Converting a vintage Hard Tail

[svea]

Hi All,

Is there anyone here who can give some advice about converting a hard tail Strat into a tremolo Strat? I own a late 70's hard tail and am considering doing some mods to it. It's somewhat heavy, not the heaviest one out there. I like the neck, but never was happy with the rest of it. The pick ups have aged nicely. I was thinking about getting someone to change it up a bit, maybe add the tremolo and switch out the bridge pick up that I never use anyway into a humbucker or something else to get more variety. Am I crazy to modify a very clean vintage Strat? No one is buying hard tails anyway. How could it hurt?

Svea

[Acoustigator]

To convert a hardtail into a trem Strat, you'd need to rout the underside of the guitar extensively .... and very precisely to get a trem bridge, block, springs, and claw in there.

A mod like that would reduce any extra value the guitar had to almost nil.

If you like everything else about the guitar, why don't you just buy yourself an aftermarket body, like the ones sold by Warmoth or Guitar Fetish. You can fit the neck you like and hardware to the new body, and keep the vintage one for posterity... and value.

Honestly, unless you are in possession of a workshop fit for doing the work yourself, an aftermarket body would probably cost you less money and headaches anyway.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Acoustigator

To convert a hardtail into a trem Strat, you'd need to rout the underside of the guitar extensively .... and very precisely to get a trem bridge, block, springs, and claw in there.

A mod like that would reduce any extra value the guitar had to almost nil.

If you like everything else about the guitar, why don't you just buy yourself an aftermarket body, like the ones sold by Warmoth or Guitar Fetish. You can fit the neck you like and hardware to the new body, and keep the vintage one for posterity... and value.

Honestly, unless you are in possession of a workshop fit for doing the work yourself, an aftermarket body would probably cost you less money and headaches anyway.

I like Gator's suggestion. That's what I would do. All you would need is to get a new/used body without electronics and then you can transfer the pickguard/pickups from your 70s strat to this new/used body.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by svea

...Am I crazy to modify a very clean vintage Strat? No one is buying hard tails anyway. How could it hurt?...

1. In the grand scheme, I know I wouldn't do it...
2. Think again - it's not as big a market but there are guys out there who are blocking off their trems because they can't get a real hardtail, and it's just a matter of when you find the right buyer...
3. It'll cost you at least as much to have the job done professionally as it would to buy a brand-new MIM Strat - and when the smoke clears your very clean vintage piece will be worth about the same as the new one; I say keep what you have, buy the second guitar as a utility piece, and when you sell you can step up to a new American Vintage model - IMO a win-win situation all around...

[Gypsyblue]

Yes, I'll give you some advice:

DON'T DO IT!

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by svea

Hi All,

Is there anyone here who can give some advice about converting a hard tail Strat into a tremolo Strat? I own a late 70's hard tail and am considering doing some mods to it. It's somewhat heavy, not the heaviest one out there. I like the neck, but never was happy with the rest of it. The pick ups have aged nicely. I was thinking about getting someone to change it up a bit, maybe add the tremolo and switch out the bridge pick up that I never use anyway into a humbucker or something else to get more variety. Am I crazy to modify a very clean vintage Strat? No one is buying hard tails anyway. How could it hurt?

Svea

Hi just a thought...as you seem to be factoring resale potential/market value into your decision quite prominently, have you established the actual value of a CBS era strat? Just saying it may not be particularly valuable.

Regardless, I think I'd agree with the others, even if you want to do the mod I can't believe it would be cost-effective.

[Pualee]

This is easy...

Step 1. Sell current guitar.

Step 2. Buy new guitar.



But on a forum like this, the answer is usually more along the lines of...

Step 1. Buy new guitar.

Step 2. Keep both guitars, because you might change your mind later.

[Budman1]

Would a bolt on Bigsby work?

[svea]

Originally Posted by Budman1

Would a bolt on Bigsby work?

Hmmmmmm......

Maybe, maybe not. But I think I am going to go with Gypsyblue's "DON'T DO IT".

Hard Tails are not popular at the moment....until some rock star is playing one and changes all that. So I could just store it and move on for a while.

Great advice, all. I will keep it for a while.

[s2y]

I wouldn't mod it. There are plenty of ways to block the trem without permanent modification.

[MBE]

Yeah, a major mod involving carving tons of wood out of an otherwise stock vintage guitar is the type of move everybody ends up regretting sooner or later.

There are just too many other good options (aftermarket body, 2nd guitar, sell it to someone who won't butcher it and use the money to buy any of the kajillions of awesome strats with trems out there...)

[Tone Gopher]

You need to crank up some Robert Cray.

P.S. I used to work in a shop that did a LOT of mods to electric guitars - don't try to convert a hardtail to a trem. Just get a replacement body - especially if yours is a dense one.

[svea]

Originally Posted by Tone Gopher

You need to crank up some Robert Cray.

P.S. I used to work in a shop that did a LOT of mods to electric guitars - don't try to convert a hardtail to a trem. Just get a replacement body - especially if yours is a dense one.

If I can bolt on my beloved '79 neck without any mods to the screw holes to something decent, and then stash away the body intact......that would save my vintage hard tail's future value, right?

Svea

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by svea

If I can bolt on my beloved '79 neck without any mods to the screw holes to something decent, and then stash away the body intact......that would save my vintage hard tail's future value, right?

Svea

Yes it would. You would just need to reattach the neck.

[guitararmy]

As suggested, don't mod that hardtail body. I'm am continually surprised how something I don't value becomes valuable as soon as I get rid of it.

A second body that you can mod makes sense...