This is making me think I need to find a project guitar one of these days - currently I have a PRS CE24 and a MIM Fender Strat. Both have the bridge upblocked, and I shielded the pickup cavity in the Strat and swapped in Texas Special pickups.
OTOH, I still need to replace my amplifier with one that sounds good at lower volumes since I just play in my spare room these days.
“...I shielded the pickup cavity in the Strat and swapped in Texas Special pickups.”
How do you like the TX Specials? About 6 months ago I put a set in my American Standard Strat (they were a gift from a friend). I find they’re a bit darker and punchier, perhaps better for certain blues numbers, but I kinda miss the glassy tone of the stock pickups. However, with no easy way to a/b them I’m having to rely on (an old man’s) memory :)
Custom Deluxe Reverb. The Bassman stack (custom channel) is just super.
If you can find one, a Fender Blues Jr. is the bomb. All tube, 15 Watts, from clean to crunch.