Noob guitar string question?

[Moonshine]

I looked at putting this in the strings/pedals/effects. section but everything there seemed much more "technical" than this question goes. On an electric guitar like a Strat where the strings go through the back, can a person loosen the strings to get the pickguard off, without haveing to replace the strings every time? I'm on a tight budget here and want to experiment with a Bullet Strat I've got, but hate the thought of haveing to put a 6-8 dollar set of strings everytime I try different tone caps or pots, the only mod I can afford right now to get a better tone. I figured this would be a starting point toward finding the tone that makes me happy, until I can find the money to replace either the pups, or first try replacing the magnets with AlNiCo rod magnets instead of the ceramic bars, ala MOJOTone http://www.mojotone.com/iMojo-Videos/Upgrading-Your-Pickups-Video-Tutorial I think just changeing the magnets makes a lot of since to me because then you essentialy have AlNiCo pickups even if they are wound for ceramic they've got to sound some better, right? And I can hand taper the tops on a grinder with a fine stone. Any thoughts, or help is greatly appreciated, Thank in advance.

 

[Primakurtz]

You can lift the pickguard off while leaving the strings in place, sure. You can (carefully) remove the strings entirely, and reuse them all you like.

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

sure you can. it's a pain in the butt, though.

when you restring your guitar, leave the excess string hanging off the end of the tuner. you may want to curl them like Ritchie Blackmore to keep them from poking you. this way, when you take the strings off, you have slack to work with.

you may break some strings along the way. sometimes the string will go back into the tuner and kink the opposite way from how it was, and once you get it to pitch, it snaps. but replacing a $1 string is a lot cheaper than the entire pack.

 

[BPSUL]

Loosen the strings all the way slack, disconnect the trem springs, then just pull the bridge off with the strings still attached.

 

[Moonshine]

Thanks to all who took the time to look at my question. I went BPSUL's way and loosened the strings slack and then took off the trem. I put a capo as low as I could on the neck to hold the strings from getting too willy nilly. This seemed the best way to not scratch the guitar. I changed the tone cap to a .022. The Squier website shows 500k pots and a .047 cap. I want to change the pots to 250k eventually with the .022 cap. Even with the 500k pots that came in it and the .022 cap I just put in, sounds much cleaner to me. I have saw debates about different jacks sounding better or different than others. I can't say that this mod can change or make the tone better but, I do know that I just put a new switchcraft into my new Squier and there were first obvious visual differences. And when I plugged the guitar in with the new switchcraft jack 99% of the original hum and noise was instantly gone!
I can't wait till I can change the pickup magnets to AlNiCo.
I may even strip the poly all off the body and refinish it. I was thinking, I've got some Ebony stain. If I can get most all of the poly off, then stain it heavily with the Ebony, but just where you can still see the wood grain and then cover that with clear laquer. Then a black pickguard and pup covers and knobs. Stock tuners have certainly got to go, it took me forever to tune the thing, back and forth slack. Could have been due to string stretch to some degree, but mostly poor quality tuners.
Everything in due time . I also did my first "set-up" on this guitar. The neck was pretty concave when it got here so I adjusted the Truss Rod. And set the string height. All per Fender's online set up guide for a Strat. The top 3 strings had to be set a lil' higher than Fender's specs due to rattling. I first set them at 4/64th's from the top of the 17th fret to the bottom of the string, per Fender and then had to raise them just slightly to stop the rattle. Could this be due to too little convexity in the neck? All I know is that the thing plays and sounds much better than when I took it out of the box and first tuned it. Of course I will be taking the Squier logo off the head but I intend to leave it blank, and not try to pass it off as a real Strat, but make it sound as close to a real good sounding strat as I can, then if anyone ever asks I will just say it's a custom job I built myself, except for the neck and body. That is essentially what it will be one day.I also plan to scrap the pot metal die cast Trem block and replace it with a steel one or brass. I've never heard a Strat with a brass trem block, that I know of. I feel the steel should chime and sustain beautifully though. Once again, thanks for all the help I've gotten so far and to come.