Typically I have found that most guitarists can be put into one of two categories. On one side of the fence you have the guitarists that buy their guitars and keep them completely stock looking like the day they left the factory. On the other side you have the guitarists that personalize their axe in a myriad of different ways. While I completely respect those that choose to keep their guitar completely original, I definitely fall into the other category. From day one of owning a guitar I have constantly craved to not only better it in sound and playability, but to also personalize it. I think back to seeing guitarists like SRV, Randy Rhodes and Eddie Van Halen whose guitars were unmistakably theirs. For me, my guitars are more than guitars, they are in a way family each with a personality of their own.
I wanted to take a chance and reach out to those who want to customize their guitar and offer some tips. I also want to keep it simple. I know that we are not all the most technical minded gear heads, so here I will avoid some of the more skilled personalization’s one can do and focus on the easy.
So I look at my beloved strat that I have had by my sided forever. While I have done a few alterations to her that go far beyond the easy, there is a good amount of the simple ones too. One of the easiest customizations to make that has a great visual appeal is simply changing out the knobs. Knobs can be found in a vast amount of styles. On my strat I put black dice on for the two tone knobs and then a chrome speed knob with a pearl top on the volume. Like I said, it is little, but it does have a huge effect.
In the world of strats, one highly overlooked personalization is swapping out the pick guard. All this takes is a screwdriver. You don’t need to resolder your pickups or anything, just take out the screws and replace it. There are so many great guards out there to match your personal feel. You can get anything from a mirrored pick guard to one printed with a pin-up girl. The beauty of these is that it completely changes your guitar for you, and it is simple.
Finally I wanted to talk about the dreaded stickers. I have heard so many people complain about people putting stickers on guitars. For me, it makes them mine. My strat just wouldn’t be the same without the stickers I put on her. I understand this is not for everyone, or every guitar, but sometimes it just feels right.
Like I said I completely respect those of us that feel more comfortable with a guitar that looks stock. But for the rest of us, if you look at your guitar and your mind says “I love it, but it is missing something.” there is plenty for you to do. I am just a firm believer that my guitars are far more than a block of wood and while I love the style and craftsmanship that went into creating them and designing them, for me they need to be unique. Whether it be changing the pickups, or slapping a Skinny Jim sticker on it, this is how I do it. Life is too short for boring guitars! ;)
Talk Hard, Play Harder!
- Pipes
3 comments:
On the guitars that I've modded, the mods are aways to improve performance. I LOVE Graphtec saddles, Schaller strap-locks, DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan pickups and Schaller or Sperzel tuners.
The only visual mod I've ever done was to replace the knobs on my black Fly, in order to make it even blacker. And as small a thing as that sounds, I actually had to undo it! See, the original Fly knobs are rubberized plastic, but they aren't pitch black. So I went with a set of black metal knurled knobs. Much blacker! For some reason, I had one of them off the guitar, and I realized that it was heavy. REALLY HEAVY. So I took the original set, put them in a ziplock bag, and did the same for the aftermakets. I took them to the Post Office where I weigh anything if weight's important to me. The original knobs weighed .4 oz. The replacements? 4 ounces. Or 10 TIMES the weight.
Now a quarter pound isn't much, but seriously, the whole purpose of the Fly is to keep it as light as possible. USM has recently (since 2008) replaced the original truss rod (which wasn't a truss rod at all, but rather a piano wire, so it was a one-way affair) with a bi-flex truss rod. When I mentioned that to Ken Parker he shook his head and exclaimed "Do you realize that is 18 times the weight?". (Yet another reason to look for pre-refined Flys I'll point out!)
For the most part, I buy guitars that don't require the performance mods. I don't know why cosmetic customizing doesn't matter to me; it's certainly not because I'm trying to retain resale value. I've NEVER bought a guitar that I intended on selling. Maybe I just don't have a personality...
:^P
So far my guitars have been just that, they're JUST guitars. Maybe this is where I've been going wrong. I don't gig so both my Variax 600 and Cort G250 are ... well immaculate. Immaculate isn't actually a good word...lifeless I think is better.
You've definitely got the brain working on what I can do to them to make them my own.
Seeming i play cheaper guitars i always replace all the electronics that i can. Pickups, switchs & Pots are the first to go then i use silver wiring when needed, one other thing i always change are the strap buttons to dunlop straplocks. tuners are usually my next train of thought.
the next guitar i buy is going to have a complete over-hall,I'm Planning to repaint, replace the pickups & electronics, strapbuttons & fill in a pickup cavity. I'll change as much hardware as i can and truly make it my own. much like the Pipe's i like to make my guitars different from stock even if its just pickups, i like the fact that its unique to me.
another thing i would like to do is blackout a guitar one day... seeming black i my favourite colour it only seems natural... (i even drive a black car even though it gets dirty so quickly)
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