Favourite mod?

[David Eastwood]

I'm stealing an idea from the acoustic side of the house.

It seems to me that people are much more prone to modifying electric guitars than acoustics. For example, there seems to be a tacit assumption that a lower end guitar will automatically be improved by pickup replacement, wiring mods and other hardware changes.

My starter - a few years ago, I bought a Squier VM Jaguar. I absolutely love this thing - it plays great, sounds great, and I can't hear any reason to change anything in the electronics.

But... the bridge sucked. Everyone knows why. I couldn't live with it, so I bought and installed a Staytrem replacement. I was so impressed, I bought his tremolo upgrade as well.

Sadly, it seems like the owner is winding the business down, so this won't be an option for others going forward.

So, what's actually worked for you? What have you spent money on that you think was really worth it? Be honest

[Steel and wood]

Vibramate Bigsby on my Telecaster. (Suggested by a Luthier friend). No modifications which means you can take it off without leaving any holes. (Not that I will be taking it off).

Pickup changes on my Telecaster and Stratocaster even if the stock pickups on my Stratocaster in particular were pretty good to begin with.

[Chickee]

Attachment 25132
Lindy Fralin noiseless single coils on this MIM jazzmaster. I can’t put it down sometimes. This guitar is an absolute killer.

[Watt]

Gibson es339 - This was a gift from my wife. The only upgrades are a Tonepros bridge and a Faber tailpiece. No need to change anything else.

Gretsch Pro Jet - A dealer demo. Initially the only necessary changes were a replacement bridge (now a Tonepros roller) and a bone nut. Tuners were iffy too, so I replaced them with Hipshot locking machines. But a couple weeks after the purchase, a noise problem popped up. Rather than sending it back, I gutted the electronics, upgrading the wiring, pots, and switch. Then, for good measure, I replaced the blacktops (decent but uninspiring) with a TV Jones Classic / Classic Plus pickup set. Love those pups.

G&L Tribute Bluesboy - This was a Musicians Friend SDOTD purchase. It was a great guitar for the $250 or so that I paid.
But the humbucker was muddy and dull. A Benson pickup set made a big difference. While I was at it, I upgraded the pots, switch, and wiring and added Hipshot tuning machines and a bone nut.

Warmoth t-style - I bought it assembled, a Warmoth swamp ash telecaster body with '59 roundback profile neck, maple fingerboard, stainless frets, Gotoh locking tuners. It came with hand-wound pickups that sounded good, but unbalanced. Strangely, the pots and three-way switch were cheap, seemingly pulled from a $200 import. And the bridge was crap. I installed Fralin standard telecaster pups, new wiring, CTS pots and a Switchcraft, and a Barton bridge.

Fender Squier Classic Vibe '50s strat - Bought it used for $200 intending to mod. What didn't I change? The body, that's it. The neck is now a Warmoth rosewood fingerboard 59 roundback profile with locking Sperzal tuners. Tremolo bridge is Fender Mexico. CTS pots. Switchcraft switch. And, finally, after auditioning various bargain pups, Klein S7 pickups. It's done.

Eastman AR371 - Nice guitar, particularly for the price, but I really disliked the Armstrong licensed humbucker. Fixed it with a Fralin P90 in a humbucker housing. And I added Hipshot locking tuners.

All of the mods were worthwhile.

[Eric_M]

Originally Posted by Steel and wood

Vibramate Bigsby on my Telecaster. (Suggested by a Luthier friend). No modifications which means you can take it off without leaving any holes. (Not that I will be taking it off).

I'm curious about the Vibramate stuff; clever solutions to a lot of Bigsby quirks. I did mod a Bigsby with Callaham's string-through shaft and, like all the Callaham stuff I've tried, it is beautifully made and a worthwhile improvement.



I also like Callaham's somewhat shorter-than-standard Strat tremolo arm.

Originally Posted by Chickee

Attachment 25132
Lindy Fralin noiseless single coils on this MIM jazzmaster. I can’t put it down sometimes. This guitar is an absolute killer.

I have yet to upgrade a guitar with Fralins, but for partscasters etc. Fralin is always a top choice. I have a set of his Strat split-blades in a Warmoth S-style.

