Question for Cheap Guitar Owners

[Rada]

Do you mod them? If so...

 

How much do/would you spend to mod them?

 

And what would you do/What have you had done?

 

[madubuisson]

I spent $200 for a new Squier tele custom (humbuckers), then spent $70 to get a GFS Vintage Split humbucker for the bridge and GFS Dream 90 for the neck. I also spent an afternoon with my friend and his fret files to fix the pointy ends. So, for $270 and some elbow grease, I have an amazing guitar. I play it just as much as my Gibson SG Standard, which cost a lot more.

Cranked up, especially with a Rat pedal, the split humbucker sounds awesome.

Oh, I also put a new jack in it while I was replacing the pickups, cause the original one was a bit flimsy.

[No Soul]

heh, oddly enough Ive spent more money modding my more expensive stuff, because I figure thats what Im gonna be using most of the time.

I do own a "throw arround" squier, which I stuck hot rails in.
Cant say Im too happy with the results.
Im considering swapping it out for some EMGs, but I kinda odd about spending the same amount of money in upgrades as I did for the guitar itself.

[SPONGEBOB]

Yes I mod them and sometimes wonder if its worth it..

Lets say you buy a guitar for $200... It has a good neck, but the electronics stink, it has a cheap bridge , tuners and a plastic nut... By the time you add some good pickups and tuners, a good bridge and nut, maybe a better trem system etc etc, your $200 axe could go $400-500 and STILL have poor resale.. If you bought a clean used USA Fender, lets say for $550, You could play it for years,and IF you keep it in good shape, get most if not all your money back...

Yes I DO mod cheapies, but I always lose a lot of money at re sale time... Good USA built guitars that remain untouched by mods are still the best investment, and still require less mods to get them up and running as players instruments... bob

[vintage clubber]

I typically look at playability unplugged. How is it put together? How are the frets? How is the wood on the body and neck? If it plays well unplugged, I can easily fix the electronics and do any needed upgrades on the hardware. I probably have more modded cheapos in my collection than anything and they are all good players.

[krish]

This tele I got for new off ebay for

[Professor Tom]

Originally posted by No Soul heh, oddly enough Ive spent more money modding my more expensive stuff, because I figure thats what Im gonna be using most of the time. I do own a "throw arround" squier, which I stuck hot rails in. Cant say Im too happy with the results. Im considering swapping it out for some EMGs, but I kinda odd about spending the same amount of money in upgrades as I did for the guitar itself.

 

 

No Soul,

Are you anywhere near finishing the guitar you had made for you ?

I'm looking forward to hearing more about that.

[orourke]

I bought this used (from the Robert Quine collection). Quine had added the Ducan Pickups, the Custom shop pickguard and the graphite saddles:


I added the Fender/Warmouth Les Paul scale neck:

[Doctorx]

I put a Gotoh bridge on my Stellar Les Paul.

The pickups are actually pretty good. I suppose I could change the pots to something like CTS, but the difference would be slight or not at all. I did put a treble bypass cap/resistor on the volume pots.

[Frets99]

I know that part of the guitar game is the investment angle. The ability to parlay a guitar into a better guitar. For that, only guitars that have a resale value, even count. For the most part, you can get a return on investment from a Fender or a Gibson and a handful of other electrics.

There are many guitar makers and many possibilities out there. I buy my guitars both as tools and for fun. To that end, I have no poblem modding a cheapie. Having said that, I'm constantly amazed at what I get stock. I have only upgraded one pup in my collection and that was to get a GFS P90 for my Turser JT45. I loved the stock pup's sound. It was just too microphonic. I've found that working with my amp yeilds the best results for me soundwise. Once I tune my amp in, all of my guitars sound amazing.

For handy folk, I've seen some amazing guitars out there for relatively little money. The most common upgrades are tuners, and pups. Some folks shield and add better hardware and electronics.

PS. I have also seen many folks upgrade their expensive guitars. In my mind, if I'm spending $400 - $600 for a guitar, that guitar better be all that!!

[stacerdamen]

I usually mod when my budget allows it. I've sunk 3X the purchase cost into my bass, but now it's totally where I want it. my guitars have stayed pretty much stock, but mods on each of them will run about the purchase cost. Keep in mind that I haven't spent more than $200 to buy any of the instruments in my sig though

[Edward]

Originally posted by Frets99 I have also seen many folks upgrade their expensive guitars. In my mind, if I'm spending $400 - $600 for a guitar, that guitar better be all that!!

Agreed!!

I'm all for modding a cheapy, though yes I would carefully consider whether it is worth it, as like many folks I'd baulk at spending more than the guitar costs on upgrades. That said, I'd generally be very ready to do it with Fender-style guitars, on the basis that if I buy a Squier to mod, I'll probably do better if i was to sell by parting it out on ebay than reselling stock, so spending more on expensive parts to lose when reselling whole isn't the issue it used to be.

I did buy a Squier Std Strat a few months ago with the intention of modding - I've wanted to experiment with a Strat with lipsticks forever, and when GFS brought out the Strat SC-sized sets, I decided to go for it. Not had time to buy the pups or anything yet, but I got the guitar for GBP69 plus a few quid delivery from ebay, (which included a very new Ritter gig bag worth about GBP25-30). I'll probably spend a little over as much again on the set of GFS pups plus wiring and pots - all I've done so far is remove what it had (loaded that all into another cheapy Strat i have - nothing wrong with what it had, those might end up in another project one day, but I wanted the look of the Squier staggered coils in that guitar - helps its 50s vibe, and the Squier electronics were pretty good).

