Guitar customization services ?

PapillonIrl

PapillonIrl

New member
Anybody got any links to reputable guitar hotrodding outfits ?

Someone to whom you can send a Mexican Tele, an Epiphone Les Paul, or a Tokai Strat; who will return it with new electronics\pickups\tuners etc.

I want to invest in a couple of guitars for a small commercial studio, and am astounded at the price of 'name-brand' guitars locally (as well as everything else, but I'll let that be for the moment).

I think if I spend that kind of money I want better sh*t in there... I believe that if I spend similar, or slightly more, money on a clone w/all-out hod-rodded based on my needs...I can do better.

I know sounds well, I don't know the name\sound of every tube on the market, or every pickup. I need reliable guidance on this.

I have a Thinline Tele setup nice, which I got to cover a few bases.

I want a good guitar to do the Strat thing.

I wand a good guitar to do the original Tele thing.

I want a good guitar to do the Archtop thing.


Any advice appreciated.

Cheers,

Nathan
 
Have fun, do it yourself. It's really NOT HARD at all! I do all kinds of stuff to my guitars. Start off on a strat type guitar and move on from there. It's so easy to do hardware and electronics, just s minimal of skill is needed to do it right.

H2H
 
I'm sure I would be able to do it. But I have a few problems taking this approach.

I am expanding a small recording facility, and have realized that for a budget service, it's instrument/amp choice that matters more than the A/D/A conversion/console make/power conditioning to the artists who pay the bills.

I don't have time to try loads of different combinations of pickups in various guitars to arrive at something that will serve me well. I do FOH for two venues and have a (hopefully) temporary 'real' job as well to pay of the ever growing studio gear aquisition bills.

There are no local places to buy pickups, replacement tuners etc. So I have to order blind (or deaf), wait for them to arrive, try them out...

Have you got any particular favourite combinations ?
 
Most local guitar techs will do stuff like this for about $20.

Its really pretty easy stuff. I've modded every one of my guitars. My favorite mod was 7 way switching and master tone and master volume on my strat. I always hated the volume being so close to the bridge, so i just used the two bottom holes for the knobs. Anyway, the 7 way switching gives you a couple more great tones out of a strat.

I don't mess with archtops. They are hell to work with.

You will be so suprised at carvin humbukers. They have adjustable pole pieces so you can get just about the perfect tone. Also Jap. Fender strat pickups sound as good as american for about $50 cheaper.

This is a great website for hot rodding.
www.guitarelectronics.com
 
I'll agree with the website he quoted, it has pretty good schematics that are easy to follow.

But I hate carvin pickups more than any pickups in the world, and I don't care for Fender jap pickups either. I also don't like DiMarzio pickups.

Here's my two educated cents on the subject. First off, replace all the pots with CTS pots. They are just the best period. I have found that I really like Orange drop caps for the price. You can get them in .47 or .22 values, depending on your application, or what you want. There are nicer caps out there, like the Hovland caps, but they're alot more $ too. You can get Orange drops for 1/10 the price. And it's hard to beat a switchcraft input jack. Finish it off with a CRL switch.

Well thats everything but the pickups.

As far as pickups, it depends on if you want more stock or want to get into botique stuff. If you want high end, Fralins are what alot of people use for both strats or Teles. You will not hear a bad word said about them. But I really love Fender Texas Specials in my Strat. They're overwound and they scream SRV blues. And they're alot cheaper than Fralins. For humbuckers, IMO it's REALLY hard to beat the Gibson Burstbuckers without going over $3-400 a set. I have used alot of pickups out there and these hit my ear just right. They're not too hot, very vintage PAF sounding, and they have the mismatched coils which I think gives them some extra clarity that the previous Gibson HB's were missing. WCR makes a killer humbucker, but they're about $200 a piece.

I love doing this stuff to guitars. And I have done the full works on everything from MIM Fenders to vintage Gibsons. It always turns out really nice for me and gets me the sound I am looking for.

H2H
 
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