10 ESSENTIAL Mods That Will TRANSFORM Your Guitar!
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- Опубліковано 16 тра 2024
- Knowing which mods are worth your money can be tricky! Here are some of my favorite mods that boost performance, playability, and tone!
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SOLI DEO GLORIA!
Are there any mods you guys like to do to your guitars? let me know in the comment section ⬇️!
Enjoy!
*Please report the @telegram scammers if they show up in the comments section*
Hi from Cornwall!
(the original one) ;)
Did I miss where you mentioned doing the output jack?
More than a few 'cheap' guitars have had jack sockets that were intermittent at best when the cable's being tugged (even when put past the strap), and you can get jacks which have full contact with the plug, providing safety and security in all situations.
A real life-saver that I could've done with on a few gigs.
The only one you didn’t mention and is more cosmetic but serves a usable purpose is knobs. I prefer speed knobs on a Les Paul rather than the traditional top hats.
If you really want to change the tone, change the trem block. My '92 Strat never sounded "like at strat" then I replaced the trem block with a Callaham. Now I've got chime for days. For Tele's put in brass saddles, for Epiphone replace the Bridge, tail piece, posts and studs.
Hi Darrell, just reporting: just got a 'telegram' scam in my comment below
Someone is scamming under your name on telegram
Steve Vai: "three and a half necks, a quarter of a pickup and a tamborine"
😂😂😂
🤣 accurate
So true 😂😂😂
And he will slay it ^^
Lol yes
Weird and fun mods that I like to do personally: (1) spray-adhesive and tin-foil shielding trick under the pickguard. (2) putting 500k pots in a single-coil for insane highs (3) series/parallel mini-toggle or blending knobs for reverse wire center pickups, to make single-coils play like wide humbuckers (4) rounding fret ends so they don't steakknife my hands.
I'm surprised you can find tin foil in this day and age.
1) just use copper tape with conductive adhesive backing, it’s like $10 per roll and much more convenient
2) install a freeway switch, darrell has a video on it and it does the wide humbucker thing plus more for like $50
If you go with EMG pickups you will not need to shield the cavities . The pickups are constructed at EMG, shielding is not required but is optional if you you prefer.
@@ImYourOverlordhe just means aluminium foil... lining a pick guard is better use of it than wrapping a toxic metal around your joint and heating it up to 300c so you can squeeze out every bit of toxicity.
@@BobJones-bh9qz Freeway switch?
I bought a cheap Squier Bullet Strat for $60 and threw some upgrades at it. Locking tuners, cts pots, brass trem block, some weird named switch fender uses(I can't remember that name starts with B G?) And some $40 hand wound pickups that have very similar specs to the fender CS 60/63. New strings, oiled up the fret board and rounded the frets. It was a lot of work, but this plays incredible for a
You can do a lot to a low end squier with nearly no money. Find the cheapest wiring kit you can that has Alpha pots, Bootstrap handwounds for $60. Ping tuners for $25. Adjusting the nut is really the only part that requires more than common tools in the household bag. Get a cheap 35 watt soldering iron and a spool of decent solder and you're set.
@@theonlyrobot I do the same. Squier "Standard" bodies are 1.75 thick making it easier to install CRL or Oak Grigsby switches, bullet and Affinity models cavity is a bit shallow and may require deeming them about 2mm.
@@Tiburcio1950 You can find the cheaper model Squiers with the full thickness body. I had one in Seafoam about 2 years ago. Mexican bridge dropped right in. I don't know if the new ones are from mixed suppliers, but it might be worth going through the rack. There's usually 10 in every store, anyway.
Barring that, you can buy the mini Alpha pots that are used in boutique pedals. They're nice and small. They still feel nice and smooth like an Alpha should.
i did pretty much did the exact same thing to my affinity strat. I got stewmacs squire upgrade kit with steel saddles, a better string tree and gotoh locking tuners. I put in a loaded 57/62 pickguard in. then i put a brass block and fu-tone components on it. it plays amazing
Another mod I regularly use on all my guitars is the Analysis Plus Qijack output jack. It's a super-heavy-duty jack that provides a much better connection and where the (subtle but audible) before/after differences can be heard on several UA-cam clips. In situations where space does not permit the use of the Qijack, I use the Pure Tone multi-point-contact jack.
I'm gonna add dress your fret ends for import guitars often the wood acclimates after assembly so the frets need a touch up on the edges. And before you sink any money, dont skip the usual TLC, tighten your tuner mounts, adjust your tuner tension, change your strings, adjust your truss rod, set your string height, intonate your bridge.
A proper cut bone nut and a set of graphtec saddles transformed my Les Paul, not only does it play better but the stability is incredible.
Other great mod there (that granted my local luthier did on the Gibson) is rolling the edges of the fretboard, absolute night n day feeling, have since done it on most of my other geetars myself. Very rewarding job once done.
Good stuff as always sir.
Thank you Darrell, i think you’re a great teacher. Very informative and you explain things so well. Great video!
