jermushflinthills.com Posted February 20, 2001 Share Posted February 20, 2001 I've only had three guitars brand new off the rack, and i've owned about 50 over the years. The most recent was a '57 re-issue, and the only thing I would do (if I were going to modify it) is change the pickups for more output, but then, you no longer have the sound of '57, so what would defeat the purpose of buying it new! I still have an Ibanez Roadstar II that I bought brand new in 81 or 82, and use it alot for recording purposes...its pickups sound great, and they are stock. I also used, from '93 to '97, almost exclusively, a pre-CBS Jazzmaster that I found in a garbage can with house paint on it, and original pickups still in tact, but no roller controls. I put a '70 tele neck on it a played Southern Rock until the cows came home.....still have it,but it has serious intonation problems, as i have a re-issue brigde on it from the custom shope. I also have that guitar autographed by Dick Dale....makes it a great converstion piece in my studio.....hahaha! If you're gonna modify them, why buy them new? Find a good piece of wood that is used, and hot rod that... ------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Moon Posted February 27, 2001 Share Posted February 27, 2001 I'm going to have to agree with guitplayer about the PRSs being so well executed that he can't begin to think of any mod that could begin to benefit them. I bought a McCarty Archtop II about a year ago and actuall have problems playing any other guitar it's "that" good. I will confess that I am a one guitar kind of guy... to begin with. However the only think that could even begin to make me think of straying would be if I could have another PRS that played like that and sounded like a great maple neck Stratocaster. Oh babay! Regardless, PRS is in that golden age that will make these guitars made today, priceless in 30 years. ------------------ -MoonPi -MoonPi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cristofemusician.org Posted February 28, 2001 Share Posted February 28, 2001 D - All of the above! I've got a '68 SG and '65 melodymaker that I would'nt dream of altering. A couple of Voxes from about the same era. And a recent Chandler Metro. As altered goes I've ceated quite a few Frankenstein monsters over the years. My bud Skip Henderson,(City Lights Music, NYC Vintage Guitar Show), used supply me with lots of Dano, Fender and other necks and bodies for cheap that, for one reason or another, were no longer vintage after he stripped all the parts. This left me with some great wood which I could alter to my hearts content without the slightest twinge of guilt or loss of value. These days I've got a '90 ultra strat with a Chandler body,(love that swamp ash!) and an Ibanez S470FM with active EMG's and a Warmouth neck,(scalloped, oiled mahogany), with Sperzels, but my fav in this catagory has to be my Gretsch/Chandler Broadcaster. This pawnshop prize was originally finished natural with a maple neck and board,(what a log!) and substandard hardware typical of budget Gretschs of the period. I loved the massive Strat style body and the p/u's so I had Chandler replace the neck,(beautiful birdseye, ebony board and jumbo frets), re-finish the body in silver supersparkle, and replace the bridge with a thru-body...this axe rings for days!. Finally on the custom front, I've two guitars that I co-designed with the aid of Paul Chandler,(you might've guessed by now I'm a Chandler fan!). These combine elements of Vox and Fender designs. The first was a MarkVI/Strat hybrid and the second combined features of a MarkVI and a Tele.....Cheers...Cristofe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixslinger_dup1 Posted March 4, 2001 Share Posted March 4, 2001 I have both stock and moded guitars. My main axes are a 1990 Les Paul standard, I replaced the pickups with Duncan 59's, the tuners are Gotoh 18:1 ratio. These tuners have been on this guitar for ten years and still work as smoothly as the day I put them on. I also replaced the tone pots with push/pull switches and wired the pickups with coil splits for the single coil sound when needed. I find the Bridge Pickup in single coil mode almost Tele-like with the right amp settings. I have a totally stock Eric Clapton Strat, I love that guitar! also have a totally stock Les Paul DC studio model. It has hollow tone chambers, great sound and light weight. These are my main guitars now, along the way I have owned many others, mostly all had been moded or frankensteined in one way or another. My wife also has a major shoe habit. ------------------ sixslinger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 8, 2001 Share Posted March 8, 2001 I thought I was a "stock" kinda guy, but looking back, I've modded most of what I have. My Les Paul Deluxe (circa 70) is probably the most modified of all. Now, before you hang me by my thumbs, it wasn't through choice. When I bought the guitar (I think in 77), I was a student with zero cash. What I could afford was this pretty well wrecked guitar that was missing the treble pickup and cover plates. This was in the day that replacement parts were hard to come by, so I made the plates myself, and the treble pickup was, you guessed it, a DiMarzio Super Distortion. I've upgraded the pickups on most of the other instruments that I have. Even my acoustic guitar, made when they were experimenting with brass bridge/nut has been fitted with a proper bone bridge/nut. But (and this is the reason that I wrote this) the best "mod" that I ever had done was to get the guitars set up by a top flight repair guy. The difference in playability and tone were unbelievable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screamincore.com Posted March 24, 2001 Share Posted March 24, 2001 Mine almost always end up with Duncans in them eventually. The only stock electrics I have are a Dano (why bother changing it?) and a Big Apple Strat (came stock with Duncans...wait, I did add a treble bleed...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robotobonhome.com Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Originally posted by alphajerk: i had a warmoth built to my liking and i took care of the dye/clear coating and bought sperzel tuners, seymour duncan pearly gates humbuckers, dual concentric volume/tone pots, three way switch, and CHROME pickup punting rings! all chrome hardware, blue dyed quilt maple archtop on mahogony body/neck. all my other guitars have been heavily modded too. cant stand stock. I have a Warmoth too. I took a trip to the factory and bought a second quality birdseye maple strat neck and a jackson soloist type body. The neck has a little brown knot by the headstock and the body is cool quilted maple that got burnt when they chopped the tree down. Everything was half off. I had Mike Lull put it together. He does all the Pearl Jam guitars which must be a big job... Any way it was soo expensive when he was done (body had to be painted twice cos the paint bubbled from hand oils from the factory, dried in a kiln a month or two), I had to save 6 months to pay for it. He's expensive anyway, $300 fret job caught me off guard too, but that's another story. Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and 2 Van Zandt rock single coils, which I hate terribly by the way. Far too thin for their own good. There's one of those annoying volume pots that doesn't loose treble when you turn it down... but the tone knob is like a wah wah. It's a good shade of transparent purple so I can see the neato burnt wood underneath. I love my cursed beast. It's the only guitar I've used in the last 10 years. Nothing else even comes close. It can literly scream like a demon. -rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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