Wow, I started this video a long time ago lol... Links to everything used in the description! High Intergrity stickers and shirts now available! agufish.myshopify.com. And if you want to hear the full demo of the new pickup set (including dry tracks) here is the link: ua-cam.com/video/b6sf-Scywhk/v-deo.html
Agufish Hey that was a great project Hunter! Love it! But... what about the blue Singlecut-Guitar in your Outro? You've said once, you would explain it... BUT YOU NEVER DID! WHAT IS IT? T_T
Absolutely, It is difficult to hear what is going on in a mix, especially on cheap $30 headphones. It may be a different story on my studio monitors...
There's a review of the guitar pre mods, and there's a review of the pick ups he did a bit later on, using this guitar. Both videos have dry tracks. He doesn't have an agenda lol. Most if not all after market parts would be better than stock parts on a 30 dollar guitar. The original bridge was probably made for pennies while the hipshot is made of stainless steel. You do the math.
Honestly, I couldn't hear too much of a difference between the pre-mod guitar and the post-mod in the mix through headphones -- the Fishman pickup mix definitely sounded "boosted," but not all that different in tone. Would be great to hear a side-by-side clean comparison.
Hunter did say that the differences were more obvious in the room than in a mix. But that is a problem, because we only get to hear the mix - after the flattening effect of UA-cam's own processing. I did hear a difference, but it was slight: certainly not enough to justify the difference in price.
Yeah fair comment that, Paul. I must confess for what they cost - £320 for the Strat triple set - I'd much rather buy three Duncans or Dimarzios and have a lot of change leftover.
He was doing the before and after. When the floating text changed from the old to the new the sound was also changing. It is telling that you couldn’t tell the difference because honestly at first I couldn’t either because they were so similar. Basically shows that playing is all that matters and even if upgrades like this are fun, no one will tell the difference listening to fancy hardware and electronics. They will only care if the playing is good.
@@PaulHofreiter i think they sound so similar as the amp was the same you could have a 100 dollar strat and buy an 1000 one and they would sound the same and the playing would feel a lot better.
@@yaboisalty Basically... Nowadays, hardware on the actual guitar isn't as important as the amp you're using. The first thing I test when I'm buying a guitar is the playability and the the tuning stability
The “hissy, ice-picky pickups” and “awesome fluence pickups” sound identical in this mix. I’m sure the individual tracks sound better, but this overall just seems pretty pointless.
@@whatskraken3886 The biggest difference in your tone will be whatever you choose to play through (amp, effects processors, pedalboards etc), however the signal you send towards that needs to be as best as possible to get the best possible result afterwards i.e. pickups with less hiss more clarity will get you further than some cheap shit ones. At the end of the day a pickup change alone will not magically transform your tone.
@@danonthestrings yeah i was being heavily hyperbolic, pickups totally do make a difference, but at the end of the day, like you said, amp is the big thing.
He didn't play it before to see how it sounds like and didn't even play it out of the mix. LIke... common... we can even make a Virtual sound instrument sound nice with a mix why not this guitar? It didn't prove anything
I know that the guitar before and after doesn't sound very different, but keep in mind these kinds of mods usually help more with feel and control rather than time and sound. Examples: tuning stability, hydrated fretboard, etc.
hahaha the single width wiring is a weird set up. The bridge pickup is kind of like the master pickup that everything else runs off of. It was confusing af and I couldn't get it working right. There was either no output or EXTREMELY low output. After I sent it to Ken, he called just to tell me how trash my wiring was 🤣
I knew Ken worked in artist relations for Fishman (which seemed odd in itself but cool), but it's nuts that he actually put your pickguard together. That alone makes that guitar unique
I just don’t understand how a guitar of any quality can be produced and sold for $30 while still making a profit. Don’t the raw materials alone cost at least that much? I’m amazed such a cheap guitar even exists!
It doesn't have any quality. That's how they can make it so cheap. That's probably made up of all the offcuts and parts that weren't good enough to build a Squier.