I recently finished my first project guitar! I bought a squire and replaced the nut, string trees, pickguard for an HSH to put in a humbucker, single, p90 (in humbucker package), as well as replacing all the other hardware. Replaced one of the tone pots with a bypass switch and added a kill switch. It sounds amazing and is so much fun to play!
Great stuff. My daily player is a Squire 60s Vibe Strat in Lake Placid Blue. My wife bought it for me for Fathers Day 2021. I loved it immediately, but over the next few months, decided to do some upgrades:
- Gotoh Vintage Locking Tuners
- Modern string tree
- Highwood vintage Strat saddles with recessed height adjust screws
- Big solid brass trem block
- Fender Tex-Mex prewired pickguard and pups
- Heavy duty input jack
- Shorter trem arm with Fender trem spring
And throughout these steps I continued to improve all the setup items, I mentioned above.
Totaled up, I likely spent about $330 on the upgraded parts, but man was it worth it.
My Squire Strat now plays, feels and sounds as great as a $1200 American Fender. It always stays in tune, too. Great stuff.
I usually sand the finish off of most of my Maple necks. One time I took a Strat and sanded down the entire back of the guitar, re-shaping it. It feels amazing. I've had people to ask me to do it for them. I used Tung oil while doing it. I've also applied Tung oil to necks I've stripped. I've swapped bridges, too - which makes a real difference sometimes.
Great tips! Ine good thing is that on gloss necks, just using some 0000 steel wool or 1200 sandpaper to give it a satin finish doesn't remove all the gloss, it just roughs it up. So In most cases it's totally reversible by using 2k+ sandpaper and then buff/polish.
THIS
Make sure to check the break angle of your B and E strings without the string tree before you buy staggered tuners. Remember that even with staggered tuners, the angle might not be enough. I recommend that you first get a cheap string set, remove the string tree, wind the full length of the B and E string onto the tuner posts. Get them as far down as possible, just a little bit above the nut of the tuner. Then play the string to see if it sounds good and, if so, you can get the staggered tuners. You'd be disappointed if you got staggered tuners and still have to use a string tree.
Also be careful if you're sanding your guitar neck. If you go to far, it might ruin the neck.
Yes! I see a lot of people buying staggered tuners thinking that it will eliminate the need for a string tree, only to realize that they still need them there. Because brands do them in 2 and 3 staggered heights sets.
I somehow missed my first mod: Change the strings!
Regarding the PUs: If you have a high resonance frequency (typical with low output PUs) you can put a capacity in parallel to the PU to lower resonance frequency.
As there is no mod to heigthen resonance frequency, I always prefer buying guitars with high resonance frequency, and than mod, when needed.
Like always Darrell, you never disappoint! Thank you for a great presentation!
If you have a lower end floyd rose swapping the small steel block for a beefier brass helps with the sustain. I also changed out trees and saddles on my old squier for the tusk ones from graph tech. They even threw in some free tusq picks. I would like to take the gloss off my kramers neck but it is painted mahogany and set so if i mess up i'd be upset.
Excellent video! I have been watching for a while and you usually have some good stuff to say. Thank you!
Great video. I would add a disclaimer that performing this such as filing nut-slots can damage the setup if done incorrectly. Replacing saddles is easy enough but requires setting up the intonation after. Things that the budget guitar owner may not be aware of or have the tools to correctly do.
On the strap buttons, I always go with strap locks. I put them on all my guitars
There are so many things you can do to bring your guitar to a good or better level. First of all, adjustments. A lot of problems are coming from bad adjustments of the height of the pickups or the pole screws, the neck position and the height of the strings, the saddle, the springs with the spring claw and all the ajustable pieces like a two point tremolo system. Also a good cleaning and maintenance of your guitar is important. And how old are the strings on this guitar? Try out some other strings and different types of strings, this also has a massive impact on the tone and playability. If this is all perfect for you, than you have a good starting point to make the next steps. I often see problems also on new guitars or on guitars that don't get the attention they need. Some guitar players don't see the details, they are just "users". I also started this way, but after some time it is necessary to know and to understand what is going on a guitar and where the tones are coming from and what's involved in creating a great sounding instrument. The next point is, is this guitar the right one for you and your style of playing guitar. There are some allrounders on the market, but is this really something you want? There is a reason why so many different types of guitars exist. If you are feeling that your guitar is the right one, what are you missing? If I know what I want, if it is clear, I can change parts that bring me better results. A bigger tremolo block, other electronic parts... this could be an endless journey.
Excellent stuff for playability!
The only one that truly changes the tone of your guitar is pickup replacement.
You also can knock the gloss off of the neck w/steel wool(or equivalent). I've done this for tons of people since the 70's.
For a Squier Stratocaster Classic Vibe 60s I replaced the tremolo for an ABM 5050-M vintage tremolo which fits perfectly and add some nice weight and sustain to the guitar, increases resonance and looks very good. Kluson MLV6LN machine heads which fit almost perfectly but make a great difference compared to those not reliable tuners. I had some DiMarzio Area’s waiting for a place in this world and they found it on this guitar. Wow, what a great guitar. I really love the sweet sound it produces right now and it is my main guitar nowadays. I would definitely get another second hand Classic Vibe and pimp her because it is fun!
