So, who has gone back to "stock?"

Re: So, who has gone back to "stock?"

I like to take my guitars to "stock" as "stock" was back in the day lol


So if I can get some "stock" 1962 Kluson tuners to replace my current made in china or wherever tuners, then I certainly do it.

Upgrade ? Downgrade ? I don't know what you'd call it honestly.
 
Re: So, who has gone back to "stock?"

Most of my guitars all have the same "mods" I've been doing for 10 years or so.

Graph Tech saddles
Treble bleed cap on neck pickup

If you can figure straplocks as a "mod."

My most "customized" guitar is my Tele that I replaced pickups and switching scheme on.
 
Re: So, who has gone back to "stock?"

My Fender '62 AVRI Strat and Aerodyne Bass are the only guitars that are completely stock at this point. I did get into the habit of automatically modding things (many times finding stock setups were actually better). With my '62 AVRI, I listened to how it sounded plugged in and went "that's how a good strat should sound like - I'm not touching it".

Here's a tip for SG fans: if you've got Classic '57s in there, don't touch them. I went through the trouble of getting all sorts of different pickups in there and nothing quite fit like the '57s.
 
Re: So, who has gone back to "stock?"

I love a BIG clean sound and a great 70's/80's rock guitar sound as well. Something with a little rasp and gain, but not to the point where the tonal subtlties are lost in the overdrive. Having said that, this has been my experience.

Over the years there is one major lesson I have learned that seems to ring true in all of my guitar purchases.

"The guitar must sound great as it is when I take it off the wall and play it."

Personally, I find that if a guitar sounds terrific in it's dead stock condition, then it will take modifications well and produce good results.

The trap I used to fall into all the time was, "a mediocre guitar will sound great with a new set of pickups." NOT!!! I have never been able to "save" a dud guitar by changing the pickups. Chaning pickups in a dud guitar just seems to bring out more of the dudliness of that guitar whereas, changing pickups in a great, toneful guitar seems to further enhance the desirable tonal characteristics.
 
Re: So, who has gone back to "stock?"

my hobby has mostly been buying used gear to fix up... one joy i have is finding a heavily modded guitar for cheap and taking the parts off it when i can and return it back to stock... that sounds kind of crazy but i only do so when i can get the stock parts dirt cheap or free... one case is a 1987 Kramer Striker that had a dimarzio and an upgraded Ibanez Edge trem on it... i had a Striker junk bridge here at home and an 80's Striker Humbucker sitting here in a parts bin for 20 years now... throw that Kramer stuff back on this old Striker and now i have some quality parts for other projects... i also have a pickguard with 3 EMG's on it i got off my American Standard strat... i had a set of Fender PU's and a Fender guard sitting here so i installed them... it pays to never get rid of your spare parts sometimes...
 
Re: So, who has gone back to "stock?"

For the most part all of those pickup switching options get very cumbersome and most of them do not sound what they are cracked up to be. For the most part, it is a pickup NOOB that insists on doing all of this crazy stuff with their guitar. It usually isnt worth it.
 
Re: So, who has gone back to "stock?"

Even in the hand built guitars I make, I often go through 4 or 5 pickup selections before hitting the one I truly like.

If one of my custom built guitars doesn't show really strong promise by the 2nd or 3rd pickup swap, I abandon it to the closet where it will sit un-played. It's not that they sound bad, they just don't sound GREAT!
 
Re: So, who has gone back to "stock?"

I’m very much a “modder.” Not one of my guitars is bone stock. The Gibsons, however, have “stock” wiring… wired the same, but with new pots and pickups. The only thing I could ever see myself doing to them is going to a master tone.

Any buffoon with a soldering iron and a few switches can throw together an axe that has a bazillion combinations. I really like to see simple schemes that afford the player a lot of versatility while being very easier to operate. That requires a limit on the number of switches and a switching order that makes sense. That’s the kind of mentality I’ve had when tackling the wiring on my strats. When I draw up schemes for my guitars I allow myself the pickup switch and one additional push/pull or mini-toggle. The lone exception is my tele, with in addition to the 4-way has a tap switch for each pickup. If I were to do it over again I’d tap them together on one switch… it’s simply too cumbersome to throw multiple switches at once. The diagrams with several switches are fun to work on, but IMO are horribly impractical for a player.
 
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