I'm guessing it's from parts that didn't meet the QA standards of the manufacturer. They sell them off to a third party at a discount and they build the guitar.
Possibly made from scrap wood pulled out of a skip at a construction site. Since it was mentioned in this video that the guitar has zero sustain. id bet $30 that the woods used were just that... Pull into your local DIY shop and just select the cheapest chunk of wood possible. If youre building a shelf, table or shack out of wood, the last thing you care about is the tonal qualities it has to offer if it was made into an instrument.... It doesnt need to be good. just serviceable as the likelihood of a pro or intermediate guitarist picking this guitar up is probably zero to none. This is the kind of bullshit guitar to give to your kid when they say they want to learn how to play a guitar but you dont want to invest hundreds of dollars into something they will toy around with for 5mins then never touch again. Occasionally this shit quality makes appearances in 'build your own guitar' kits. They dont care about QC because youre going to be doing all the work for them anyway.
Seems like the flavour of the day lately (so to speak). Which You Tube Guitar guy can find the cheapest guitar and make it nice. I think you’ve found the cheapest one so far. I just came back from the grocery store , beer, cat food, bread, milk, = $40.00. Usually it’s more than that, every day.( Vancouver Canada, that’s what things cost here) If I was gigging right now, I’d buy a dozen of these and just give them away as a promotion, ( would probably bring in more people, better than a t shirt ,etc). Anyway, gotta know where to draw the line, you will never get a quality guitar brand new for under $500.00. Even then you will probably upgrade.
WAΓUIGI ua-cam.com/video/b6sf-Scywhk/v-deo.html He made this video now so you can stop complaining like an asshole. I don't even care about whatever this guy does, just wanted to say that you are a massive douche.
These days pretty much yes, above that it's mostly a luxury product, different country of assembly, and prestige badge. You can get most any Agile, Epiphone SG or LP(I got my LP Custom Pro for $320 with Hard Case), PRS SE 245, Squire Classic Vibe, J Mascis Jazzmaster, Schecter C-1 or Omen (Many more options Used), Lots of Harley Benton options, Yamaha Pacifica or RevStar, Kramer Striker Custom 211, Dean Dave Mustaine Zero. ESP LTD EC-256FM or MH-50., Guild S-200 (Used), etc etc
Finally someone said it. 600-1000 USD can get you an excellent strat or tele type guitar. The Michael Kelly Korean made Strats and teles are very good. Hell, even the new Fender Player series and Deluxe Mexican guitars are good. You can always change the pickups if you don't like the stock ones. Personally I wouldn't waste my time and money like the guy in the video. Sure you can dump the money into new pups, bridge, and tuners. But the neck and specifically the frets are going to be uneven and made out of cheap metal that won't last very long. So you'll need a fret level and crowing as well. Plus these cheap guitars are probably made by Chinese slave labor in a sweatshop .
Johnnybomb1 yeah most of the ones I named are actually in the 3-400 range, so enough to changed pickups or wiring/tuners for the $600. Guitar companies are basically running out of cheaper places to manufacture. Japan became Mexico and Japan became high quality long ago, then Korea, now China. Indonesia and India or the only questionable countries now.
Dear Hunter, there's certainly nothing more satisfying than a video of high intergrity upgrades put to a guitar. And don't we all love our Lego? Keep doing these, modding videos are always awesome since they're always individual.
Yes, we want a cat review. Or at least an introduction. I don’t even know its name or gender for God’s sake. If you want me to take this channel seriously, more cat required.
I beg to differ. The amp helps but there is a clear difference between the two. The old pickups are hissy and unclear. They lack punch and get lost in the mix. The new fishmans punch through the mix and just sound soooo much better. I accept that a good amp has more value in a mix but there is a reason why great gear costs. Bad gear sounds cheap/terrible regardless of format. Ask any sound engineer. They’ll say the same thing.
Sorry but difference between stock and fishman pickups made a huge difference. And no - not all guitar sound good in tracks... Secondly, this stock pickups are not that bad, there was even some pickup brand what was selling them.