Great video! Something I've started changing is string type, brand, etc. This can make a big difference in playability I think.
I have that same Classic Vibe. The only thing left stock is the neck and body. I did new Gotoh tuners, Brandonwound HSS pickups, Mojotone HSS wiring harness, sanded the back of the neck, and added a solid brass block for the trem. I also had the body painted the same color of a 70 Cuda my cousin owns. It's an awesome guitar.
Nice video Darrell! These are all solid mods. 👍
One of the best mods I did to my tele Cv was a tonerider hot classic pup + obsidian four selector switch. Oh Grover tuners. Compensated saddles. It sounds kick ass.
Playing with the tone capacitor values to roll off the treble starting at different frequencies. I currently have .36 rather than .47 in my tele and it sounds much less mushy as there are a few more high mids left in the signal as you roll back. Most capacitors have a +\- 10% accuracy so two pots of the same value can be noticeably different. I took this to an extreme when I added a 12way switch into the tone circuit of a prototype bass guitar with 12 dfferent values soldered to it. While some are no use to me the variety makes it possible to get a bass tone that cuts through the mix without ripping your ears off. Cheers Darrell.
Great video Darrell. Thanks so much.
Great video Darrell, this video is a must see especially for tuning stability I usually put locking tuners on all my electric guitars and change out the cheap stamped saddles on a strat or tele I love the Highwood saddles for a strat and graphtec for a tele or Les Paul.
Some good points in this video. I have an identical CV 50s Strat. The tuners are perfectly fine, no need to change them. Surprisingly, on my guitar the nut is cut well enough that a second string tree isn't necessary, but I have added them to other guitars. I swapped the pickguard for a pearloid one, kept the perfectly good AlNiCo pickups, upgraded the pots and switch, and most importantly, shielded the cavities with aluminium foil. The tremolo's a bit cheap and would benefit from an upgrade. I agree with ditching ceramic pickups.
Another excellent mod for Fender-style guitars is to fit inserts in the neck, so instead of woodscrews, the neck's held on with machine screws.
Cheaper solution I did on my saddles is put petroleum jelly as lubricant. Used to experience string breakages at the saddles, but after putting in the jelly, problem was eliminated. Also felt more vibration of the instrument after putting it.
Actually any grease will work, but preferred that since its safe on the skin.
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing. It might be worth stating if you're going to sand the neck, which I've done on two guitars, to use very fine sand paper, like 1000 grit or steel wool. You're just trying to dull the the finish, not remove it from the neck.
My first go-to upgrade on cheap guitars Is taking the strings off, work on the fretboard and frets to make them smooth and polished and then think about switching out hardware. Even without professional hardware a professional setup from a Guitar Tech has transformed some Squires and Epiphone into something a lot more high-end to play on.
I’ve been subbed for years and just noticed soli Deo Gloria. Love it!!
I like Graph Tech Ratios tuners. I just purchased a Player series Strat. It has the satin neck already so no speed neck treatment required but I do it on my other guitars. This Strat will get the full meal deal as far as mods go except the pickups for now. I may go with an EMG Crossroads set if I change them out. I ordered a Graph Tech super Charger kit that contains black saddles, string trees and 2 nuts, 1 slotted and 1 nut blank in Tusq XL material with Teflon. The tuners are Graph Tech contemporary locking tuners and for this mod you NEED the Invisiomatch adaptor plates for Fender 2 pin to make it work. This setup will give you perfect tuning stability. Zero Glide nuts can also work but when installing a nut on a guitar with a tremolo system I prefer Graphtech XL for the self lubricating feature. Graph Tech, tusq XL is many times better than bone. Once you use Graph Tech you aint going back. Also try their Tusq picks in the sample pack. I am a believer after trying these picks and YES, those picks do change tone, no joke.
I also purchased a Musiclily brass trem block and an AxLabs Tone Claw locking spring claw. I am not using coated trem springs for this reason. Ground problem. The coating will not provide a good ground unless you remove some of the coating. you can insert foam in the same amount of time in standard springs. I will use the Philip McKnight tech tip of inserting foam inside the trem springs to end spring noise issues. You need to hand cut and fit the foam but it does work for the intended purpose. The next thing I did was ordered some Fender tremolo arm springs that go in the place where the trem arm goes to help with the trem arm tension. Make sure to take out the spring and stow it after the gig when you take off the trem arm, very easy to lose the spring so keep a baggie for those springs. Fender sells them in a package so you will have backups if you happen to lose 1.
