Mod fever, anyone?

I used to mod every guitar I owned but other than a few pieces of plastic all of the ones I currently have are stock. I realized I was always chasing something intangible and elusive - I was making changes to the guitars, I thought, to make them more personalized and theoretically better for me, but in the end I was just making them different than how they started out not necessarily better in any tangible way, so I stopped spending the time and money to do it. But, I definitely encourage modding...for other people it could be just the thing to make a guitar more personal and work better for them.
 
gball said:
I used to mod every guitar I owned but other than a few pieces of plastic all of the ones I currently have are stock. I realized I was always chasing something intangible and elusive - I was making changes to the guitars, I thought, to make them more personalized and theoretically better for me, but in the end I was just making them different than how they started out not necessarily better in any tangible way, so I stopped spending the time and money to do it. But, I definitely encourage modding...for other people it could be just the thing to make a guitar more personal and work better for them.
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exactly where i am at.. think all the modding taught me about tone shaping..and def lead me back to my amp as control central..get that clean-beak sweet spot & hit every which way you can for desired effect. It;s prob why my Gibson's...they are all chosen for the pickup..what do i need it to do to my amp
 
I don't pick up anything but a Les Paul, unless my job demands it. I really dont 'mod' them per-se. I set them all up to the same specs. All my Les Pauls have Aluminum Tailpieces, I use a certain pair of pickups in all of them (HB8N/HB6N - Epiphone Clone of 498T/496R) and all are 4/32" from the strings fretted at the 12th fret. The 12th fret action is set to.070" and first fret action at .015" respectively, I use 0.01uf tone capacitors in all of them except the 2016 Gibson Les Paul 50's Tribute, which has a PCB.

Simple....
 
Robert Herndon said:
I don't pick up anything but a Les Paul, unless my job demands it. I really dont 'mod' them per-se. I set them all up to the same specs. All my Les Pauls have Aluminum Tailpieces, I use a certain pair of pickups in all of them (HB8N/HB6N - Epiphone Clone of 498T/496R) and all are 4/32" from the strings fretted at the 12th fret. The 12th fret action is set to.070" and first fret action at .015" respectively, I use 0.01uf tone capacitors in all of them except the 2016 Gibson Les Paul 50's Tribute, which has a PCB.

Simple....
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Ah...good point. I forgot, I have put aluminum tailpieces with steel studs on some of them. Not all, they don't all sound better with it, but most have aluminum.
 
gball said:
Ah...good point. I forgot, I have put aluminum tailpieces with steel studs on some of them. Not all, they don't all sound better with it, but most have aluminum.
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I'm a nerd...but I've done back to back recordings and listened (between zinc and aluminum with Faber steel studs) and I hear a different timbre with aluminum....a bit brighter, edgier if that makes sense???
 
With the exception of my Washburn, I’ve never bought a guitar with the ~intention~ of modding it.

It just seems to happen.

Even when I bought my Jackson, I didn’t intend to mod it. I didn’t even plan on changing pickups. Yet, it is THE guitar I have modded to the most extreme degree...modding which included a router, a drill, and and other sharp and/or hot objects!

Other mods are relatively slight, like swapping magnets in my 2014 SG.

Wait a second...I did buy my Les Paul Studio as just a husk...so I guess I had to “mod” that guitar into playability.
 
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Robert Herndon said:
I'm a nerd...but I've done back to back recordings and listened (between zinc and aluminum with Faber steel studs) and I hear a different timbre with aluminum....a bit brighter, edgier if that makes sense???
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Yeah, that's exactly what I use them for, to make the guitar a little more present. They seem to give it a slightly different feel too.

I've noticed the trick only works with steel studs, to the point that I think the studs may make more difference than the tailpiece does. But sometimes the combination can be too much: on my Firebird V and one of my SG's the combinaton made them too thin-sounding. The 'bird now has the zinc TP with steel studs and SG has zinc/zinc. Those were the combinations that worked best for those two. The Firebird I has steel studs with the stock lightning bar, Les Pauls and other SG have aluminum/steel.
 
The Grover tuners and TRC I ordered arrived the post office a few days ago, but I have been away for work a few days so I didn't have time to pick them up until today. I just finished putting them them on the guitar a few minutes ago. While I was at it I swapped the pickups too; it is now sporting a pair of patent sticker T-Tops dating from around 1969-70. The tuners and pickup covers are nickel. The pup covers are naturally aged from being used for 50 years, but I actually ordered aged tuners. As I have stated before, the "project" with this guitar has been to "Duane-ify" it to look similar to Duane Allman's 1957 goldtop. I removed the poker chip and put on an amber switch tip as well. I realise I probably have to change the switch nut, stopbar, bridge and studs as well to get a uniform nickel look, but that will be done at a later point in time. For now I'm just going to enjoy it as is.

However, as cool as I think the guitar looks, what strikes me the most is how great the T-Tops sound. I swapped the pups in my 2018 SG Standard for 1960s T-Tops as well, and I am totally blown away by the clarity, definition and balance of these pickups. I thought the Throbak PG 102 set I had in the Les Paul were damn good, but the T-Tops are quite simply better to my ears. The Trobaks were somewhat hotter (I have adjusted the T-Tops to the same height as the Throbaks) and more bassy. Great pickups, and I don't think I will sell them, but the T-Tops will stay in the guitar, definitely. Patent sticker T-Tops seem to be getting a lot dearer these days, so I think I have been lucky getting two vintage sets at a very decent price (The two sets combined were cheaper than the Throbak set).

Anyway, here are some pics. In the two last shots you can see the repair work done by a previous owner after the headstock snapped off. The whole neck was sanded down.
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This is my baby. 2001 LP Classic Plus. These were supposed to be a 1960 tribute at the time, so I decided to get it as close as I could. I added Kluson single line double ring tuners, aluminum tail piece, gold knobs with silver inserts, vintage pickup rings, SD Seth Lover pups and '50s style wiring. I love this one.
 
You've seen it before, but it just looks sooooo good. Here it is again.
The mod fever is bad. No amount of medicine can cure me.

Slightly modded SG Special. My latest but not last modding project...
SG min1.jpg
As received from our very own eSGEe in an SG swap.
A nice but semi boring satin finished mini hum SG.

So I set about relieving some of the boredom with this fine little guitar.
First a place for another pickup.

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Then a lacquer gloss over, wetsand from 600 to 5000 grit & buff.
It was an ongoing battle to keep from blowing thru the black edgeburst on the corners while wetsanding.
But it came out well...
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And the finished product, all dressed up.
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eSGEe gets to see it in person for the first time today & give it a little junk rub over lunch & beers.
 
syscokid said:
Did you remove their covers, or did they come like this?
The color of the bobbins look like cream to me. In regards to the bridge pup with its double cream bobbins: Don't let Larry Dimarzio see this... :ohno:
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These did come with nickel covers. I removed them after they had a little accident. Don't ever leave a vinegar soaked paper towel laying on nickel overnight. You won't like the results.
 
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