanted to try a Dynasonic pickup, but settled for a GFS Surf 90 version (sounds very nice). I made the white moto pickguard, routed the body for the 4-way telecaster switch (my own accidentally cool hybrid set-up that attempted to combine two diagrams and failed with much success - I now have this on three guitars), put my black momentary button where I like it, and installed volume and tone pots with telecaster knobs.

I'm very happy with this one and don't plan to change a thing.

[wadeaminute]

The Orange one:
Fender Pawn Shop, 2014 serial number, Made in Mexico

Just got this one. It is stock and will remain that way. Just gorgeous - the rosewood is quite interesting on the neck, and the maple of the neck is quite figured.

[wadeaminute]

The Red one:
Fender Pawn Shop, 2012 Serial number, Made in Mexico






I was done, I swear. And then they discontinued the failed Super-Sonic for the second time, and the folks at Offset and Shortscale were posting blowout prices of $349, less than half price, and less than I paid The Stratosphere for a neck and body for the gunmetal one. So I bought the last two, both from Sam Ash. The orange one will remain stock, and this red one, my least favourite of all the stock colours, was converted to a XII by a gentleman who does Telecaster conversions in Connecticut. It cost way more to convert it than to buy it. I think that I paid about $460 for the conversion (which is fair, I think, considering the considerable amount of work that is involved).

That being the case, it is super cool. The neck is significantly wider on the Pawn Shop Super-Sonics - wide enough, as it turns out, for 12 strings.

I think that it looks pretty cool stock, but the electronics are already crapping out, so it may get Fender XII pickups made by Seymour Duncan and a rotary switch, etc. But not any time soon.

[earthbound]

Awesome collection. The Johnny Ramone tribute is so rad!

[DaveC]

The purple one is my favourite, so cool, thanks for sharing.

[s_mcsleazy]

all you need now is a atdi style one

honestly, i love supersonics and your family is no exception

[wadeaminute]

Awesome collection. The Johnny Ramone tribute is so rad!

Thanks. And I see that this was your first post on Offset! Welcome.

The one time I got to play live in 2014, I played the JR. I joined a band called The Stranded on stage for The Damned's New Rose and The Dictators' Stay With Me.