Do you modify your guitars?

[Boognish]

My first guitar was a cheap Strat copy. I got curious and took the pick guard off and got one of the pickups loose where it would basically fall out if I turned the guitar over. Probably a simple fix but I was 16 and lazy at the time. I never got it put back together the right way.
 

[BAG]

The only mods i have made are shielding of the cavaties and single coils in both a strat and a Jag bass, and the machine heads on the Jag. The shielding has made a BIG difference in noise and the light weight machine heads have made a noticeable difference in neck dive on the Jag. I've done a few minor things on acoustic guitars like ebony end-pins.

Mostly, i fix the action and intonation as much as I can and after that i'll just play the bloody thing as much as I can.

[Groundy]

I would love to but havent got the nerve.....Alex

[AndyR]

I do! (https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=22647.0)

I was rereading this thread earlier and thinking about it...

What kind of changes do people regard as mods?

For example, in the thread I've linked above, there's mention of pickup swaps - probably most folks would regard this as modification... I'm not sure whether I do or not anymore. What if a pickup died on you? Would replacing it be a modification?

On the guitar in that thread, I've flipped two of the saddles on the bridge because there wasn't enough travel to intonate properly with the strings and action I use. I'm going to have to do the same on my new Les Paul next time I change strings... if that doesn't work I have to consider replacing the bridge or (more likely) get an Earvana nut installed - is that a mod? To fix an issue?

And then, on the SG in that thread (and a 335 I haven't taken pics of), I've polished the finish. Is that a mod? All I've really done is spent a couple of hours using burnishing cream to give them a good polish - it is irreversible, but is it a mod?

Adding a trem when there wasn't one before, replacing a three-way switch with a four-way, changing the internal wiring... yep, I guess most of us would see them as mods - so it's a change to the instrument as designed, maybe? (Er, what about guys like Seasick Steve and Keith Richards taking strings off before playing them?!)

Leo Fender designed his guitars to be "modular" - neck wears out, replace it... damage the bridge unit, replace it... etc...

What got me thinking was how there seemed to be a general feeling of "I'll modfiy cheapies, but I leave the expensive ones alone" ... and, as I was reading, I realised that I happily mess with the expensive ones too. The new Les Paul already has a new truss-rod cover, bell-knobs to replace the speed-knobs, indicator washers to go under them, and it's waiting for new pickups to arrive

- but then I thought, these are just replaceable parts, is replacing them really "modifications" as such?

Oh, who cares? I mess with my guitars until they do what I want them to do... then I play them

I recently rationalized keeping two 335-style guitars by putting P-90's in one.  That was two months ago, and the buddy who was doing the swap still hasn't gotten around to it.

Blooby

Have you done it yet Blooby? It's three months now!

[Boognish]

In response to Andy's post above:
 For me, at least, I am a bit of a rookie at this sort of thing. The reason I wanted to go with a cheap guitar to mod first is that I was partly afraid of screwing one up too much, and not being able to get it back in good condition when I tried putting it back together. I have an old DeArmond M-65 that I was considering relicing a bit, but I've decided not to mess with it's finish at all. I am planning on replacing the stock bridge humbucker with an upgraded Seymour Duncan or perhaps DiMarzio humbucker.
  In the mean time, I have purchased a cheap strat style Austin guitar and broken it down. It actually sounded pretty good, but I wanted to play with refinishing and relicing the body a bit, and perhaps changing out the SSS pickups and tuners. I spent $80 USD and got it used from a guitar store. I've so far sanded off a lot of the gloss, and all the way through the paint finish in a couple spots and around the body. I sanded it down and smoothed it out as much as I wanted, and then put several coats of oil over it and am currently letting it sit and dry out for a few days before I do anything more.

[Blooby]

I recently rationalized keeping two 335-style guitars by putting P-90's in one.  That was two months ago, and the buddy who was doing the swap still hasn't gotten around to it.

Blooby

Have you done it yet Blooby? It's three months now!

Nope. I was wondering why there was about six inches of unused space to push keyboards away from a door. I was sliding everything down when I realized it was the empty space from the missing guitar case. Maybe this answers the other thread if I have too many guitars. I would say I have too many when I can't tell one is missing. Doh!

Blooby

[AndyR]

I would say I have too many when I can't tell one is missing. Doh!

Personally, I feel that even this could be explained away in a reasonable and acceptable manner - how, I'm not so sure!

Remember: "I have some guitars" (if you don't count them, no-one else will!)

In response to Andy's post above:
 For me, at least, I am a bit of a rookie at this sort of thing. The reason I wanted to go with a cheap guitar to mod first is that I was partly afraid of screwing one up too much, and not being able to get it back in good condition when I tried putting it back together. I have an old DeArmond M-65 that I was considering relicing a bit, but I've decided not to mess with it's finish at all. I am planning on replacing the stock bridge humbucker with an upgraded Seymour Duncan or perhaps DiMarzio humbucker.
  In the mean time, I have purchased a cheap strat style Austin guitar and broken it down. It actually sounded pretty good, but I wanted to play with refinishing and relicing the body a bit, and perhaps changing out the SSS pickups and tuners. I spent $80 USD and got it used from a guitar store. I've so far sanded off a lot of the gloss, and all the way through the paint finish in a couple spots and around the body. I sanded it down and smoothed it out as much as I wanted, and then put several coats of oil over it and am currently letting it sit and dry out for a few days before I do anything more.

