Das Vagabund Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 i've decided to mod my Bonamassa Goldtop! although the BB's (#2 in the neck and #3 in the bridge) are supposed to be good pups... i find them muddy in the bottom end. i am gonna replace them with Bill Lawrence's L-90's. (L-90 4.0H in the neck and the L-90 6.0H in the bridge) as for the bridge stop... i am gonna try out a Gotoh 'Aluminum' stop. i don't really mind the stop on it but many say the high-grade aluminum makes a considerable difference. the grover machine heads are fine but i may eventually replace them with Schaller gears... not because they are better in quality... but because they have considerably more mass than the grovers. MASS=SUSTAIN for the most part if you exclude pickups. one mod i used to do (on my strats) when i was young was to take a brass disc and bore a hole in it then mount it with a screw in the spring compartment in the back of the guitar. it actually changes the tone of the guitar slightly (because the strings reverberate through the springs attached to the bridge)and also adds to the sustain of the string's vibration. very cheap mod... easily done and improves the guitar's base. understand that i never use/used the tremelo on my strats so i did not mind the brass disc touching the springs in the back. those that use the stock tremelo may not want to try this because the size of the brass disc does matter. when i got my JB Goldtop i was planning on keeping it original becasue of the limited production but since they want to keep making runs... the 'special' part has worn off so why not improve the guitar to my standards? P.S. i am not putting a brass disc in the Goldtop! i just put that in because of my sustain theory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkfanatic Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Not that you won't prefer the new tuners, but note that while they DO increase sustain as you said, it is at the cost of transparency and width of the frequency spectrum. I find lighter tuners give a wider more airy tone thats more natural an organic much in the way a old marshal or fender differs from newer models. Heavier tuners seem to compress the dynamics too, which is one of the most important factors to me. Thats what i experience anyways, and i thought i'd mention it. I never change tuners unless they will be the same or less weight. Many times i've changed to lighter weight tuners for no other reason than the weigh loss and what it does to the tone. I've even removed the heads on tuners that are solid metal heads and replaced them with pearloid plastic. I always get a slight increase in dynamics thats worth it to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNick Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Interesting changes you plan to make. Please keep us informed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Das Vagabund Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 the head change is not carved in stone... not yet. i put a set on an old univox mosrite that i just loved. it made a world of difference. like i said i have nothing against the grovers. it is like the aluminum stop... just something i want to try. to get the right combination... you have to start pickin the lock! (: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 When I played one of those guitar here, I didn't find the pups muddy in the least. And I even got to play that guitar through a '57 Bassman amp, which has low end for days. I found the pups punchy AND bright. Perhaps lower them from the strings? That might get you where you want. But regarding the 'mods' you are proposing, I don't see anything wrong with it that you are degrading the guitar. They sound all like good mods, AND reversible. Besides, the model is based on a guitar that Bonamossa modded himself, so I am sure he would approve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Das Vagabund Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 i appreciate your opinion... but everyone's ears are not the same. i hear bass bleed over no matter the height of pup or pole position. i've tried every variation since receiving the guitar in october. i have even changed cables to a cleaner low-cap cable. the bass bleed is 2x worse while palming/muting the strings. and yes everything i do or plan on doing is reversible. one thing i don't understand is... "degrading the guitar" if there were only 1000 made as they said... i would not touch it. i would keep it as-is! the fact of the matter is... they are making multiple runs. who knows how many they will eventually end up making? so... i consider it "upgrading" but that's just me! i know what i want out of the guitar and i am gonna try and get it that way! (: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Some good mods in mind, interested to hear what effect they have for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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