Another mod this guitar will get is a Stainless Steel Neck plate that is much thicker than the stock Fender plate. It is made by Van Dyke-Harms from Reverb and it works quite well for added sustain. Another neck plate I like is made by Greer Amps and it is made of cold rolled steel 1/8 inch thick. It is available in their merch section and I use this on 2 guitars. Great sustain additive. I have seen brass neck plates of the same thickness. The idea is to get more resonance and this will enhance tone and sustain. Another mod that most do not think of but should be doing. Stainless steel frets. If you can afford them, get them. Once you try them you may become addicted to the way they work on your guitar. All these tech tricks are going to require a little time on the bench. Make sure you take you time and do a proper set up after all the installations. If you do all of these things, you may really enjoy the results. Just give your guitar lots of love on the bench and it is going to be a workhorse for you.
changing the sustain block. can make a bid difference in tone. you should do a comparison of the difference between all the block materials. steel, tungsten, titanium, brass, stone. etc
Gotta give him a massage first though
The original strat plus series (1988-2004 ish?) came with roller nut, locking tuners, lace sensors ( which people either love or hate) tbx tone control for more sounds, and was made to Fenders highest standards ( company was in some financial trouble). Strat plus series mostly made by employees who went on to be Master builders with Fender. Just my opinion, strat plus series best strats you can buy
Fender employees rebelled against CBS and were able to buy out the company, but CBS refused to sell them the Fullerton factory. So, production had to move to Japan, and then Korea. Some interesting strats came out of that era. I have a 1989 E9 series, with plywood body, 500K mini-pots and a .33 cap . . . ceramic pickups. Still exploring the sound from that setup, but it is the neck that is the BOMB . . . super low action, clean and clear bar chords . . . just a gem of a neck. The rest of the guitar is fine . . . full size trem block, heavy, with bent Fender stamped saddles. I installed Kluson trapezoidal Plus tuners and a TusqXL nut . . . I may switch out the pickups and pots one day, but keeping it original for now.
Nearly 40 years ago, I screwed in the spring claw (after a light bulb moment) at the wound string side a little more, so it became angled. That adjustment meant that there was a more even balance at the trem from high E to low E. The result was "no more tuning drift" when string bending. The advent of Graphtech was also great insurance. The problem is recognising all the points of friction, and "equal bridge plate balance" is crucial as the wound strings have more pull. They now make angled spring claws, , ,it was only a matter of time. I also lessen the angle of the string from nut to string tree, by putting an extra spacer under the tree. More height (even with Graphtech) means less friction because the string angle is much gentler. Oh ! and only 2 of my Strats have locking tuners, the rest are standard, and every one of them are rock solid because the set ups are spot on. Knowing the quirks and weaknesses of the Strat helps a whole lot, and when that is understood, you'll have a great instrument in your hands. My string guage is 11 / 52. If you have 6 bridge plate screws, how far do you screw them down ? If you're interested, let me know, because that is also crucial.
Interesting suggestions
One of my upgrade favorites is changing pickups and p/u config. so i have 2 ,3 even 4
loaded pick guards , i can switch out a pickguard in 10 mins or less and total tone change
in your guitar and back at any time.
Mask off the back of the neck at the headstock and the heel before sanding down the gloss finish. Makes for a neat transition. The back of the headstock is still glossy, and a nice clean line where the new slick sanded finish starts. Looks cool.
aliexpress makes fenders better than fender.
Four-ought steel wool works well for knocking excess gloss off the neck, while still providing for easy hand movement. Don't actually need to take the neck off to do it, with a bit of care. Great vid, Darrell!
...as long as you can ensure that none of the steel wool particles get into the pickups, if they do they'll likely lead to rust and a rewind in a few years time.
@@johnthursfield3056 Quite right.
@@johnthursfield3056 Scotchbrite abrasives are a good alternative.
There's no need to remove the neck for removing the gloss - just protect the body and the headstock with the masking tape and use some Scotchbrite on the back of the neck. It's completely reversible, too - if you want it glossy again, just polish it up.
you r sooo right ..I did a mod on my Squier Affinity w/ almost all of the changes you spoke of and wow what a difference it made..The Affinity is a gr8 guitar out of the box but now its on a higher level.........
I instantly change to good quality strings, Tusk or bone nut , and polish the frets , lube the nut & saddles, and sand the back of the neck to a satin finish if needed. Hi-Ratio tuners like 18~1 or 20~1 makes tuning more accurate also, and a good set-up to start. For saddles I prefer titanium compensated for a T-style, graphtech or rollers for other style guitars. Then I will play it for a while to decide on pickups and electronics.
By tusk you mean real animal tusk or the composite material made by GraphTech?
@@gonzalooliveraalves I meant GraphTech. I do use real bone blanks as well, but they are not Tusk's.
@@Russell_Optics as far as I understand, animal tusk was used in the past for pianos and stuff like that, maybe people back then also did nuts out of it. Glad that GraphTech found a replacement for that with their TUSQ composite.
@@gonzalooliveraalves Ivory was a very common material for nuts. Bone was a cheap substitute & became the preferred replacement when ivory was outlawed. I think TUSQ was used as a trademark to link to that heritage & give a premium identity to a new synthetic product.
My favorite mods are treble bleed, (must have on every guitar), on my single coils I like to have a series/parallel switch, and I also very much like using a push-pull with different sets of tone capacitors
locking tuners, pickup swaps if needed, saddles, nut if needed. Tone Ninja, Hipshot and Graphtech are the main go tos. Pickups vary between EMG, Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan
Very helpful video.