I'm a HUGE fan of taking cheap-o guitars and pimping them out, and have been doing just that for about 5 years now. There's tons of low-cost options for improving what is considered "low quality guitars" as well as tricks for improving the feel...but it takes work, knowledge, and skills. One constructive point I would offer up... If replacement parts don't line up because they were made for an authentic Fender Strat and you want to put them on a non-Fender product, there are specs that Fender has that are part of their patent/copyright designs that other manufacturers are not allowed to copy. It's not "poorly cut" or "improperly aligned", it's what those companies are allowed to do without infringing. Instead, speak about how to modify further with filling and re-tapping the screw-holes, light sanding the neck for a better feel, dressing the fret ends, using better materials like popsicle stick and wood glue to affix the nut. Food for thought.
this is ridiculous...I can't believe you put all that money into a cheap guitar. So, I'm going to do it too. My neck is bad so, I'm going to put a Strat neck on my cheap guitar. Ultralight STRAT!
The flange garbler makes a massive difference to the exuberance of the splimpensploof. It would be interesting to modulate a schmarkoff with an integrated rip shredder. Subbed
@@fredfunf3456 34 degrees clockwise and 3cm from the plunge heel. Get your fingers all greased up and have a poke around, when you feel something that feels like a cats nose, peel it off and there you have found it. Just be careful of electric shocks, and don't be alarmed, the shrieking is normal.
Mod projects are super fun. Personally, I look for great value / dollar instruments in the used market so that the craftsmanship is well done. Improvements gained from switching out the nut and bridge cannot be overstated: pickups can only reproduce the frequencies that are already there. My next project will be a fretless bass conversion, wish me luck!
When you shifted to the modded version in the video, it sounded like it got tracked an additional time, everything felt thicker and just... better. High intergrity indeed
As far as my ears allow it, the fishman pickups sound slightly richer, more harmonic content and slightly more bass. It's pretty tough to hear in a full mix though.
A noticeable improvement but not mind-blowing difference. I have a guitar with the SRC set and there was a bit of a honeymoon period with them but after awhile realized the good old EMG 81 is better in the bridge. The neck is identical to the sound/feel of the 707
@@palboytg1 I know what "he" is implying, it doesn't mean that "he" isn't a bot. He very well could be a bot. He hasn't responded to my message calling him a bot yet
@BingaBongaBanga well if nobody cares, why'd you bother writing that paragraph in response to me? That kinda implies that you care, since you cared enough to go off on me. Why don't you shut up and mind your own business then, and stop caring since nobody cares?
From this video alone: You need some reverb absorption materials and possibly some bass traps (not hard to make yourself for "cheap", but easier to just buy when you get the money), and can be made temp. ;)
Saw this a while back, glad I tripped over it again! Lots of fun! Great looking guitar, that PINK ROCKS!!!! Thanks and GIVE ME MORE!!!! It's was very fun video!
I want more of this pimp my guitar stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10:07 You should totally be in a band again. You would look awesome playing that riff on stage with such a guitar. I'm upgrading my Bullet Strat, so maybe we can start a band that only uses upgraded cheap instruments?
Same, but I'll have to scrounge up some dough to upgrade my Peavey Raptor Plus. It's a good guitar really, in spite of a couple chips in the body and needing a good wash. I'll be wanting a guitar solo btw. A slow-ish, bendy one. ;)
I love hipshot so much now, I bought one set of these open gear locking tuners for one of my 7s and fell in love with them, so I ordered two more sets for 2 other guitars as well as a hardtail bridge. Super high quality hardware, and feels and looks great! Will definitely be my go-to in the future for most of my guitar hardware.
For a UA-cam video, a fun idea. As an actual thing to do, this is madness. If it was a really great squier with a couple of problems and you know everything will fit, ok. But if you need to change everything maybe it just isn't right. Looking forward to the pickup demo. Looking to change up my strat but I think I'll end up with an iron gear humbucker in the bridge unless you change my mind.