GFS pups have made me much more open to modding guitars as they have made decent pups available at a price where it's not such a major investment.

The main question I would ask myself beforte modding would be whether the guitar I am trying to create is available stock for less, the same price or just a little more (being a lefty my options are often much more limited already anyhow). I'm putting together the bits for two Strat homebrews at the minute (have been for a few months - so little time!!) - originally i was going to start with cheapies and upgrade there, but in the end I decided to go all out and buy good components and do it from new parts. Again, if i keep to good stuff at a reasonable budget, if i ever did need to resell (assuming the ebay market doesn't disappear), I'll be in a position to part them out and get back a fair chunk of the money.

[Matter-Eater Lad]

This Agile AL2000 with Floyd Rose copy I bought for like $250. When I got I knew right away I had to switch the trem out for something more low profile. I bought another trem from Guitar Parts Depot for $127.50. It was by the same manufacturer, except lo-pro so it dropped right in. Pickups and other electronics are fine.

 

The other big problems were nut height and tremolo dive action. The nut was way too high so I had to Dremel the shelf down.

 

The trem cavity had this odd ledge to the rear of the trem that stopped it from being dive-bombed very far. So I took the Dremel to that too. Took it completetly off. Then I blocked the tremolo for dive-only because the trem is actually pretty crappy and would not return to pitch other wise.

 

It still needs some slight fret leveling. There are a couple of high spots. I have the action fairly high now though so it isn't very noticable.

[Virgman]

Originally posted by krish

Very nice.

[Jacek]

I modded by Agile AB3500 BK by taking out its stock middle single coil and replacing it with a Dimarzio Class of '55 for a pristine, beautiful, clean sound.

That's all it needed.

[angus_old]

just cosmetic mods to mine so far - different pickup covers and knobs, that kind of thing. unless you count 'modding' my AXL strat kit from a pile of parts into a guitar

i'm probably gonna put new tuners on my SJM before too long though

[cfgsteak]

the only guitar I have extensively modded is my Squier Strat. I got it for free after a dispute with guitar center.

First I changed out the pups for Tex-Mex pups. They were ok. Then I ditched those (kept the mid one) and added those cheap PAF 'buckers. Now I am going to add a killswitch.

I think I have spent about $100.

I have an SJM, the only thing I have done is replace a broken tuner and added a buzz stop.

My Lite Ash Tele is fine the way it is.

[Brian Krashpad]

I play all my guitars stock, whether relatively expensive or cheap. I have made necessary upgrades/repairs required to get guitars playable (new nut, replacing switches on the fritz, etc.) but have not modded them just for the sake of a different sound, etc.

If it's not usable by me stock, I don't buy it in the first instance.

BK

[Frets99]

Originally posted by Brian Krashpad If it's not usable by me stock, I don't buy it in the first instance. BK

 

 

I'm in that boat. Short of the couple of mail order forays that have luckily been terrific, I buy a guitar that tells me, "You've been looking for me forever!!" It's kind of a love affair.

[Inazone]

The two Jacksons pictured below started out as ~$300 used guitars. In the mid `90s, they sold for around $500, but were discontinued after one year. Nice guitars, but the fixed bridge wasn't very popular with the Floyd crowd. I suspect that they'd go for about $700-800 considering the current price of Japanese guitars, but I find it to my benefit that Jackson didn't bring them back. They sell for cheap, and equally important, are easily modded.

I have four total (sold another one years ago), and the two shown here are perfect examples of what happens when you mod a cheap guitar. The guitar on the left started out with a black hardware and finish. I had it refinished by Dan Lawrence, custom abalone inlays cut, locking Sperzels installed, and a DiMarzio humbucker put in the bridge position. I probably spent around $600 modding it. The guitar on the right was a cheaper mod, replacing black hardware with gold, cutting gold MOP inlays, and putting a Duncan JB in the bridge. Probably was around $250, although it was a long time ago.

Worth it? Absolutely. These are the best-playing guitars I've ever laid hands on.

[Ronzo II]

I don't mod all of them. I just basically fix what was lacking in the electronics.

Case in point: my MIM P-Bass. I bought it used on eBay specifically for use as a mod platform. If it came in with a poor neck or other playability issues, it would have gone back up on there immediately, but I was lucky all the way. I bought a Seymour Duncan Basslines SPB-3 on eBay from a great seller who stated the situation accurately and was honest (thanks, muxorama!), mounted that and all new electronics. CTS pots, new tone cap, switchcraft output jack, and used vintage Fender cloth insulation push-back wire. I shielded the cavities, added a Fender aluminum shield plate under a new Fender '62 tort pick guard, and added the ashtray, pickup cover, and finger rest. Cosmetically, it resembles a '62 P-Bass. It plays beautifully after a setup, and sounds big, deep, and solid throughout its entire range. Was even lucky there were no dead spots on the neck - the Duncan seemed to cure that, because it was very apparent with the stock stuff.

Cost of MIM P-Bass on eBay: $200.00 US
Cost of mod parts: Total cost of a great playing P-Bass:
Did the same thing with a MIM J-Bass, using a set of DiMarzio DP123 J-Bass pickups. Same costs, same success. Here's a pic of them both.

[Ronzo II]

Twin basses, after mods.

[Ronzo II]

J-Bass, before mods.

[Ronzo II]

P-Bass, before mods.

[Nephilim-777]

My drinking, practice and allow my drunk friends to play guitar is a simple MIM Standard Stratocaster HSS with new electronics and SD pickups. Guitar $399 + $250 in electronics.