I'm in search for a Squier CV Strat as a project guitar.
I will do all the headstock mods you suggested as well as a pickguard with an Obsidian wiring board.
Pickups will be TexMex in middle and bridge and Shawbucker 1 at the bridge.
And of course, straplocks.....🎸
More of an advanced mod if you don’t have soldering skills, adding in a push-pull or push-push pot to an S-type to give a neck-on switch. Unlocks neck-bridge, and all three tones. Similarly, putting a 4-way switch in a T-type for neck-bridge in series or in parallel. If you can find it, they also make string trees that are just a bar, so there’s no edge (Reverend uses types of these that also extend to the 3rd string.)
Best guitar maintenance investment is either Guitar Grease applied with a plastic toothpick (wood might lose a sliver that’s now stuck in your nut), or Big Bends Nut Lube. Big Bends is great because it’s in a syringe with a long bent tip to get into small spaces. I use it at the nut, under string trees and on bridge saddles. Stops any pinging and really helps with tuning stability.
Thanks again, Darrell. Where do the Riot tuners fit into you tuner upgrade considerations? I’m thinking about them for a project guitar.
in the netherlands we have a little hack for the strap buttons
we have these "Grolsch" brand swing top beer bottles, there's a rubber ring in between the top and the rest of the bottle to keep the seal while it's still closed, the ring is heavily biased one way (wrapped around the top)
those rings will fit around your strap buttons on your guitar, and they will help keep your strap on a lot tighter, the bias to 1 side can be used to help push the strap back in a bit.
it's not perfect, they will wear out as they dry up after a while, at which point the ring will come popping off, but it's better than the buttons by themselves.
ofcourse your milage varies on how big the strap buttons are to begin with, if they're a bit chunkier, chances are they won't pop back out that quickly
(at some point the holes in the leather straps will wear down too and they become the culprit)
but if you need to replace one, just pop open another beer :D
In US I use Grolsch or other swing top beer bottles to make a heavy short slide for use on the 4th or 3rd finger. Has a great tone.
Thank you so much for this just wish I had similar guitar to reference ^_^
Love the channel! For the solderless kits - which would you recommend for an Epiphone es-333? I checked the Obsidian link but wasn't sure which one would be best for my guitar.
Rotary switch or a five position blade switch for adding 5 capacitor choices, and a mini toggle switch DPDT or push/pull pots to select which pickup to phase shift, and for choice of series or parallal. A no load tone blend pot mod like Jay Leonard J channel video, or Six Strings Supplies channel video. Use only 500k pots with .022 capacitors for more range, as seen in video of Dylan Talks Tone channel. Floyd rose tremolo. Enlarge the body cavity for more space for components and wiring, then purchase sheet of pickguard material to make your own pickguard.
this is really very good and interesting, there are so many choices of stuff on the market these days, the discussion could go on forever, nearly,, well done with this one ,,, really well done ... I love doing this stuff, I just can't help taking things to bits and redesigning it to be better. I recommend trying it with a few cheapy s/h guitars , if you make a mistake ... no biggy
My first mod was switching out the humbuckers from a cheap squier telecaster and putting in humbucker-sized p90’s on it. Absolutely changed the sound
Hey Darrell, what is your brand suggestion for locking tuners on a Telecaster Thinline?
Appreciate your channel.
Thanks.
Larry Eveler, Venice FL
Dear Darrell, thank you very much to share your expertise with us. It is realy amazing, what possibilities there are to improve a guitar with low Investment and a little work. The only thing that I missed was some remarks on polishing frets and the fret ends. This missing should not be too complicated or time consuming, therefore it would perfectly fit into your „mod collection“. Again thank you very much for your effort, I‘m looking foreward for your next video! With best regards from Germany! Robert 😉😎👍
First things I replace on new guitars, from most important to least:
- Strings
- Graphtech nut
- Locking Tuners
- Schaller strap locks
I replaced the trem system for my American Performer Strat with a Floyd Rose rail tail, per Darrell's suggestion & I'm really happy I did.
I installed a "Les Trem II" to my ES-339 without modding the guitar at all, and it was cheaper than a Bigsby. I'd recommend trying that before trying a Bigsby solution on a guitar you care about resale on.
Nothing, on either Fender or Gibson style guitars, has improved my tuning stability more than Graphtech nuts. When replacing the nut, use a tiny bit of carpenter's wood glue only - not Gorilla Glue. I got improvement on my tune stability for my Gibson by adding a "String Butler". It's kind of a gimmick, but it does straighten the attack angle of the strings as they descend toward the top of the nut from the tuners.
I don't know if improving the string trees will improve things, but I'm trying it anyway. I have some on order, it's $10, what can you lose?
Bingo.
Every guitar in my collection gets new strings immediately, an appropriate set of locking tuners, and a set of Schaller strap locks. I give the nut a very good inspection, as well, and about 50% get a new nut, and I always use Graphtech when I do a replacement. I have one Gibson (an SG) that required a String Butler, and another that was fine without.