This has inspired me to upgrade my very first guitar 🎸. The Peavey Raptor series 1. Gonna go with pretty much everything you put on this one beside the single active Fishman Fluence and single volume knob. Going for a Jim root Strat kind of look. Suggestions on a new neck ? Wanted one with no inlays
I must rewatch this with headphones, with my laptop speakers both pups sound the same but im pretty sure its not like that. That said, amazing playing as always, and pretty cool project. I got a strat recently and was thinking about doing myself a sustainer for the neck but i didn't know where to put the battery, now i do. Fuck i need money and get me some fishman stuff keep the good content up! edit: the only pink strat I've found under a grand is a charvel pro mod sd1 on neon pink. I think jackson has some soloist too.
The more distortion you're using, the more important your pickup is. Cheap single coils in particular have a really nasty thin squishy sort of sound under heavy distortion, not to mention they're noisy. You need a good humbucker if you want meaty chugga chugga tones. It all has to do with where the resonant peak of the pickup is, the output level, overtones, etc. Truthfully, the shittiest single coil in the shittiest guitar from the shittiest Chinese factory will produce a passable clean sound with some EQ; distortion is where they show their true colors.
@@SodomySnake thank you. Im attempt to buy those from china, I dont know if there are cheap, because they just dont have the logo brand like many other stuff
Well It doesn't sound much better with these upgrades.. The difference could have been much greater if you did some work on the fretsand on the neck Pocket. Also, since you weren't able to do the wiring yourself, you basically bought a crapy 630$ guitar, congatulations !
That's actually a really good question. I do like doing ridiculously over the top projects, so if I could afford to drop $600+ on upgrades, I would do it every time. But I can't because I don't have that kind of money, so if this particular project at this particular time had been completely self-funded, I would have gone with different parts out of necessity!
Slash used a counterfeit Gibson guitar which cost less money than a Gibson standard and people thought he was using a Gibson guitar. When it comes to Led Zeppelin, people can't tell the difference between a telecaster into a recording desk or a Gibson into a Marshall. That tells me that a gigging guitar should be about weight and play ability over sound.
I love hot rodding guitars. That said a hot roded guitar is not quite the same as a custom shop. Keep in mind that you are paying a master luthier for their time, knowledge and experience when you order one. You are getting way better than assembly line instrument. I would recommend that someone who has enough money to buy a custom guitar hot rod a standard guitar to their own specs. Then this should help determine if they will work in a custom guitar. Like hot rodded guitars though you will not get your money's worth if you resell it. Do both strictly for yourself with no intention of getting rid of them.
When I clicked on this video I wondered what that guitar would sound like after you modified it. Now after I have watched the video, I wonder what that guitar would sound like after you modified it.
I have a white Paulownia wood parts-o-caster. With a Wilkinson high output humbucker in the bridge. Plugged into my Blackstar HT100 it sounds like Green Day!! It roars !
Please don't tell me you are using that adjustable wrench on your more expensive guitars. Get a nice socket wrench set or at least an Esp multi spanner. Your hardware and guitar finishes will thank you.
BunkMasterFlex77 Yes!!! Hunter use that Patreon money and get yourself some decent tools. Check out StewMac for guitar specific tools. You will enjoy these rebuilds way more!
Wow, I started this video a long time ago lol... Links to everything used in the description! High Intergrity stickers and shirts now available! agufish.myshopify.com.
And if you want to hear the full demo of the new pickup set (including dry tracks) here is the link: ua-cam.com/video/b6sf-Scywhk/v-deo.html
Agufish Feels like High Integrity is gonna be the new "BIT-CONNEEEEEEEECT" meme xD
I like that your twin brother, also named Hunter, but with no goatee, helped with the video 😜🎸 that was intergral to the success
Agufish I loved watching your facial hair change throughout the video 😂
Would love to have heard the tone BEFORE the mods. Do you have an example of that?
Agufish
Hey that was a great project Hunter! Love it!
But... what about the blue Singlecut-Guitar in your Outro? You've said once, you would explain it... BUT YOU NEVER DID! WHAT IS IT? T_T
Should have played the guitar before and after without track
Absolutely, It is difficult to hear what is going on in a mix, especially on cheap $30 headphones. It may be a different story on my studio monitors...
