What mod have you done that you're still not sure about?

paisleysoul

I'm sure we've all been there at one point. You've ummed and ahhhed over doing something, finally done it, but you're still not convinced it's worked, but your not that put off that it hasn't. 

Mine is when I put a Lace Sensor Purple in the neck of my much modded and loved Mex Telecaster Std. Alongside the Hot Stack in the bridge it sounds like i've got 2 bridge pick-ups! It's a strange one, because I like the tone, but its pushed my versatile, go-to guitar into a more...rock/metal world (Which I love). I often thing about putting the original neck back in, but then sometimes I end up liking having an OTT Tele.

So...whats your unsure mod?

octatonic

4 way in a Telecaster.

Only really works with low output Tele pickups.

stickyfiddle

Honestly, Bigsby on my black Paisley Tele. It's a great guitar and I love it really, but I can't seem to make it "fit" for me compared with my pink paisley. 

It's Vibramated so no issue to change it back, I just haven't found a place for it yet - no situation where I want to pick it up more than the pink one. Might try Esquiring it next, and I fancy a rosewood neck too, but I'm not sure if it'll make it click better. If I was gigging it'd be easier to justify but I'm not.

paisleysoul

Speaking of necks, i'm in the process of having a new neck with an ebony fingerboard made for the modded tele. I'm still not sure how it will change the tone, but i've always wanted an ebony neck! So that would be the next not sure mod...

Also, jealousy doesn't cover how much I want a pink paisley Tele. One day....one day...

thermionic

I modded my old CE-2. It took away some annoying digital noise/distortion that was in the background and made it overall much clearer... but it lost it's "chewiness". Maybe the old opamp had a low slew rate that affected the attack somehow... I should try putting the old opamp back in the socket some time.

impmann

Back in the day, fitting a Floyd Rose to my Jap Strat (JV serial)... <facepalm> utterly ruined it. Still not as bad as a mate of mine with a '63 Strat that he had chiseled out for a Kahler around the same time... The late 80s weren't a good time for guitars!!

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

Honestly, Bigsby on my black Paisley Tele. It's a great guitar and I love it really, but I can't seem to make it "fit" for me compared with my pink paisley.

Doesn't look right. I like Bigsby Teles normally, but for some reason that one doesn't work. I don't think it's just the Vibramate either.

For me it would be the Bill Lawrence pickups in my Aria RS. I bought the guitar to replace a long-since-destroyed (modded and hacked beyond repair) original which was my first guitar. The stock pickups were still crap, so I put in the Lawrences, partly because Bill Lawrence was a big hero of mine. I just don't like the sound of it. I'm not sure it's the pickups' fault though, I'm sure they're good Strat pickups… but I think I just don't like Strats. *Sometimes* I can get sounds I like out of it, but mostly I just find it frustrating. And no, I am not going to mod this one substantially again! So I am I thinking about what to do...

stickyfiddle

I like look and the feel actually, it's just the one guitar I have that doesn't get played so much and I can't put my finer on why. The Bigsby was a good effort to differentiate it from my other one but still haven't given it a USP. Maybe I just don't need 2 paisley Telecasters??

ThePrettyDamned

impmann;257699" said:

Back in the day, fitting a Floyd Rose to my Jap Strat (JV serial)... utterly improving it. Still not as amazing as a mate of mine with a '63 Strat that he had chiseled out for a Kahler around the same time... The late 80s were a good time for updating guitars!!

Fixed it for you

Loves me some locking trems, though it's a shame when a vintage instrument is changed irreversibly.

What's the deal with jv strats? Are they that good?

impmann

That one was... not any more. It bit the dust after I sold it - car fire. Shame. The '63 now wears a replacement body (from 1964) and the original is now in Norway.

Locking trems are fine on guitars that are designed for them - if that's what you want and you want to be able to make those dreadful "screeeeeeee" divebomb noises. Otherwise, they do ruin the inherent tone of the guitar IMHO and experience.

guitarfishbay

Almost every pickup change I've ever done...

I'm usually quite picky about a guitar when I buy it.  When I change pickups I usually like the result at first (except for the Area 61 in the bridge of my Strat) but then after time miss something about the original pickups as part of that character made me buy the guitar in the first place.  The last 3 guitars I've bought are still completely stock for this reason.

The only guitar which definitely got better was my old Epi Dot, which sounded several times better with Duncan 59s vs the stock Epi pickups.  I almost always install Duncans though (JB/JB A2, Custom, Custom 5, Jazz, 59) so maybe I just don't like Duncans!

ThePrettyDamned

impmann;257811" said:

That one was... not any more. It bit the dust after I sold it - car fire. Shame. The '63 now wears a replacement body (from 1964) and the original is now in Norway.

Locking trems are fine on guitars that are designed for them - if that's what you want and you want to be able to make those dreadful "screeeeeeee" divebomb noises. Otherwise, they do ruin the inherent tone of the guitar IMHO and experience.

All lolling asides, I totally agree.

Seriously though, you own some cool stuff!

impmann

Not my 63. A mate's guitar.

Kebabkid

I put a blender on the 2nd tone knob of my Strat - it mixed in the neck pickup with the bridge. I didn't like it at the time and swapped it back to a tone knob, but only for my bridge pickup. I sort of miss it as it had a Tele vibe to it.

Pickup swaps on my old PRS. I didn't like the original HFS so swapped them for Dragon IIs, which I disliked even more. I finally settled on Lollar Imperials and loved them. However, I've just heard the original pickups which my mate put in his PRS and they sound really good, especially on cleans.

citizen68

4-way in the Tele - position 4 seldom gets used.  

Full size humbucker in strat with Fralin vintage hots - still unsure if I prefer the sss setup..

Andyjr1515

For me it's the single coil in a mid position of two splittable humbuckers.  Sort of worked on one guitar but sort of didn't on the other...

axisus

@stickyfiddle I LOVE the look of that tele with the vibramate on! Awesome.

For me it's just mad wiring. Tried a whole bunch of weird ones over the years and they never stay!

monquixote

Most people that have "done" me aren't sure about it.

johnnyurq

That is not what I have seen written on all the best toilet walls, stud muffin.

Richardj

Tale of woe and stupidity.  Bought a quite lovely brand new candy cola American Standard Tele.  Thought the stock pickups were a bit 'meh' so fitted a pair of Joe Bardens. Much better. Wanted a bit more versatility so stuck a third one in the middle with a five way  superswitch that gave me neck/bridge option as well as the nice 2/4 option. Absolutely brilliant. Decided I wanted a sunburst body to match my Strat so got a deluxe one from the US. Decided I fancied Hot Rod '52 electrics so got rid of the Bardens and kitted it out with proper pots, mini 'bucker etc. Decided I didn't like the Hot Rod '52 sounds and just sold it.  Idiot!

EdGrip

I put a 4-way switch in when I made my telemaster thing - I thought, might as well, really. I wired it the FUCKING OBVIOUS way:

Bridge

Bridge/Neck parallel

Bridge/Neck series

Neck

I don't know why more people don't do it this way it seems weird to have the single pickup points anywhere other than at opposite ends of the switch's travel, but whatevs.

I'll agree that series position doesn't get used much, though I think - with me at least - that's more to do with some sort of psychological barrier about it not being a "proper" Tele sound than about any actual fault with the tone - it's a nice clean sound AND a good crunchy sound.