I have a wall of over 25 guitars, ranging from a $200 Squier to a full fat Gibson Les Paul, and every single one of them stays in tune. Some of my favorite guitars are also the cheapest, but with some cheap, easy mods, they play great. I also happen to think ceramic single coils sound great, but I'm clearly a weirdo, there.
@@earhornjones I don't work for Graphtech nor do I profit from selling anything from them - but anytime I get a new guitar, especially if it's got a trem system, I'm getting a Graphtech nut. I've spent so much money on other things that strengthens a guitar's tune stability - roller bridges, String Butler, locking tuners, more stable trem systems, bridges, NutSauce, you name it - and I'll also go as far to say a "bone" nut is no better than a plastic one. I get a new guitar every 6 months or so (only playing 4yrs now), and replacing the nut remains the biggest improvement to tune stability yet.
I thought I'd see a marked decrease in tune stability between Fender & Gibson, but I haven't. Despite the string attack angle and headstock angle of Gibsons, and the straight-thru nature of a Fender, my ES-339 was every bit as stable as my Tele Deluxe once the nuts were replaced.
The String Butler is a fantastic addition to a Gibson style three a side headstock. It completely solved my tuning stability issues!
@@jerbear1601 I've given up being a snob around that solution. It's not really a gimmick, and it DID improve my tune stability. I didn't get any damage from having it installed for a few months, but there's GOT to be some discoloration or even some evidence of it after having it on for a long time. On my Epiphone ES-339, I don't care, but on my Gibson, especially with a black headstock, any scuffing would show for sure.
Locking tuners are okay if you use them as directed lock them and tune them up without wraps they make string changes easier but if you want to change tunings they won't go down far and need extra wraps to achieve this. I still use a wrap on both top and bottom of the string to allow for this.
Just what I needed. I have a G&L tribute that could use some upgrades. I know you did a G&L tribute compare video, but I would love to see a tear down ☺️
Found an old PRS SE Singlecut on Reverb for cheap a few years ago. Put a Graphtech nut in it and swapped the stock pickups for DiMarzio PAF Masters. A previous owner had installed a kill switch. I don't play metal, so I repurposed the switch as a coil split on both pickups. Only other thing I really want to do is sand the gloss off the back of the neck, just haven't gotten around to doing it yet.
We know you couldn't afford that $500 guitar, so were gonna teach you how to buy $300 worth of mods for your $200 guitar
nice man!!!! thank you for sharing.
Thank you Darrell for this video.... I have an old 2008 Affinity Strat with scratchy pots, crappy tuners and I will assume based on the year it has a plastic nut AND the previous owner snapped off the tremolo arm to where I cannot remove the piece to get it out to replace it so since I'm not so interested in replacing a trem system I would do better with just a better hardtail bridge altogether. Thing is I really like the neck and they don't offer the cobalt blue color anymore so I want to keep the guitar but it never stays in tune. After watching this video I will look for some locking tuners, a bone nut and a new bridge. Really like the idea of that Obsidian drop in "no solder" pot piece too.... Also considering one of those pick guards that already has new pickups and pots/switches pre-wired... Your thoughts about those ? Anyway, I so appreciate this video as it took some of the sting out of modding a very inexpensive old Affinity. I only paid $100 for it so spending another $200 or so would still be keeping things affordable for this retiree ! Thanks again ! 👍
I enjoy your videos Daryl just have a quick question. What bridge type would be best if I do not want to trim? Second who does engraving on pit guards I have looked but cannot find any. Thank you. 12:16
Fret leveling job number one, then pickups, then tuners, nut, bridge, and finally pots, switches and jack.
For S style the PTB system (a la G&L) opens tones up hugely.
Great tips! Ivamba lefty and I can’t seem to find a lh guitar that checks all my boxes. Am thinking of buying a righthanded guitar and turn it to a lh one like an ibanez SA flat
or buy a lefty e and change ut into a hsh. I have a Squire classic vibe 60’s but i fond ij heavy and the g and are always out of tune. I hate the shinny neck and burst brown cour. Dreaming of a blue burst guitar but all the lh models have boring or uggly colours. Did you ever change de cour? I was thinking of getting a natural wiod and sand it down and make a burst in aqua colour like the cool Ibanez which are alk righthanded.Any ideas?
“000” steel wool is perfect for getting rid of the gloss on your neck. Even a painted neck. I’ve done it to every guitar I have that had a gloss neck. Only one I haven’t is my Michael Kelly 12 string acoustic. Just not as big of a deal on that guitar for me.
I’ve done everything in this video except the pick guard change. Some got one or two things. Some got all of them lol. Just depends on what I’m starting with.
220 or 330 gritt sand paper do a great job as well. I did this to all 30 of my guitars. Neck feels great like Darryl said.
Brillo pads and imitators work well, too. Just don't put any elbow grease behind them. try it for 15 seconds at a time, be very conservative lest you ruin the finish and have a "bald" neck.