There's a review of the guitar pre mods, and there's a review of the pick ups he did a bit later on, using this guitar. Both videos have dry tracks. He doesn't have an agenda lol. Most if not all after market parts would be better than stock parts on a 30 dollar guitar. The original bridge was probably made for pennies while the hipshot is made of stainless steel. You do the math.
@Steve go back to reddit, not everything is a conspiracy
@Steve no shit he's in it for the money, but he's conspiring with the companies he promoted? get real, idiot
yes 😑
A $500 saddle on a $50 horse?
no, more like replacing everything but the skin in a $50 horse with a $400 horse and putting a $100 saddle on it
@@268snake 400 is actually really cheap for a horse lol. The most expensive horse ever sold was 70 million dollars 😬
Alex Whybrow
It's called a metaphor.
@@TheEchelon I know it's a metaphor, I'm just saying that it's cheap for a horse..
*when you realize your horse was $600 and ur saddle was $100* 👀👀
Honestly, I couldn't hear too much of a difference between the pre-mod guitar and the post-mod in the mix through headphones -- the Fishman pickup mix definitely sounded "boosted," but not all that different in tone. Would be great to hear a side-by-side clean comparison.
Glad I wasn't the only one, Keith, the difference was barely noticeable to me through some damn good quality studio headphones.
Hunter did say that the differences were more obvious in the room than in a mix. But that is a problem, because we only get to hear the mix - after the flattening effect of UA-cam's own processing. I did hear a difference, but it was slight: certainly not enough to justify the difference in price.
Keith Campbell yeah sounds the exact same to me bar the boosting
Yeah fair comment that, Paul. I must confess for what they cost - £320 for the Strat triple set - I'd much rather buy three Duncans or Dimarzios and have a lot of change leftover.
And I thought my ears were crap!
Didn't find a big difference.
No before and after of how the guitar sounds??!!
He was doing the before and after. When the floating text changed from the old to the new the sound was also changing. It is telling that you couldn’t tell the difference because honestly at first I couldn’t either because they were so similar. Basically shows that playing is all that matters and even if upgrades like this are fun, no one will tell the difference listening to fancy hardware and electronics. They will only care if the playing is good.
and what was played was all distorted shit
@@PaulHofreiter i think they sound so similar as the amp was the same
you could have a 100 dollar strat and buy an 1000 one and they would sound the same
and the playing would feel a lot better.
@@yaboisalty Basically... Nowadays, hardware on the actual guitar isn't as important as the amp you're using. The first thing I test when I'm buying a guitar is the playability and the the tuning stability
Xiu Xiu Strongly agree!!!
The “hissy, ice-picky pickups” and “awesome fluence pickups” sound identical in this mix.
I’m sure the individual tracks sound better, but this overall just seems pretty pointless.
The difference wasn’t night and day in the mix but it was definitely there
hmm maybe that's proof that PICKUPS DON'T MATTER
@@whatskraken3886 The biggest difference in your tone will be whatever you choose to play through (amp, effects processors, pedalboards etc), however the signal you send towards that needs to be as best as possible to get the best possible result afterwards i.e. pickups with less hiss more clarity will get you further than some cheap shit ones. At the end of the day a pickup change alone will not magically transform your tone.
@@danonthestrings yeah i was being heavily hyperbolic, pickups totally do make a difference, but at the end of the day, like you said, amp is the big thing.
you just remove the guitar and put another guitar on it
@Jessie Hinojoza Andrade how is that wooosh?
@@wockymocky3691 cuz that was the entire point of the video
@@wockymocky3691 woooosh
What a salty community
Jessie Hinojoza Andrade r/foundthemobileuser
Also, obligatory r/ihavereddit
Title should’ve been
Make a $30 guitar perform like a $50 guitar for $630
Clorox Bleach lol!
hahaha burned to the fucking ground.
Clorox Bleach more like making $30 guitar sound like a $10 guitar for $600
With that cardboard rigged nut, it may have played better before.
fk u ur eveywhere
Can we hear the guitar on its own out of the mix?
