Who's modding cheap guitars?

Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

I think 'cheap' guitars have reached great heights, too. But.. I dont use a trem at all. I could see it being necessary to buy something better quality to have a truly good whammy that returns to pitch every time.

My only tremelo equipped guitar is a Squier Strat - an older one where the quality level is pretty high in the build, but I know if I used the trem it would probably be a disaster tuning-wise. But then again maybe even the US Starts are like that that have a Fender bridge on them instead of a Floyd Rose..
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

stringbender11 said:
if I used the trem it would probably be a disaster tuning-wise. But then again maybe even the US Starts are like that that have a Fender bridge on them instead of a Floyd Rose..
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In my experience, I've found that Fender Trems on American Strats are decent for what they're meant for... a bit of extra vibrato, or perhaps pulling up/down a step or two. I put a Wilkinson trem on my MIK Lite Ash Strat as my first mod. It did feel stronger and more stable than the Cort-made stock trem for sure, but I didn't think it helped the tuning that much. So then I decided to install a set of Grover locking tuners and a properly cut Graphtech Nut along with Graphtech Saddles, and that's when I felt a significant improvement on my tuning stability. Mind you, I wasn't dive-bombing... I can certainly see how non-Floyd/Kahler Trems could have tuning issues with dive-bombs.
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

Yeah I guess that's true. Strat trems probably work 'ok' as long as you dont crazy. Maybe I should try mine out one of these days. :)
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

stringbender11 said:
Yeah I guess that's true. Strat trems probably work 'ok' as long as you dont crazy. Maybe I should try mine out one of these days. :)
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I beat the crap out of my Babicz Strat trem and it always comes back in tune and takes me as far as I want to take it.
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

In general, I'm not a modder. If a guitar doesn't have the pickups or other features I want, I won't buy it in the first instance. That said, I will buy a used cheapie that's already been modded. Like this Epi Casino (which actually was a gift, from the praise band at my church!), it has an added Bigsby, new Grovers, a Rio Grande in the neck slot, black dogears, and a master volume added by the previous owner:

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This Melody Maker has a GFS Dream 90, although it also came with the original ceramic Gibby humbucker:

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Also, I will occasionally make cosmetic mods. For example, I prefer guitars with pickguards, if that was a part of their original design. So when I got a Hamer Special, I bought a guard for a singlecut Les Paul Special, cut it down, and added that:

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Similarly, I recently bought a new Gibson SGJ that looked nekkid without a guard, so I bought one and cut it down to fit. Also it came with ugly plastic black pup covers that don't come off, so I bought some Bobbin Toppers and stuck them on top of the black covers to give the illusion of open coils:

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Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

Jocelyn said:
For me when I see expensive guitars, I expect them them to have high quality parts, and wood, I tend to find it pointless buying a top quality instrument, and then making major changes to it.
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I agree, My gibsons came from the factory just how I like em... Everything else I have fiddled with

My first mod project was an old Epiphone P-bass I found in a pawn shop for $70. It was the only String thru P I could find and after a new set of tuners some minor neck work a set of straplocks and some SD basslines it rocked! I also found an old super rare unfinished ash Epiphone telecaster ($200), played great sounded terrible. I joked it was an acoustic electric because the stock pups sounded so bad i didn't bother plugging it it... New set of Dimarzios... BAM tone machine. Finally I bought a SX tele to redo everything (Worse case scenario I wast 150 learning about fret filing and truss rods.) Not as happy with the mods... Nothing lines up and I had to re-rout the bride pup cavity and bridge (both the screw holes and slot for the pickup!) to accommodate a SD pickup. The neck is 1/4 of an inch wider so I cant really switch the neck out without a gap, so it became and exercise in fret filing and truss rod adjustments. I have fought this stubborn girl every step of the way but I have learned TONS from here... Doesn't she look sweet? From wired direct to the jack, to just a volume, to volume/spin-a-split if you look at the knobs.
 

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Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

A X2N, screwed as far it will go directly to the wood, transformed my pink Hello Kitty strat into a metal monster. It distorts a poor Twin amp just by looking at it.

I save it for the heaviest songs in my cover band's set. I enjoy the cognitive dissonance ("heavy music on a girly guitar?") it causes on the unsuspecting members of the audience.
 
