Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

[Chistopher]

As modders, we all have that one guitar that we just beat the crap out of in the name of either testing new mods, or just trying to get it ever closer to *that tone. What are y'alls guitars that meet this qualification? Here's mine:



You can't really see the damages because of the thick polyurethane finish, buts seen a lot. Here's the damages:

It was originally painted Aztec Gold, but the factory repainted it in Ice Blue. The person who drilled the holes for the pickguard made 6 holes that not a single pickguard will line up with. It came from the factory without the hardware being grounded.

It's had three different wiring schemes: standard SSS, HH, and HHH. It currently has partial splits and half out of phase on a super switch. It's also been active and passive at different points of its life. It's had a Killpot for the tone, it's had a TBX with the Greasebucket and high/low pass mods. It had all 3 styles of treble bleed, before I removed all of them. It's also had more pickup swaps than I can count.

It's had 3 different trem blocks: Fender zinc, GFS steel, and Callaham steel. The neck is joined through to the body through steel inserts. I switched from the Fender tuners, to Wilkinson, to Schaller, back to the original Fenders. I gave it knob pointers.

I accidently let my soldering iron lay on the back of the pickguard (twice!), leaving burn marks. I broke three tremolo arms off it, and once drilled a hole through the face of the guitar in the process of removing them. My son routed it from SSS to HHH in Woodworking 1. This same son accidentally cracked the neck with a basketball.

Anyone else got any stories?

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

My Fender Highway 1 Tele has seen more wiring schemes than any other guitar - even have 4-5 control plates to accommodate all the various switches. My Gibson Les Paul Studio has had more pickups in it than any other guitar. My SG is a close second and it's had as many pickups, as well as JP wiring and all kinds of knob/pickguard changes.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

The guitar on the left.

Its has the carve redone, the headstock resprayed and the whole body re-cleared with a different colour burst and some tint on the back to make it more even.
Its my pickup test bed.....or at least it was until its current set of pickups. You can't beat Wizz PAF clones wound with spools of wire from 1959 for tonal accuracy.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

“The Phoenix” is a 1985 Westone Spectrum LX which I purchased in 1987. At the time it looked like this:

In 1995 it went through a house fire and it was badly charred and burned. The pickups were melted and the finish practically ruined. After all the damage from the flames, the heat, and the water used to put the fire out, the guitar was a complete shambles… but I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away.

Fast forward to 2004. I was telling a friend of mine about this guitar’s sad story and he asked me to let him borrow it for a while because he had an idea. I didn’t figure I had anything to lose, so I brought the guitar to him and he brought it back to me three months later with the finish completely redone... with clear pour-on epoxy over the top of the char, so that you can see all it’s scars but the finish is perfectly smooth and hard.

Fast-forward 2015, when I finally decided that it was time to resurrect the Phoenix. New pickups (JB/Jazz with a Hot Stack center), new hardware, new electronics and wiring scheme… Pretty much everything got redone.

Since then I’ve swapped out the center pickup for a GFS Li’l Killer (the Hot Stack didn’t quite give me enough volume in comparison to the humbuckers). I’ve also changed around the wiring scheme somewhat to more closely suit what I actually use.

This guitar hasn’t seen mods all that often over its lifetime, but it’s literally been through hell and back... and it’s STILL my #1!

 

[greekdude]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

my 7-string

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

2002 Ibanez RG270DX. When it was brand new I kept getting fret buzzes. I took it to a shop where they told me the frets had been pressed in with a press that had too tight a radius. I liked it and was too stubborn to take it back to the store, so I paid the shop to do a level and dress. Dunlop strap locks. Swapped out factory trem for an OFR with a brass Big Block, and converted the nut from back mount to top mount. Dyed the rosewood fretboard black. Installed locking tuners. Refinished back of neck and headstock. Had the neck off and back on so many times that it wouldn’t stay put, so I glued it in with Titebond wood glue. I’ve had five sets of pickups in it. Now it has an EMG 81 in the bridge, an SA in the middle, and an 89R in the neck. I’d like to reincarnate it as a Custom Shop Jackson. You know, the next time I have that kind of money sitting around.

 

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

I don't really know it's history as I've only had it for about a year but this one...scuffs, nicks, wear, corrosion...definitely this one has some history to it in it's 34 year life.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

My 1996 Fender MIM Sambora Lake Placid Blue. I was in college in got a scholarship which back in the day was like earning minimum wage, and it retroactive so I got paid a few months in the first transaction. Back then I was so depressed because I had to leave home, family and friends (as opposed to USA this is not typical here in Mexico) so I the original plan was to buy a PC for homeworks and learn programming but my inner musician demanded an electric guitar. This was 1998, having a PC at home in Mexico was not that common either, internet at home was almost a luxury. But I needed the guitar more than the PC and when I got it I felt like a was born again into a better world, it really made me feel better and it allowed me to have the peace of mind to finish college.