Oh crumbs, yes... when I started fiddling with guitars (almost from the outset, I suppose), I was filled with "omigod, what if I mess this up?"

And messing with finishes - I didn't start that until much later. In fact, it's not something I'll consider unless there seems to be a good/big reason to do it. The recent polishing (and a week or so later, I realise that's all it was really, even though it changed two guitars from satin to shinier satin) was because I wasn't loving the guitars as much as I wanted to. I'd read how it was achievable and not too scary - in fact I'd come across examples of people doing exactly what I wanted to exactly the same finishes. I read up about various products and eventually went for it when I knew several guitars were going to be in bits anyway because of pickup swaps.

Also, a few years ago I'd completely stripped and successfully refinished my most expensive guitar at the time (a Gibson Explorer) because the lacquer had never cured properly. I'd bought it new, had owned it over two years, kept on a stand, and it was still sticky. On another forum I'm on there'd been a rash of folks building guitars from parts and discussing finishing options. There are several luthiers on there as well, so there was lots of info at my fingertips. It was still a bit of a "heart in the mouth" moment when I went for it, though

I was very impressed with myself and have played the guitar a lot since then. But recently I've started feeling regret because it doesn't feel like my other Gibsons with nicely cured nitro finishes. No big worry, because it wasn't playable for me before I did it... EXCEPT, while researching products for polishing the others, I came across a product that I suspect would have fixed it - Virtuoso guitar polish (http://www.virtuosopolish.com). I didn't use it this time, but as far as I can tell it does a chemical reaction that seals the nitro finish in the state it's in at the moment. If this stuff had existed and I had known about it, I'd have tried it first before stripping the Explorer.

The only thing I won't mess with (so far) is frets. I know all the theory and many of the tricks, and I do tend to regard most things in life as "how hard can it be? other humans do this stuff, I'm a human, I should be able to do it..."

Actually, frets is a good example for something I wanted to say - the main reason I'm not attempting them myself is that I don't have the proper tools and environment (workbench etc).

I think most of the "damage" caused to guitars is attempted fixes/mods by enthusiastic amateurs WITHOUT THE CORRECT TOOLS(!)

When I was younger, I routed a pickup cavity with a blunt chisel and a hammer... worked OK, but if I ever sold the guitar/body, I'm sure someone would curse me. I have buggered untold numbers of screws because I only owned two screwdrivers for years (I own quite a few now and moan at the wife when she's attempting to use the wrong one!). My "soldering iron" for a long time was a junior thing I bought when I was 20 or so - I didn't know there were real ones, I thought a soldering iron was a soldering iron! Did a lot of dodgy soldering with that thing with its rusty old tip (burnt hair, fingers, paint work, etc).

The main thing for me, though, is that I don't regard any of my guitars as "investments" - I don't consider them having a resale value because I don't sell guitars as a rule. If I consider value before attempting a risky piece of maintenance, it's a) would I need to replace this git if I destroyed it, and how much would it cost? and b) would I have to pay someone else to fix it, and how much would it cost?

I also consider whether changes are reversible. Again, not for resale value, but more "what if I don't like it". Eg. I want to try a Maestro-style vibrato on my Explorer, have done for about 2-3 years. They're easy to install, but they involve drilling holes - what if I don't like it? So I'm waiting for a company called Vibramate (http://www.vibramate.com/index.php) to finish developing their VM100 (http://www.vibramate.com/coming-soon.php) - I'm not sure they ever will, though, it's been "coming soon" for a couple of years...

Anyways - good luck with the Austin, sounds like you're travelling the same sort of path I have, hope it turns out how you want. There's nothing quite like knowing you did it yourself

[ODH]

I change the strings occasionally.  It seems to help.  I have been known to wipe down a guitar with a cloth. 

That's about the extent of what I do too, although not as often as I should.

I did have to change the selector-tone-volume panel on my tele after the volume knob snapped off (hands up, it didn't do it all by itself, I may have had something to do with it).  Not as good as the old one though...

[Boognish]

Yeah frets...
I've been basically avoiding doing anything on the fretboard as far as oiling or relicing.
I get it that some people want to relic the fretboard, and use a light dremel tool or whatever to remove some finish in spots. And I understand that if done right it won't really affect playability, but its irreversible and if you do go a little too far, I'm afraid I might leave chunkiness in the fret board and I don't want that. The reason I picked the shitty guitar I did was that it at least had a decent neck and fret board. I'll leave it be, and just add some lemon oil when its needed.

[fenderbender]

I change the strings occasionally.  It seems to help.  I have been known to wipe down a guitar with a cloth. 

That's about the extent of what I do too, although not as often as I should.

I did have to change the selector-tone-volume panel on my tele after the volume knob snapped off (hands up, it didn't do it all by itself, I may have had something to do with it).  Not as good as the old one though...

I changed PUPs once on a strat -  ;Dsweated bricks