[alnico5]

I put a bass cut pot in my Carvin. It is a .0022mF cap and a 500K pot. It gives humbuckers a kind of single coil sound. Distortion sounds more cutting and focused.

[PTony]

Originally Posted by Steel and wood

Vibramate Bigsby on my Telecaster. (Suggested by a Luthier friend). No modifications which means you can take it off without leaving any holes. (Not that I will be taking it off).

Pickup changes on my Telecaster and Stratocaster even if the stock pickups on my Stratocaster in particular were pretty good to begin with.

I’m interested in this also. So, did you buy a B5, and then the Vibramate V5-TEV stage 2 kit? I love my Tele... but would love to add a Bigsby without permanent mods.

As to mods...My Gretsch guitars have benefited from the Biggsfix along wth the Biggs “Squishy Spring”.

I typically do a complete rewire with quality pots (CTS), caps, vintage pushback wire, SwitchCraft jack and switch, treble bleed and Tusq nut.

Depending on the guitar...possibly upgraded bridge and tuners.

[Steel and wood]

Originally Posted by PTony

I’m interested in this also. So, did you buy a B5, and then the Vibramate V5-TEV stage 2 kit? I love my Tele... but would love to add a Bigsby without permanent mods.

As to mods...My Gretsch guitars have benefited from the Biggsfix along wth the Biggs “Squishy Spring”.

I typically do a complete rewire with quality pots (CTS), caps, vintage pushback wire, SwitchCraft jack and switch, treble bleed and Tusq nut.

Depending on the guitar...possibly upgraded bridge and tuners.

Installed the Vibramate B5 on its own. (Was prepared to drill a few holes to install my Bigsby but in the end I didn't need to).

[ChrisE]

The only mods I’ve done were a pearloid pickguard and vintage style bridge on my MIM Tele. Mainly just because they look cool.

[C-ville Brent]

Changed pick ups, DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan to several lower priced guitars. To me, the pickups did improve the tone substantially. An Epi LP got a SD Custom Custom, but I didn't like it, put in a SD Distortion with DiMarzio Air Norton in the neck and it is an enjoyable little guitar. It required some neck work also and there's a set of Rotomatics looking for a home. It can be fun to experiment with mods and inexpensive guitars are great to learn how to work on guitars.

[1neeto]

Love restoring and modding guitars! Favorite mods for me are the cheapest ones that yield the best bang for the buck. So I’ll list my top five:
5. Roller String trees. Cheap and a must if you have a vintage tremolo equipped guitar.
4. Bridge. Budget guitars come with cheap bridges that might not even be lined up correctly (had a MIM tele that came with the wrong bridge from the factory. Changed it to a genuine Fender one and it was night and day). Relatively inexpensive, and can make a big difference in sustain, tone, and overall tuning stability.
3. Tuning keys. My 1989 Squier had some terrible trapezoid style pegs, and I changed them with Kluson style, and I don’t just love the tuning stability, but I also love the look!
2. Pickups. Yes pickups can get expensive, but this is the most tone-changing mod you can do.

And my favorite mod has to be pots. Extremely cheap, and very significant tone benefits, especially if the guitar is a budget guitar with the wrong pots (like swapping the factory 500k pots in a SSS Squier Strat with 250k pots) And while you’re doing pots, you can also upgrade the wiring, and do other free mods (like wiring the bridge pickup to the middle tone pot on a SSS Strat) if you’re marginally adept with a solder iron.

[1neeto]

Can’t find pics of all the mods I did, but here is my ‘89 Squier



I also upgraded the tremolo and string trees. A bit over $120 on parts.

This pic is after installing a set of prototype hand wound pickups (black pickup covers) the pickups with the white covers came out of a MIA Strat so they’re great pickups too. Cheapest mod ever since they were $free.99

[YamahaGuy]

Tusq saddles on my Yamaha Pacifica 012. Great sustain and my tuning is rock solid stable as anything with a hardtail and I have a tremolo on it which isn't blocked off.

[Dru Edwards]

I've changed many pickups in my guitars to mostly Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio, and I find that does make a difference. It's also cost effective if you can do your own soldering/wiring.