Never mod guitar

[cookieman15061]

Every guitar I own has had some mod performed to it........ I have yet to pick up a guitar that didn't need something done to it to suit me.... Most of my new Gibby's get the pups yanked for Tim Shaw era pups, 74-75 humbees or 79-83 Dimarzio Super D's

 

Any mod to the Lennon?

[duane v]

Any mod to the Lennon?

 

Yep

 

I changed the name from JL Rev to Yoko

[L5Larry]

Generally speaking, I buy a guitar for what it is, not what it could be. That said, I do "personalize" my working guitars, and have had to "redo" some factory workmanship that wasn't up to my standards to make the guitar "what it should be". This "usually" consists of nothing irreversible.

 

For instance:

 

1990 L-5CES

Refit properly contoured pickup mounting rings, the factory ones were not only horrendously fit, one eventually broke in half.

 

Changed the factory top hat knobs to reflector tops. This is just a personal preference to me for three reasons, they're a little taller and easier to grab on the fly, They're what I've had on other Gibsons I've played for 35 years. and I just like the look better.

 

Re-routed and bundled all internal wiring. The factory wire routing was terrible with wires twisted and knotted, and hanging all over the place. This was also causing a "buzzing" problem, and as a general rule on f-hole guitars, I DON'T want to see a bunch of wires showing through the bottom f-hole.

 

Installed "Grover Imperial" tuner buttons on the existing tuning machines, just because I think they're COOL (see avatar). This entailed some very delicate machine work to make the buttons fit the stock tuner shafts, but the mods were made to the buttons, not the tuner shafts, and therefore completely reversible.

 

Installed a new "marble" pattern tortoise pickguard. I had (probably stupidly) had the original autographed by a couple of internationally famous jazz guitarists.

 

Installed a repro 40's wide white bordered "Custom" truss rod cover (see avatar), just because I like the look better than the stock beveled one.

 

1947 L-7

I bough this guitar to replace an old Silvertone archtop that I was using on stage for our acoustic blues sets. To make this a WORKING guitar I had to install a pickup. I chose to do pickguard mounted pickup and volume control on a repro pickguard. No cuts or mods to the soundboard, and the original pickguard is safely stored away. The one "mod" I did do was enlarge the hole in the tailblock and tailpiece flange for an endpin jack. Making this irreversible modification was a hard decision, especially on an instrument of this age, but it was necessary for "utility" reasons, and even if the pickup system is removed the endpin jack will still serve as a strap button. I also put a repro "wide white border" blank truss rod cover on this one.

 

Other "personalizations" I've made to my guitars include removing the pickguard and Varitone number ring from my ES-345, and the pickguard from my old Les Paul Standard. This is just because I think it looks better, and the parts served no actual purpose (to me). I also had truss rod covers custom engraved for these guitar with my name and year/model of the guitar, just a little vanity I couldn't resist.

 

Now I do have a 1960 Stratocaster and a 1932 Gibson TB-1 banjo that I would never touch (even for "vanity" mods), and a Fender Custom Shop built to (my) order/spec "1954" Strat that doesn't need anything because I had it built that way in the first place.

 

 

 

PS: If Charlie Brown reads this, PM me that photo of your '64 Strat laying in the case. I will duplicate the "pose" with my '60 and we can post the "sisters".

[cookieman15061]

Yep

 

I changed the name from JL Rev to Yoko

 

Awwwww you just devalued it big time.

[NeoConMan]

I DON'T want to see a bunch of wires showing through the bottom f-hole.

Good.

Now I know I'm not the only one.

 

[charlie brown]

PS: If Charlie Brown reads this, PM me that photo of your '64 Strat laying in the case. I will duplicate the "pose" with my '60 and we can post the "sisters".

 

Larry...the photo is on my posting, on page one, of this thread..

 

Thanks, ;>)

 

CB

[L5Larry]

1964 Fender Strat. It stays "stock!"

So does my 1960. Look at the sisters.

[NeoConMan]

Coulda fooled me!

 

I guess I've seen both pics before, never realized there were two different guitars.

 

Beautiful.

[MojoRedFoot]

My ESP Eclipse Semi-Acoustic is a rare bird so I will not change anything. I love my James Hetfield Truckster the way it is but the only thing I would consider changing are the pup rings to actual metal ones. I see no need to mod my Ibanez SR 535.

[Dub-T-123]

That's awesome Larry. Yours seems to have a little more red and it looks like CB's phote was taken with slightly lower lighting.

[NeoConMan]

Yeah Dub, but consider that red is hard to capture sometimes.

 

Digital pics I've taken have shown widely varying results on the very same guitar.

My 335 has subtle Maple flames, sometimes it looks solid red and no flame shows up at all.

[cdntac]

I changed the bridge on my Byrdland from an ABR-1 to a Nashville. Other than removing the pickguard and putting a Gretsch strap lock knob on the toggle switch, that's all I've done.

[charlie brown]

Yeah, mine was taken, with on-camera flash, but bounched off the ceiling.

The results, were not manipulated for color or density, as I remember.

 

CB

[Dub-T-123]

Yeah my Tele is a 3-tone burst and it's impossible to photograph. It's like Bigfoot.

[MojoRedFoot]

Wait....does adding strap locks count or are we talking major surgery? Cuz I did put Schallers on almost all my guitars. Not the SR535...those buttons are fine for now. I have not modded my MIJ Ibanez RG7. I am looking for a set of 7 Sperzels.

[Robin Nahum]

My cheap and cheerful LP Special HB was excellent from day 1 and has not been modded.

 

I replaced the pickups on my ES345 to get a smoother warmer tone and also fitted a lightweight tailpiece. This one also definitely deserved StrapLoks. The cheapo stock buttons on a guitar of this size and weight are just wrong.

 

R

[canon_mutant]

Well, no need to mod my Carvins. They were custom built precisely how I wanted them.

 

And though I would love to put locking tuners on my R9 cuz it won't stay in tune doing lots of solo bends [which is all the time], since there are no drop in lockers for an LP, I guess I won't mod it. Why are there NO drop in locking tuners for Les Pauls? Yeah, I know, I am the only person in the world that has this problem so there is no market, right? The only ones I can find always require drilling and I ain't doing that. Certainly no need to mod it otherwise though I am still partial to 57 classics over the BBs. Not enough to think about changing them though.

 

Have put lockers on every other guitar now [or they came that way] and no tuning problems no matter how much I bend or tremolo. Plus, restringing is a breeze. One other person here said lockers cut a 6 minute restring down to 5. With me, it's more like 15 minutes to 5. Noticeable.

 

Hated to mod my Lifeson but, with that Maestro tremolo, it wouldn't stay in tune for 10 minutes without lockers and a roller bridge. It does great now. Alex even admitted the same problem with his. Add in the white paint that comes off and a couple of solder joint problems I fixed myself, if that guitar wasn't such a tone monster, I frankly would have just returned it. Cuz it is definitely that. A tone monster!

 

Oh, if straplocks are a mod, I have them on everything. But, again, the Carvins came that way.