I agree - you can't even hear what it sounds like through the multitrack layers of track in that dodgy generic 90's metal song.
You really wana hear from a guy who pretends to like metal and love a pink guitar.
@@midwaynights hey F off i have pink guitar its nothing to be a shamed of
@@hattiwattti6951 - Not to NPCs, it's not. 🤣
He didn't play it before to see how it sounds like and didn't even play it out of the mix. LIke... common... we can even make a Virtual sound instrument sound nice with a mix why not this guitar? It didn't prove anything
I know that the guitar before and after doesn't sound very different, but keep in mind these kinds of mods usually help more with feel and control rather than time and sound. Examples: tuning stability, hydrated fretboard, etc.
Etc. like pickups? Literally make the sound, Bridge, holds the strings the right way, which makes the sound?
@@JaceBarnett-zt5hb sound comes mostly from the amp
Why does your BASS have 6 strings? wierd. triple checkmate guitarist
Slap dislike on this video
@@alexandervp7922 N O W
Davie would not be proud
*BASS*
🅱️ass
Not a single djent 0/10
I lost it when Ken Susi had to wire it up for you 😂
hahaha the single width wiring is a weird set up. The bridge pickup is kind of like the master pickup that everything else runs off of. It was confusing af and I couldn't get it working right. There was either no output or EXTREMELY low output. After I sent it to Ken, he called just to tell me how trash my wiring was 🤣
Next time play it without any backing track. It sounds so muddy. The whole thing sounds like crap.
"A self lubricating nut"
Everyone who doesn't know that we're talking about guitars would look very odd at you if you were to say that.. xD
it does the same thing as its female counterpart!
LOL
I thought it was a stevey t video
Fuck that guy
@@niknak8299 come on, stevie T isn't that bad
I did too. That's why I originally clicked
same
Me too, it almost prevented me from clicking on it.
Glad I did though.
I knew Ken worked in artist relations for Fishman (which seemed odd in itself but cool), but it's nuts that he actually put your pickguard together. That alone makes that guitar unique
I just don’t understand how a guitar of any quality can be produced and sold for $30 while still making a profit. Don’t the raw materials alone cost at least that much? I’m amazed such a cheap guitar even exists!
It doesn't have any quality. That's how they can make it so cheap. That's probably made up of all the offcuts and parts that weren't good enough to build a Squier.
I'm guessing it's from parts that didn't meet the QA standards of the manufacturer. They sell them off to a third party at a discount and they build the guitar.
Possibly made from scrap wood pulled out of a skip at a construction site. Since it was mentioned in this video that the guitar has zero sustain. id bet $30 that the woods used were just that... Pull into your local DIY shop and just select the cheapest chunk of wood possible. If youre building a shelf, table or shack out of wood, the last thing you care about is the tonal qualities it has to offer if it was made into an instrument.... It doesnt need to be good. just serviceable as the likelihood of a pro or intermediate guitarist picking this guitar up is probably zero to none.
This is the kind of bullshit guitar to give to your kid when they say they want to learn how to play a guitar but you dont want to invest hundreds of dollars into something they will toy around with for 5mins then never touch again.
Occasionally this shit quality makes appearances in 'build your own guitar' kits. They dont care about QC because youre going to be doing all the work for them anyway.
Steve Synan companies usually make deals with the material suppliers
Seems like the flavour of the day lately (so to speak). Which You Tube Guitar guy can find the cheapest guitar and make it nice. I think you’ve found the cheapest one so far. I just came back from the grocery store , beer, cat food, bread, milk, = $40.00. Usually it’s more than that, every day.( Vancouver Canada, that’s what things cost here) If I was gigging right now, I’d buy a dozen of these and just give them away as a promotion, ( would probably bring in more people, better than a t shirt ,etc). Anyway, gotta know where to draw the line, you will never get a quality guitar brand new for under $500.00. Even then you will probably upgrade.
