To mod, or not mod?

[Unsprung]

I got to thinking about this, after my last reply to the "How Many Guitars Do You Own?" thread, and figured it's a valid enough question to warrant a poll, so here we go.

In my case, I've bought what I could afford (with mods decided on, at later dates), bought just what I needed (no mods planned, just change strings as needed), and have a few times planned (to the point of doing a build sheet in Word) to build exactly what I wanted. What are your thoughts, opinions?

Matt

 

[Halion]

I'm all for modding anything you like, but be advices, street value usually drops when you're trying to sell a modded thing (sometimes the mod makes it worth more though).

 

[gvarko]

I think any mod that makes the guitar play or sound better is worth doing. Unless you have some vintage 65 Strat you don't want to swap parts on, anything else should be game.

 

[cephus]

I think it's a pretty good idea to keep your parts that you replace in a drawer somewhere in case you ever need to liquidate. I tend to stay away from irreversable mods, although i rattle canned a few strat copies in my day.

 

[Unsprung]

I think it's a pretty good idea to keep your parts that you replace in a drawer somewhere in case you ever need to liquidate. I tend to stay away from irreversable mods, although i rattle canned a few strat copies in my day.

It'd be interesting to see how this advice pans out, in the future, with my Squier guitars, and even my 2 (so far) Fender Standards. As I'm modifying, and buying/modifiying Squiers and Fenders, I'll have to remember to keep the original parts...just in case.

The Squier Bullet Special is really a Fender Tom DeLonge Blink 182 Strat knock-off, so I'll guess that upgrading to a TV Jones PowerTron humbucker would (eventually) increase the value of the Squier. The only real difference between Fender's Tom DeLonge Strat, and their So Cal Speed Shop Strat, is the pickup...a Duncan Invader humbucker in the Tom DeLonge Strat, and an Alnico humbucker in the So Cal Speed Shop Strat. I don't have any practical experience with the Tom DeLonge Strat, but as an owner I can say that Fender did damned good, with their So Cal Speed Shop Strat. That one, and my 2 Ibanez guitars are examples of "I got exactly what I wanted...just change the strings as needed."

I've also thought long and hard, on the question of how to get what I want, and have found out that, for the most part, it's about as broad as it is long. At one time, I'd thought about building a baritone Telecaster (or Jazzmaster), and by way of actually doing a build sheet, discovered that, for the same money, I could buy a Gibson Les Paul Studio Baritone. I could always buy a Fender Jaguar Bass VI Custom, but I want a baritone Telecaster, and both the Fender Custom Shop Sub-Sonic Tele and Fender American Nashville B-Bender Telecaster induce sticker shock in me...I'd rather buy a Fender Jazzmaster AND a Gibson Les Paul Studio Baritone, for that kinda money. So in all of my research, and going with my preference for Telecasters, I've discovered that I can hit right about in the middle (around the price of the Fender Jaguar Bass VI Custom), to modify a Squier Telecaster model.

That's why I voted for "buy cheaper, then modify to suit," when it comes to the more extensive modifications, such as a 12-string Telecaster and a baritone Telecaster. I'll have to go the route of "buy better, and still modify," in the case of the Fender Deluxe Nasville Telecaster, though, since there are no SSS configured Squier Telecaster models.

Matt

 

[Micter]

I quit buying guitars quite a while ago. I buy parts and paint/build.

 

[cephus]

It'd be interesting to see how this advice pans out, in the future, with my Squier guitars, and even my 2 (so far) Fender Standards. As I'm modifying, and buying/modifiying Squiers and Fenders, I'll have to remember to keep the original parts...just in case.

A reason to save the original parts from cheaper guitars you mod is that if you like the mod and want to employ it on a better platform, you can put the crap squier PUs and pickguard back on and sell it, then put your new pickguard with your cool combination of aftermarket PUs in the replacement guitar.

It's not so much for the sake of originality. It's so you can hold onto your cool boutique components if you decide to unload your hondo fake-o-caster.

I recently bought an orphaned squier chinese strat. I took it all to pieces the day I got it home and put the whole pickguard and tuners and crap in a box and put them in the garage. They're crap, but I never threw them away. If someone else wants to give it a home someday, I can put the crap tuners and electrics back in and send it on its way. Since the guitar has the bathtub routing, I was gonna have some fun trying different pickup configurations. If I find something that is cool, I may upgrade to a mexi strat or something and drop the modded stuff in it.

 

[Unsprung]

So I should use the Squiers as mules, to test the boutique stuff, then move the boutique stuff to a real-deal Fender, once I have the right combination worked out!? Which means I can hold of on modifying my Fender Standard Precision Bass, until I've had a chance to try various combinations in my Squier Affinity P-bass. The light above my head now shines brighter!

Matt

 

[Anfontan]

I would say that about the only electric guitar I haven't modded out of my collection is my Epi Sheraton, and thats just because i can't get my big fingers into those f holes. Hell, I was a kid that loved to open up stuff to see how it worked, its only natural I'd do the same to my guitars. To quote a very experienced luthier friend of mine-"Hey, it's just wood"-well most of the time anyway!

 

[travelin travis]

So I should use the Squiers as mules, to test the boutique stuff, then move the boutique stuff to a real-deal Fender, once I have the right combination worked out!? Which means I can hold of on modifying my Fender Standard Precision Bass, until I've had a chance to try various combinations in my Squier Affinity P-bass. The light above my head now shines brighter!

