RS1976 Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 The guitar, it can be argued, is definitely a vehicle. There is a parallel to a players axe modifications & upgrades to a hot rod car. I am just now discovering the new sounds with using a Floyd Rose. Thus reading up on all the mods. Aftermarket Sustain Big Blocks, Three different sizes, 42mm, 37mm, 32mm. Six different shapes. titanium trem saddles, German steel, (avail with the straight up Floyd Rose and not to be confused with the Floyd Rose® Special Bridge), The D-Tuna, Additional Springs, STeel springs, Brass Springs The list goes on and on. What mods have you all done to your guitar collection. Which ones are snake oil & what actually did the job for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 There are lots of folks on here that do all kinds of mods, so you should get many responses. But for me, both cars and guitars, I pretty much buy them and drive/play them as-is. I do very little after market stuff. You know the saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? Heck, sometimes it's broke and I still don't fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan H Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I would label myself a "compulsive modder". I can always see something that can be improved on my guitars. 9/10 times, I can hear/feel a noticeable difference. My Charvel SoCal started out life like this: And has finally arrived at this: My Gibson Melody Maker (1964) started like this: And has arrived at this: I only ever kept 1 electric guitar of mine stock, and sold it after 6 months to fund an amp. -Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 At the mo' I have 11 guitars. On one of these I've swapped a pair of caps. Errmmm...................I think that's it..........:mellow: P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 my '07 1960 Classic, put Pearlygates in it. thats it. over the years i have modded and gutted guitars. had a Frankenstein Strat. Not so much these days ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Not that I've modified any of my Les Paul axes other than top-wrapping my Vintage V100GT... And it used to be Peter Green modded out-of-phase, but I re-modded it back to stock configuration since I bought a Vintage V100PGM. But I keep thinking about bridges and think I'd like to try a good roller bridge and possibly get after my nuts with either Nut Sauce or pencil lead. (graphite) No pun intended... I like the Wilkinson Roller Bridge (last one) for string clearance! Although it might be a picture perspective thing because it looks nearly identical to the one in the middle simple entitled "Locking Roller Bridge" @ Stew-Mac... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krock Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 This was my second guitar which I bought about 8 or 9 years ago. I basically used it to experiment and improve my knowledge of technical guitar related things. I might need to get the frets leveled soon because some are becoming a bit flat. I tend to go all BB King on string bends when playing this particular guitar and its taking its toll Semour Duncan Slash Pickups Wilkinson tuners, soon to be switched to locking fenders Tusq nut Switchcraft toggle switch and jack CTS pots Callaham saddles K40Y-9 Russian military capacitors Upgraded wiring Straplocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennis Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 My "Frankenstein'ed" Flying V. Bought the body stripped on ebay '81 Dirtyfingers from a Gibson Sonex in the bridge, with a push/pull for coil split in it's volume pot Seymour Duncan P-Rails in the neck, with it's own 3-way toggle locking tuners volume pots where you'd expect them to be when used to a Les Paul Love this thing so much! so many sounds! everything you could want on stage. Midtown Custom Bareknuckle "The Mule" pickups Jimmy Page-style wiring with coil split for both pups in neck volume (bridge volume cavity couldn't fit a push/pull), phase reverse of bridge pup in bridge tone pot, and series/paralell in neck tone. replaced black pickup rings and knobs with white ones :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 My Hot Rod " 22K Gold Top " Started out as a Les Paul Studio Gold leaf top Nitro finish front Nitro finish Back Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Jimmy Page 4 lead pickups, RS Guitar Works Jimmy Page push pull kit for coil split and phase reverse & bumble Bee caps 70's double line double ring tuners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krock Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 My Hot Rod " 22K Gold Top " Started out as a Les Paul Studio Gold leaf top This is one of the coolest guitar pics I've ever seen. Is there any more to its story? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 All of my guitars are modded from my SG where I only swapped PIO caps to my Gretsch Double Jet where I resplaced the mini-humbuckers with HS Filtertrons and added an additional tone control. This is the most involved mod I've ever done including routing and all. I am a tinkerer and it is hard for me to leave anything stock but at the same time if a guitar si exactly what I want I do not mess with it, like my SG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 What mods have you all done to your guitar collection. Which ones are snake oil & what actually did the job for you? And to answer his, Treble Bleed mod, it works on some guitar and it does not on others, depends. In my case my Squier 51 has a GFS copy of a JB at the bridge and the treble bleed mod works great but I have done it on other guitars and not so much, especially if you use Fuzz pedals and use the volume knob to vary the tone of the fuzz pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 This is one of the coolest guitar pics I've ever seen. Is there any more to its story? Yes that project took me two years to complete... Long story. I hand picked every part on the guitar. It started out as a Les paul Studio worn brown that I bough off ebay. The guitar was completely stripped of everything so I had a nice clean canvas to start with. Little by little I compiled the components to build the guitar. The most tricky part was the gold leaf top. I had to do it three times because of various problems... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 My Hot Rod " 22K Gold Top " Started out as a Les Paul Studio Gold leaf top Wow! Having seen this gold top, no other guitar should be considered a good top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Wow! Having seen this gold top, no other guitar should be considered a good top. Yes that one is rather stunning isn't it! Now that's what you call a mod - I am not surprised it took 3 goes to get the gold leaf right. I have...hmm...9 guitars, one bass: Early 80s Japanese Fender Strat System III - perspex scratchplate, completely rewired, 2 s/cs replaced with h/bs with mini-switching or push-pull 1967 Fender Telecaster - neck pickup rewound by Kent Armstrong, push-pulls, Parsons-White bender Gibson LP Custom Shop (2009?) to 1956 spec, all mahogany, P90s - stock 2013 Gibson Memphis ES175, Bigsby, P94s - had black pickguard made to replace original, now this guitar not only sounds like the fathomless awesome primeval noise of er um raw cosmic consciousness, but also looks so cooool D*ck Knight archtop semi 1979 - Dimarzio PAFs replaced with Schecter Z-plus system, 4 push-pulls, wood pickup surrounds and knobs, Schecter, Wilkinson and 'generic' replacement bridges; I initiated this guitar's creation into being and it has been part of me since, I know it the most intimately of all my guitars. D*ck Knight blonde archtop semi 1980s - 4 push-pulls, bridge and this guitar too is literally awesome D*ck Knight tabasco mahogany acoustic - piezo bridge added (must upgrade this) and I have several sets of bridge pins in different materials - I know, guitar players are silly (C. Searcy 2014) Shine 2p/u semi, Bigsby, Gretsch knockoff - new roller bridge like the one J. Mac wants! Go get 'em - I dig roller bridges with Bigsbys though this one even at it's lowest is a little higher than the original strip of wood bridge - now a great slide or 're-tune' guitar 1980s Squier jazz bass - replaced bridge p/u with cheapo EMG I got in a sale The 'other' guitar is a Vicente Sanchez student classical, very beat up but with stunning tone. So for me the main mods are ones you don't see but which alter the sound - I've always liked my pickups to be wired for full possibilities; however I haven't changed the 2 Gibsons from stock (yet) because they sound so wonderful and I love those P90s... Cheers all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy60 Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 yeah, i don't have any original parts left on my '94 lp classic except the wood itself. took it to the custom shop a while back to get a broken jack replaced. got interested in the display cases and next thing, i had the mod bug. took a few years, but i'm at the point where i'm satisfied. all locking parts, active pups, bone nut. only work i'll get on it now is another refret when the time comes.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 I think most of my stuff has been posted already but I have two new moded guitars I'll share tomorrow... one is an old project that took 3 years to finish. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quapman Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 There are lots of folks on here that do all kinds of mods, so you should get many responses. But for me, both cars and guitars, I pretty much buy them and drive/play them as-is. I do very little after market stuff. You know the saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? Heck, sometimes it's broke and I still don't fix it. Lol,,, I'm with you Bro. I don't do a thing to my guitars. Every single guitar I have is just how I bought them.(excluding the occasional setup for action) I bought them cuz I liked them. I have nothing against mods,, I'm just too lazy to care. Does changing strings count?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 I don't mod guitars much, however I had a 1999 American Standard Strat that I added a Hip Shot trem stabilizer, Sperzel locking tuners, Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Pro, Blues, and Area 61 pickups, and new pick guard to. Never really bonded with that guitar. BTW, yo TG! long time no see, d00d! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Its good to see some familiar faces ZZ. BTW the next thing on my to do list is a white start with lots of mods. I'm probably going to do it soon. I want maple fretboard and white 2 single coil pick guard with emg S pickups... a booster and some other stuff like blade runner trem and sperzel tuners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 about half of my 20something guitars have been modded to improve/enhance tone, usually p'ups/pots/caps/& wiring all @ 1 time, several have been modded to enhance feel/playability, but I don't really consider any of these "Hot Rods". I've only assembled 2 with the intent from the beginning to be Hot Rod versions of what they look like. The Tele has a Kent Armstrong hot twinblade bridge p'up, a GFS Crunchy Tele neck p'up (also a twin), 500k Alpha pots, Orange drop cap, and American wiring, also high mass saddles. The Strat is wired the same, and sports a set of GFS Lil' Killer hot twinblades (installed after the photo). Either guitar will singe the hair off your arms and leave your eyebrows a smoking memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vangoghsear Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 I've upgraded three guitars. I put new Grover tuners on a Epiphone Junior; the tuners cost half as much as the guitar, but I sold it later and got most of my money back. I had new pickups, a DiMarzio Anniversay PAF at the neck and a Joe Satriani at the bridge, and wiring put in a Jay Turser JT133, which is similar to an ES335. I also had a pro setup and fret level done to it. The guitar cost $144 new, the mods cost over $500, but that Turser is just the sweetest guitar to play. Last one was an Affinity Strat. I bought a Dragonfire loaded pickguard with vintage style pickups for that. Much better than the hissy, scratchy pots and pickups it had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I just made this TRC for my red 335. My 335 has upgraded volume pots and some PIO caps. Other than that, it's stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levism Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I just made this TRC for my red 335. My 335 has upgraded volume pots and some PIO caps. Other than that, it's stock. Very Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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