Members Misha Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 Please tell me what is the best upgrade you've ever done to a guitar, which brand and model it was, etc! I recently bought a 2008 MIM Fat Strat for 344$, was lucky enough to have a 100$ gift certificate to lower the price even more. I sent it to my tech who changed it back to a regular S-S-S Strat, put Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups (which come with 500K pot), put a new S-S-S pickguard, adjusted the action perfectly, the nut, etc... The guitar now plays like butter and sounds better than my USA Tele! (Which means I now want to put a set of Kinman (noiseless) 60's Custom Tele pickups in the Tele ) What about you??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 4-way switch on my tele. Give me both pickups in series. Oh and my Keystones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jelloman Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TOOL_5150 Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 put new strings on I dont modify guitars.. ~matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members koti123 Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 pickups on most strats and teles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pixelchemist Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 Tuners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hecticone Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 The wilkinson bridge on a mexi. Made more of a difference that the Fralins. Just seemed to bring the guitar alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CGord Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 Seymour Duncan SH-6 (Distortion) pup into the bridge spot of a Dean ZX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lndianScout Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 stop playing it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Misha Posted February 14, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 The wilkinson bridge on a mexi. Made more of a difference that the Fralins. Just seemed to bring the guitar alive. I might do that in the future too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members unistudent1980 Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 steel wool to the neck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 GFS Dream 180s in an Artcore AS73. Now it sounds like a 335 is supposed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jordan8865 Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 pickups and bigsby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 Really, on strats with pot metal baseplates, saddles and the thin block, I think replacing all that is the biggest improvement. Pickups are pretty big as well. Biggest improvement to the entire rig is usually replacing the speaker, esp if you have a Peavey with a Blue Marvel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hecticone Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 I might do that in the future too! A little work but well worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Axe_34 Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 Practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Misha Posted February 14, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 Practice. lol Yeah! That makes the investment in gears worth it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Misha Posted February 14, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 A little work but well worth it. But if I upgrade the bridge, I'm going to let the tech do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ID_Ghost Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 A good guitar strap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members adlo76 Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 best upgrade i ever did was practice playing the guitar. made it sound a whole lot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 I've done a few that were pretty impressive, but the single biggest improvement was putting a set of '57 Classics into an Epiphone Dot. It was a pretty well put together guitar and took to a good setup really well, but it was pretty muffled sounding. The Classics just opened it up so much in terms of frequency response and dynamics, but the craziest part was that it even played differently. I think that the magnetic pull was different because the strings rang out longer and it even needed the intonation to be readjusted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Misha Posted February 14, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 best upgrade i ever did was practice playing the guitar. made it sound a whole lot better. My teacher told me something like that today! He told me he sometimes see complete beginners with 1000 $ guitars! (I have nothing against that as long as they can afford it!) He said it was better to put 500$ on the guitar and another 500$ on guitar lessons! I must say though that my noiseless pickups are very useful when I use my Boss Micro BR to practice with headphones! It makes the thing sounds good without hearing that annoying "hum" from the single coils. (BTW: Boss Micro BR + Noiseless pickups + headphones --> happy guitarist + happy neighbors! ...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billythegoat Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 Anything to do with the electronics, pickups, pots, caps...etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 Best update for me was putting a GFS pre-wired pickguard in my Hamer strat copy. 40 bucks & it's a real guitar now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ProGuitarShop Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 You hit on some good mods for the MIM Standard. If you have a good piece of wood for the body and a neck you like, then electronics and hardware can be switched to your needs. I have an E Series Squier Japanese Telecaster - got Duncan Alnico Pro II's in it last year. Sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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