Your Most Satisfying Guitar Mod/Upgrade

[Ludere]

Upgraded the buttons and pins on my 314 ... ebony w/sapele ... to match the B&S ... (from Charis Acoustic) ...







(now I need a TR cover ... !)
...

[Silly Moustache]

I don't really modify my instruments - apart from replacing ebony pins with bone pins.

Sometimes I wonder about having nick Lucas style fret markers and maybe some sort of flourish in the headstock of this :

[BudHa]

I put a new Beard Legend Cone in my GT Beard PBR-D resonator guitar. The old cone is 12 years old and tone was getting dull. Huge improvement in tone, sustain, and volume with the new Legend cone.

[Mbroady]

When I first purchased my Furch D25 there was a mistake on the spec sheet. It stated that the nut width was 43 mm as opposed to the 45 mm nut that usually comes with this guitar. Assuming it was a custom I did not think twice and jumped on it. In retrospect I should have called to check, cause when the guitar arrived is was immediately obvious that the spec sheet was wrong. The nut was 45 mm. However, I loved the sound of the guitar. The dealer owned up the the mistake and was willing to take the guitar back, but We worked out a deal and I was able to get a new neck.


The guitar still sounds fantastic and it now fits my hands perfectly.
Being that it is of bolt on design made the switch practical.
The new neck also does not have the fret board and head stock artwork which I thought was a bit much.

I have also added a pick guard since the pics were taken.

Old neck


New neck

[The Bard Rocks]

I pretty much leave them alone as they come from the maker - in most cases, they were built to carefully thought-out specs, so you wouldn't expect changes.

But I had one with a bloodwood fretboard and bridge, but it had plastic tuner knobs, pearly ones. I had bloodwood knobs made and, boy, did it ever look better!

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by Ludere

Upgraded the buttons and pins on my 314 ... ebony w/sapele ... to match the B&S ... (from Charis Acoustic) ...















(now I need a TR cover ... !)

...

Now that is hot! I may look into some of those pins for my 717.

[Paddy1951]

Performance:

Installing Gotoh 510 tuners on two Martins, Gotoh Sg 301s on a Seagull S6.

In both cases tuning was greatly improved. They are smoother and more accurate. They hold tune better.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

What is your most satisfying guitar modification/upgrade?

It might be something you did that improved playability or tone or just looks great.

Hi Bb

Switching out the tuners on my main instruments to Gotoh. The added fine tuning capability and stability were immediately helpful. That was about a dozen years ago, and I'm still thankful to 'someone' (whoever they are) who introduced them to me.

[Tube Sound]

Changing the rosewood saddle on my '68 Hummingbird to Tusq. The tone "woke up". Easy to change back if I desire the softer sound of the rosewood.

Next would be bridge pins and saddles from Bob Colosi. A one stop shop for high quality bone. Can't say enough good about Bob.

[IMG][/IMG]

[DanR]

Although I have replaced the bridge pins on most of my acoustic guitars for purely aesthetic reasons, the most satisfying mods have been simple professional setups.

[UncleJesse]

I replaced the tuners on my CEO7 which feel so much better than the original.

[jseth]

Not a mod to my guitar, but, at the suggestion of Mark Angus, the luthier who built my Angus F-40 in 1979, I PAINTED MY GUITAR CASE WHITE!!!

Actually more of an ivory/off-white, a couple cans of vinyl spray, now some 40 years ago... one of the best things I ever did for a guitar, ESPECIALLY for anyone who travels and/or gigs a bunch...

Keeps the guitar MUCH cooler for longer if there's direct sunlight, as the white reflects sunlight rather than absorbing it like a dark/black case will.

Secondly, anything THAT large and WHITE is easily noticed if or when it moves. VERY useful if you're in a bus station or airport... even working gigs in bars, I can see that case from my peripheral view very easily... if it moves, I'm ON IT!

[vintageom]

Some of the items I have done to improve the tone of my guitars besides proper setups and suitable strings are:

-Replacing plastic/synthetic saddles and nuts with bone



Some of the items I have done to my guitars to improve looks are:

-Custom Truss Rod covers

-Changing tuner colors and buttons as necessary for the aesthetics of a particular guitar

-Changing bridge and end pins to match aesthetics of a particular guitar, and usually bone or ebony material.

-I have replaced some black pick guards with faux tortoise guards with more brown coloration, depending on the guitar.

[Fresh1985]

I added ivoroid button tuners and a new tortoiseshell pickguard to my Furch OM32.

Pickguards can be troublesome, had to sand away at the radius to ensure the right fit. Worth it though, Im very pleased with the results.

[Brucebubs]

Great replies everyone.

I expected to read about tuner changes and pickguards and buttons, nuts, saddles and pins but I think jseth wins a special mention with that 'paint the guitar case white' modification.