So the one thing I have to add to this is the graphite thing. It’s a great tip depending on your climate, if you live in a place that can get humid then don’t do it because the graphite is likely to clump up in the slot and cause the same problem as before. The solution to that is nut lube (yes I know). That stuff works the best all around. But as always a great video!
thanks, seeing as i live in the netherlands (basically in the sea lol) with an average relative humidity of 81% across the entire year, that may come in handy :)
also lol yeah nut lube
you lot at the back stop giggling right now😛
I still absolutely LOVE the purple ish burst kit build you did! Looks amazing, not a high gloss finish fan and prefer black ish hardware . it sounded great , and LOOKED great!
LOVE the finish!
What pot sizes and capacitors do you recommend for upgrading strats and les pauls?
Great stuff, thanks so much!
My Strat:
1) Schaller locking tuners
2) Schaller strap locks
3) Fender HSS pickguard
4) Texas Special neck/mid pickups
5) Double Tap bridge pickup
6) Fender TBX pot
7) coil tap for bridge HB
8) Bridge... For the life of me I cannot recall who made the bridge, and I've not seen another like it.
Because I have the locking tuners I wanted something with fine tuning adjustments.
However, as this guitar has a vintage bridge, dropping in a Floyd Rose was out of the question. I came across a bridge at Sam Ash with the vintage 6 screw layout, and it's about the size of the stock bridge footprint. But it had fine adjustment screws, so it was perfect for what I wanted to do: have modern features, but a (mostly) vintage look/feel.
Most mods I don't mind doing. But I did my own routing for the bridge HB... What a mess that was... Won't do THAT again.
Only mod I haven't done that I may come back to at some point is replacing the nut with a Wilkinson roller.
This guitar is largely retired now. It was my first brand name guitar I bought with my own money and have had it for roughly 30 years now. I know many players like to keep their special/favorite in the rotation, I choose to preserve mine.
This was a moderately priced (for the early 90's) MiM Strat that I casually modded over the years.
Today, it would probably have to be an Affinity Squier to get the same value out of it. For some reason MiM Stratocasters have gone a little goofy in price lately.
Though it could so be a fun project with something like a Harley Brenton too. Then again Benton's often come with options like these mods for way less than it cost me to assemble. Heck, their 25th anniversary Strat is $269 and comes with a blade bridge pickup, locking tuners, a graphite nut and a push/pull coil tap!
But then again, most people will opt for the "brand name" over the "house brand"
But that's OK I suppose. But if I am being honest, I would PREFER a Harley Benton knockoff Strat over Squier any day.
What would I do differently if I had it to do over again:
The bridge HB is really my only regret. Don't get me wrong, it looks and sounds great, but I would never carve up the body today... I was a kid, what did I know? I wanted the Strat style and Strat name hit with the big sound. Today I would have just replaced the bridge pickup with a blade so I could preserve the body intact. None of the other mods are "permanent" cutting a chunk of wood out of the body is...
Is it weird that I play the drums but this is my favorite UA-cam channel? This dude has made me so interested in the guitar. I might even buy one some day😂.
For budget guitars, I highly recommend swapping tuners for something with a higher ratio. My daily guitars all have 18:1, whereas most of my cheaper guitars came with 15:1 or even 12:1! The 18:1 allows for finer tuning and a stronger hold.
If you’re breaking strings near the tuners, check for burrs. If you’re breaking them near the nut, check for burrs or replace. If you’re breaking strings near the bridge, check the saddles. Roller saddles are a great mod.
A little thing to take into account when looking for staggered locking tuners: There are brands that make them with 3 staggered heights (like Sperzel and Hipshot), but some other brands do them with only 2 different heights, and for those you still need a string tree because it doesn't put enough pressure on the nut slot.
Another great video Darrell
These mod guitar vids of yours have really helped me understand the guitar so much better over the years. Thanks so much D! Great stuff.
I'm wondering what strap buttons you suggest? Also, great video, I'm looking forward to souping up my Squire Tele!
Thanks Darrell for your videos
I just recently did a Graph Tech nut and string trees and Hipshot locking tuners, made a world of difference!
Hi from France and bravo for your vids. I want to talk about the trems. I bought a G&L in the early 90"s. (the day I heard about the death of Leo the great, I wanted to have one of the last guitars made under his supervision) I had, I mean I HAD to change the string tree, because everytime i bent a note, the tree would not allow the string to go back in place, and I had to push the string above the tree to come back to normal. Imagine that during a solo... So I replaced the tree for a roller one. Good. But then I realise it was not enough, and I looked at the trem. Nothing wrong to say about it, good and strong and heavy, but it was set to sit on the table when not used. That is how they are all set in the factory. Nobody seems to remember that those trem-systems were invented to be kinda floating. So I released the screws in the back to get it kinda floating again like it should, of course I also had to adjust the saddles to their right intonation point, but finally, all my bending problems were gone, and I gain a lot of playing comfort, a warmer sound, and an ability to vibrate my notes with the palm of my right hand without using the trem bar. Since then, I did it to all my strat-like guitars with great satisfaction. Morality : use the tools within their initial purpose is not always the worst idea. (Pardon me if my english is not so f...ing good, but i'm sure you will excuse my french...)