That guitar has gone thru a lot since 2009 when I decided it was time to mod: Hotrails neck, Jazz neck, JB, DiMarzio SH-4, YJM Fury neck, STK-S6 in neck, stock humbucker back again, SSL-1 in the middle, liberator 250k and 500k when needed , white pickguard HSH, peal white pickguard HSS, push-pull pots for coil split, a new 5 way switch, new plastic knobs, mini switches for the always on middle pickup... ah once one of the bridge mounting studs got loose and had to get it repaired. One of the original tuners needs to be replaced . I may be forgetting something.

It does not get played a lot lately both because I have a Charvel SoCal 2014 I am using as my #1 right now (also modded) and I have a 3 year old kid I spend most of my free time with during the week. I hone I never have to sell my strat, it reminds me of an old sad time and music was my savior.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

This is so cool, both elegant and yet with scars. Like phantom of the opera with transparent mask

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

There's two for me.

The first is my first guitar, a 2000 MiM Strat which has gone through A LOT of changes over the years and at least 3 pickguards (and looking at no.4 next chance I get):

I sometimes lovingly refer to her as my perpetual work in progress, only ever being truly done when I am

The second is my Izzy, a low-end Swing EZ-10 which I loved on the store and that I bought with the intention of modding from the get go. She has seen more tweaks than any other guitar I have owned but only one "mod-course" which was simply realized in several stages:

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

After I got married, I had to sell my Kramer Focus V, my other Kramer and my Charvel Model 3D.. After 11 yrs of no guitars, I bought a cheap Squier strat. Nut crumbled, got a bone nut, tuners were crap, replaced them with sperzels. Busted the corner off the headstock drilling the holes, drilled thru the headstock in 2 places trying drill for the stay pins. After panic and tears, I glued the corner back on the headstock. Isnt perfect, but functionally fine. Swapped flimsy one ply pickguard for a 3 ply. Put in good cts pots and orange drop caps. Put in Lace sensor Blue (neck), Silver (middle) and Red in the bridge. (they were new and hot at the time.) Wanted a humbucker in the bridge, so, new pickguard, Tone zone. Then swapped TZ for a Duncan C5 and put in a push pull pot to split it. Also, changed knobs to chrome knurled and dunlop straplocks.
Its the one I learned to mod on and has the most chips and stuff from young kids too. But, it plays and sounds great!!

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

This one:

It was played down to wood until early 2000s then re-built a couple of years ago.

 

[Dahla]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

My Fender telebration mahogany telecaster. Started as this:

Now it’s this:

Re-pained, custom pickguard, routed out for humbucker in neck. JB and Sentient with coil split. Perfect RAAAAWK machine. [emoji16]



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dystrust]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

For me it's this one:

Pic taken between 2006 and 2008 sometime with a Cool Rails / Custom 5 setup and non-original bar on the Kahler. These days it sports a zebra Custom and Kahler heavy bar.

Started its life as an '86 Charvel Model 4, and my younger brother bought it in maybe 2003. A few years later he decided that he wanted something else and sold it to me. Around the same time, I also scored an '88 Model 2 with a botched refin for $79. I loved the neck from the Model 2, but not the single hum body so I stripped it and routed it HSS. One of these days I'll either sell it or actually finish the thing. I installed the Model 2 neck on the Model 4 body in 2005, gutted the active electronics, and set it up with a '59 and Cool Rails since they were the only spare pickups I had lying around at the time. The Rails sounded great, and has been in the guitar ever since. I first replaced the '59 with a Custom 5 and later with an Invader. It was swapped again to a Custom in maybe 2012? The next time I change the strings I'm going to put the white Custom 5 back and swap the magnet to an A2. Hopefully that won't be too squished sounding and midrangey.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

I think this qualifies more as a build than a mod bed...

Started out as guitar on the right.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

Started off life as a sss 22 fret strat style body and ended up 24 fret set neck.

Final and latest rebirth.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

Started off life as a sss 22 fret strat style body and ended up 24 fret set neck.

Final and latest rebirth.

Sweet!

Did you take a little wood away from the upper horn or is that just a trick of the light I think I’m seeing?

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

yeah a heap.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

Looks very comfy-ble! [emoji1303]

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Which Of Your Guitars Has Seen The Most?

I was about to ask what all the words meant, then I realized I was looking at it upside down.:chairfall