Matt

If you already have a nicer bass, there's no point in wasting your time modding the cheaper bass, unless that's what you want, ultimately. As long as you hold onto the parts that you remove from either bass, it does'nt matter which you actually mod.

 

[Unsprung]

If you already have a nicer bass, there's no point in wasting your time modding the cheaper bass, unless that's what you want, ultimately. As long as you hold onto the parts that you remove from either bass, it does'nt matter which you actually mod.

Yeah...the thoughts and opinions expressed in reply to this poll really opened my mind to the directions I should go, in continuing to build my guitar collection. After considering some of my proposed future mods, and doing a bit of window shopping at the TV Jones web site, I got to wondering WHY am I going to put a $130.00 pickup (TV Jones PowerTron) into a $99.00 guitar (Squier Bullet Special)!?!? Instead, I think I'll put the PowerTron into my Fender So Cal Speed Shop Strat. I may or may not try out the Alnico humbucker, from the Fender, in the Squier, but I might very well start selling off my Squiers.

I'm probably also going to have to start considering brands, other than Fender, toward fullfilling the desired sounds I'm seeking in various guitars. Fender don't make a hollow bodied guitar with two humbuckers and F-holes, which is why I have an Ibanez Artcore AG75TBS. Starting this poll was the best thing I've done, since I started frequenting these forums, as it's smartened me up, quite a bit, in just over a day's time. Perhaps in the future, somebody starting to get into guitars as deeply as I currently am will happen along this thread, and gain some useful insight, the same as it's done for me.

Thanks to all of ya that have voted and replied, so far, and thanks in advance to any others that contribute to this thread!

Matt

 

[Anfontan]

Fender don't make a hollow bodied guitar with two humbuckers and F-holes?????--Well they may not still, but they did for a while!

Its the Fender Starcaster!

 

[orksnork]

after years of buying guitars and messing around i finally found the ones that worked best for my live sound

Gibson SG Fadeds.....love these suckers, and at the price i can hassle them down to (450 generally) they are practically disposable on tour... i have no problem with ripping strings off of them on stage or doing whatever....

i do tweak them up a bit...
first thing i do when i walk in the door is.

1.) take the strings off
2.) put on better tuning pegs
3.) new strings
4.) take a bit of fine grain soapless brillo and rub some of the finish off the back of the neck (i do this everytime i set up the guitars {every few days on tour})
5.) take off the bridge and file the grooves a bit deeper.
i find with all SG's i have played live (really beating on them somtimes, hey it's a rock show) that the strings will pop out of the groove sometimes...which is not fun
6. loosen the neck pickup to lower it down (i dont use it) sometimes when im hitting hard the e string will catch on it


ive done this for every SG faded ive bought in the last few years...and started doing this when i first got the Gothics before the fadeds were out

 

[Unsprung]

Fender don't make a hollow bodied guitar with two humbuckers and F-holes--they may not still, but they did for a while!

Its the Fender Starcaster!

Would I get sticker shock, if Fender ever reissued this one? I could always hope to've won a huge PowerBall jackpot, by the time they do, but I won't hold my breath. As I'd said, in my last reply, the advice, opinions and thoughts expressed here have truly done me a world of good. Rather than buying cheap, for the sake of sheer volume (number of collected guitars), I'll be looking at my future purchases as investments. It is great that there are guitars out there that are damned fine instruments, but at prices that won't break the bank, such as Epiphone and Ibanez (to name a few of the more commonly known brands). Of course there are players out there, such as myself, that can't leave well enough alone, and decide "if it's this good out of the box, certainly it can be made better."

Be it cars, guitars, motorcycles and even computers, it's always possible to do better than how it left the assembly line. Of course we've all seen certain user mods and tweaks arouse the attention of the manufacturer, and before long there's a version of a certain model shipping from the factory with the mods and tweaks that most consumers would likely do. Otherwise, it comes down to personalization. I took a look at the Eastwood Hi-Flyer Bass, and my first thought was "that sucker could probably do some 'serious' damage,' with a couple of TV Jones ThunderTrons!" But, I won't know, until I actually buy one. Who knows, I may love the P-90s, and leave well enough alone.

Matt

 

[Monkey Allen]

I think I'd buy close as to what I wanted. After working it in just hope it mellows nice.

 

[bh4554]

Fender don't make a hollow bodied guitar with two humbuckers and F-holes, which is why I have an Ibanez Artcore AG75TBS.

Fender Thinline '69 - correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[cephus]

I got the prewired pickguard from guitar fetish. It was all of $40. I got the mother-of-pizza-vomit (tortise) with 2 chrome cover humbuckers. The wire looks kinda shitty, but it's all there anyway. I will let you know how shitty it sounds.

 

[cephus]

Fender don't make a hollow bodied guitar with two humbuckers and F-holes?????--Well they may not still, but they did for a while!

Its the Fender Starcaster!

I knew a guy who had one of these. It was a "wild wood" or something. It looked like some one drew on it with a highlight pen and it got caught in the rain. He said they injected the dye into the tree as it was growing or something. It looked like this one, which is evidently a coronado.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Coronado...8358163QQihZ018QQcategoryZ33039QQcmdZViewItem

It was truly a shit-piece, though. He played in a country band and he let me sit in when I was all SRV-ing. He showed me his "pedalboard" and he said "I step on this one when I want it ornery" and he pointed to the phase shifter. He didn't have any kind of fuzztone.

He also had a trini lopez, too, which was much cooler.