Love the look of the purple FT double cutaway guitar you showed - in reference to the black graftech bridge saddles. What is it??
Hi Darrell I just bought a fender deluxe Nashville telecaster. It doesn’t have the push pull knobs on it anymore. Instead there are 2 volume and one tone knob? What are your thoughts on this setup? Any info would be great.
What are your thoughts on roller trees? I have them on both of my Strats, my cheap Glarry Mustang imitation and I'll put them on the Squier Mustang I just ordered when I set it up.
My go to mods for most modern wired guitars is either 50's wiring or a treble bleed curcuit with an orange drop or paper 'n oil tone capacitor. Good pots and switches are a must.
@Mark Seymour No difference between any kind if the values are equal? Sure. I'm not talking about spending more than a few bucks here and if you think it's all a waste, great. I've gotten results from all the mods I do. Maybe you don't feel it's worthy of your time? I enjoy modding guitars and find it very rewarding to hear the results when I'm done.
About bridge improvement I would underline the tremblock, to a stainless steel full size. This is both for thin Squier and for zinc full size pertaining to MiM.
Every time i watch Darrell. I want to go pick up my guitar and play.. you came a long way,, i am happy for you....🎸🎸
- Not really a mod, but new or used, a guitar needs a setup when you buy it. Either do it yourself or pay someone, but it's mandatory, imo. Especially if switch to heavy-ass strings like I do.
- I will sometimes upgrade tuners if they're cheap to begin with, but I still always go with vintage style, with the hole down the middle of the shaft. I've never had locking tuners, but they feel like something that belongs on a guitar with a floyd rose or something nutty like that. The vintage style always look nice and clean because the cut end is tuned away.
- The strap buttons get replaced with Schaller strap locks right away. Someone may have developed something better since the 90's, but I've never had a problem with the Schallers, and they've definitely earned my trust.
- I play a lot of surf, so strat style bridges get better saddles, with a softer break angle. the stamped fender saddles have too sharp of a break angle, and they break strings too easy. And we can't have that.
- I'm still suspicious of solderless electronics. I like having the wires and knowing the globs of solder are there.
You can get roller bridges for Gibson-style bridges in general, not just for the Bigsby trems.
As for strap locks, I prefer those rubber Fender washer blocks. Any shop which sells Fender/Squier has packs of two pairs for $5, and you can get them in black, red, or sea foam green, so you can match them to your strap. My personal favourite is sea foam green because I use the Fender "Ugly Christmas Sweater" strap. Anyway, they do everything I need them to do. I don't do those metal-style throwing the guitar around my body (such as the Kutless video, "Your Touch"), so I don't need the full-on mechanical Schaller locks. Rubber washer blocks are good enough for me.
@Guitar Nerd. You may already know this. There is a brand of bottled lager beer from Holland (I think) called Grolsch. The bottle has a re-sealable ceramic flip-top cap/stopper with a rubber ring. These rubber rings can be used as strap locks. What's not to like. You get a cool beer and a free strap lock for your favourite guitar! Stay safe and well.
Indeed you are correct. Although, I have never bought Grolsch, simply because I don't like the taste of beer.
That said, Holland does have a brand of cider who uses those same stoppers. I have used those rings.
All great ideas. I can personally vouch for bigger strap buttons.
Random question, but I'm a new player. I have found a guitar body and neck, that's it, in my grandparents garage. Its from the old behringer v-tone starter kits. Would it be worth sinking over 100$ in cheapish import parts off amazon, or should one buy a new strat style? I think the neck and body are in good shape.
How did you find smoked chrome buttons for the FMT Tele? I've been wanting some for mine but I'm afraid they wouldn't match the rest of the trim on it.
Could not agree with you more about throwing cheap alnico pickups in a project guitar. That mod got me closer to my goal
If you buy an off brand strat with solid saddles and wonder why it doesn't have the dynamics and snap of a Real Fender. It's the bent steel saddles. Found that out when I finally bought a Fender Player and wanted to have "nicer" saddles. Completely transformed the tone to every other strat I had owned before. Changed them right back.
for neck things
i'm reverse on what you do
back in a day i got guitar with neck satin finish and it doesn't gave me a comfortable played so i spray gloss finish and polish until its shiny
and never felt uncomfortable again hahaha
4/0 steel wool works great to tame that sticky neck and you don't have to worry about sanding through your paint. I even done an entire black sg that was beat up a bit and I wish I could post a pic here to show how well 4/0 steel wool works. Just don't use any courser wool than 4/0, you will have scratches.
Strings, pickups and the neck are the things I'll focus on. I use .008s and I'm an omnivore with pickups. Anything from EMG to Carvin and Dragonfire. I'll sand the necks to bare wood. The Japanese Squier I have had for around 30 years has an EMG double and single coil, and a kmd reverse wound. I chiseled the pickup cavity out with a really big screwdriver to make room for em. It had a Schaller single locking trem. Replaced it with an old fender bridge. Still held on with door hinges. 🤨😂
Thx Darrell