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Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

stringbender11 said:
I think 'cheap' guitars have reached great heights, too. But.. I dont use a trem at all. I could see it being necessary to buy something better quality to have a truly good whammy that returns to pitch every time. .
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That used to be true, but I bought a $270 Dean Custom 350f and its tuning stability is equal to or better than my Ibanez lo pro guitars. It has a floyd rose special which has same posts and baseplate as the OFR, but zinc block and saddles which can be upgraded.

I upgraded the Floyd Block to a 32mm OFR ($30)
Sanded/polished the neck (wasnt Ibanez smooth)
Intonated
Installed metal pickup rings

The pickups are pretty good, at least as good as mid tier Ibanez INF pickups. So its basically a Basswood/maple top guitar with satin maple neck, 25.5" scale and it sounds/looks great, plays great for $300. The action is actually as low as some guitars I've had plekked, that may be luck of the draw.

I think these guitars are made as much for overseas markets (lower asia) where $300 is alot of money, so they make the guitars good enough to be a main guitar.
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

~Vintage~ said:
I've been down that road many times. It's not worth it IMO. If you start with crap, you'll just be putting parts that cost good money on crap.

You can put lipstick on a pig but what's the point?
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Well, at least you end up with a sexy pig :smokin:
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

mamm said:
A X2N, screwed as far it will go directly to the wood, transformed my pink Hello Kitty strat into a metal monster. It distorts a poor Twin amp just by looking at it.

I save it for the heaviest songs in my cover band's set. I enjoy the cognitive dissonance ("heavy music on a girly guitar?") it causes on the unsuspecting members of the audience.
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I highly approve of all of these:

X2N's
Hello Kitty Strats
Cognitive Dissonance
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

mamm said:
A X2N, screwed as far it will go directly to the wood, transformed my pink Hello Kitty strat into a metal monster. It distorts a poor Twin amp just by looking at it.

I save it for the heaviest songs in my cover band's set. I enjoy the cognitive dissonance ("heavy music on a girly guitar?") it causes on the unsuspecting members of the audience.
Click to expand...

Hell, that is one step beter than putting an EMG into an Avril Lavigne Tele . . . maybe two steps !


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Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

Free Yamaha off CL. Needed a nut, pots, wiring and a headstock change.
Also changed the tuners. I may do a PUP swap in the future, but for now the stock-ies are fine. It's been designated as my Open G git.









$3 Harmony V off CL.
Still working on this one. Building it for my 12 year old.

My first headstock repair.







Need to get more pics, but the neck and headstock are now black.
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

Irwin clamps? nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo haha they are good to get the thing in place but i would never let them do the entire job.
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

Modding cheepos? It's all what I've been doing since the start and that's one of the main fun factors in the whole geetar matter to me.

I dunno. Cheepos (a.k.a. geetars that no one suspects to be great but finally you end up blasting the enamel off the teeth with them) are slutty girls. Doing wild things with a slutty gal comes more natural somehow than doing the same with an eminent cheerleader 'careful on my hair!' 'awww my nails!' 'don't touch my makeup!' barbie. When it comes to music I'm rarely in a nice mood. No babying axes whatsoever.

A cheepo is a code to be cracked. A raw gem to be refined. After a pair of fitting Duncans, few modding steps, tweaking and adjusting a little they all start to feel right and sound me anyway. The mojo is you not the tool that helps you to release the f'n rage.
 
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Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

You just played one of mine that was dirt cheap dude? My Tele was originally a Squire Standard , now it is an ungodly monster of incredibleness ! You should talk to me about this sort of stuff I have done a ton of it ! Always comes down to how good of a guitar you want to end up with , better starting platform the better the finished product will be. That does not mean you can't turn an Epi or Squire into a gig ready everyday smoking player. Think the ESP/LTD turned out pretty good but it was 5x the cost of the Squire Tele. (even with the slightly mismatched string alignment stupidness)
 
Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

Yeah, that black tele-girl has too much "butch" mixed in. If you wanna go girly on you guitar, be a man and go all the way! Bubble-gum pink is the only way to go.


SirJackdeFuzz said:
Hell, that is one step beter than putting an EMG into an Avril Lavigne Tele . . . maybe two steps !


7f91d4a078baccf35d3b6ead014ade0e.jpg
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Re: Who's modding cheap guitars?

kramersteen said:
Irwin clamps? nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo haha they are good to get the thing in place but i would never let them do the entire job.
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I hear ya, but if the glue does it's job, then I'll be happy. We'll see when I string 'er up.
 
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