I'm often surprised how fast people will swap out components of guitars, amps, or pedals. I'm not talking after a few months, but a few days (if that long). For the most part, all my stuff is stock. Except old guitars I bought that had Mighty Mite or DiMarzio pickups in them, and I wanted to get something closer to the stock PAF style pickups that were removed. I always stick with a basic formula for pickups, and it has seemed to work for me. Usually I try a capacitor or potentiometer change first because it makes a bigger difference for a much more wallet friendly price tag.
After that, all my amps are stock with the exception of tubes. Parts only get replaced when necessary. I also need much more time to assess how things sound or work for me because I know how it sounds in my cellar or living room is not gong to be the same as when I'm playing with my band. It's funny how adjusting the tone pots of an amp to find the sweet spot in each of the tone pots changes when you're playing in your house compared to next to a loud drummer and bass player, and having to work with the bass player to get both sounds complimentary to each other.
Also when I buy anything, I buy it because of what it is and how it played/sounded when checking it out. When offered stuff over the years, it always had to fulfill one of the "Do I own one", "Will it offer something to the musical sound palette", "Is it something I would really like to own?" Many guitars I have bought since joining guitar forums and being drawn into the world of GAS, have really been left alone. I bought a Rick 330 several years ago that sounded amazing. I wanted to put a set of Rick "Toaster" pickups in it that I have. Although the "Toaster" aesthetic is what I want, the guitar sounds too good to mess with it. My '82 Les Paul Standard is stock. I'm not touching my ES-335 because it sounds great as is. Memphis hit it out of the park with that guitar. I have one Strat that the '54 reissue Custom Shop pickups that came with it did not sound good. I put them in a different Strat, and they sound great. The pickups I put in the other guitar are amazing. That took several months of research swapping between amps and the pedals I was using at the time. Also swapping the pickups between the guitars numerous times because I didn't believe that they sounded great in one guitar but not the other.
I still think no matter what guitars or anything else in the chain you buy, you should spend time with it before dismissing something and starting an upgrade process that may never produce any results. A dead sounding guitar that is still a dead sounding guitar after a proper setup isn't going to sound better with pickup, capacitor, or potentiometer upgrades. The trouble with having to buy so much stuff on-line these days, is you never get to truly evaluate it before purchasing it. I've always said that I live a very spoiled life having so many options for actual music stores in a less than 100 mile radius from Boston. I get to play stuff before buying it which is a wonderful thing because I can say "no", and walk away. The only real unicorn dust I believe in is practice. Right now, I wouldn't change a thing on any guitar I bought because I am wayyyyyy to much out of practice. Maybe when I can start spending the amount of time I used to, I'll consider my opinion on the certain aspects of the nuances of a particular guitar a bit more serious.
But yeah, leave it alone. Play it and get familiar with it. Learn every little nuance. If you're still not happy, mod away.
)…but in the end…whatever works…twist all the knobs until it sounds good.