I wish you would play it without the heavy backing track, couldn't really tell the tones apart
Need a better ear my child ;O
WAΓUIGI Feel free to continue to sound like a jealous little bitch.
WAΓUIGI
ua-cam.com/video/b6sf-Scywhk/v-deo.html
He made this video now so you can stop complaining like an asshole. I don't even care about whatever this guy does, just wanted to say that you are a massive douche.
You couldn't have just plugged the guitar in and played it?
Agreed. A good amp makes a big difference.
i was zoned out until i heard him say "self lubricating nut"
Same
Same
Same
Same
Same
Crap nut, new band name
or nut hole!
Lol!
Self lubricating nut
would defo go for self lubricating nut 😏 but theres actually a band called crying nut theyre korean 😂😂
Self Lubricating nut is better
Next time buy a $600 guitar and put the $30 parts on, see if you can turn a high end guitar into a unusable scrap guitar
HollowedSun yes he did.
600$ a high end guitar?
These days pretty much yes, above that it's mostly a luxury product, different country of assembly, and prestige badge. You can get most any Agile, Epiphone SG or LP(I got my LP Custom Pro for $320 with Hard Case), PRS SE 245, Squire Classic Vibe, J Mascis Jazzmaster, Schecter C-1 or Omen (Many more options Used), Lots of Harley Benton options, Yamaha Pacifica or RevStar, Kramer Striker Custom 211, Dean Dave Mustaine Zero. ESP LTD EC-256FM or MH-50., Guild S-200 (Used), etc etc
Finally someone said it. 600-1000 USD can get you an excellent strat or tele type guitar. The Michael Kelly Korean made Strats and teles are very good. Hell, even the new Fender Player series and Deluxe Mexican guitars are good. You can always change the pickups if you don't like the stock ones.
Personally I wouldn't waste my time and money like the guy in the video. Sure you can dump the money into new pups, bridge, and tuners. But the neck and specifically the frets are going to be uneven and made out of cheap metal that won't last very long. So you'll need a fret level and crowing as well. Plus these cheap guitars are probably made by Chinese slave labor in a sweatshop .
Johnnybomb1 yeah most of the ones I named are actually in the 3-400 range, so enough to changed pickups or wiring/tuners for the $600.
Guitar companies are basically running out of cheaper places to manufacture. Japan became Mexico and Japan became high quality long ago, then Korea, now China. Indonesia and India or the only questionable countries now.
Dear Hunter, there's certainly nothing more satisfying than a video of high intergrity upgrades put to a guitar. And don't we all love our Lego?
Keep doing these, modding videos are always awesome since they're always individual.
The before and after sound is missing in the video. Without it, this is totally not worth it.
It's in the mix at the end.
I love how there's heavy metal in the background while he is holding a hot pink guitar.
'Hissy pickups' and 'awesome Fluence pickups' sounded exactly the same.
Mods are an "intergral" part of competitive satisfaction.
Review of the cat please.
and what Simon says too
*snork*. I know right? Cute kitteh.
Yes, we want a cat review. Or at least an introduction. I don’t even know its name or gender for God’s sake. If you want me to take this channel seriously, more cat required.
1:18 ur cat in the background is just perfect
This defeats the purpose. You made a track. Anyone can make a guitar sound good when recorded in a track
I agree.
I beg to differ. The amp helps but there is a clear difference between the two. The old pickups are hissy and unclear. They lack punch and get lost in the mix. The new fishmans punch through the mix and just sound soooo much better.
I accept that a good amp has more value in a mix but there is a reason why great gear costs. Bad gear sounds cheap/terrible regardless of format. Ask any sound engineer. They’ll say the same thing.
A sentence only said by mouthbreathers who have absolutely no music engineering knowledge.
Sorry but difference between stock and fishman pickups made a huge difference. And no - not all guitar sound good in tracks... Secondly, this stock pickups are not that bad, there was even some pickup brand what was selling them.
Video improved 150% by cat
You're generic normie. CocaCola ads probably work on you lol
@@maw9406 Yeah, cause nothing screams "edgelord" like calling someone a "normie".
I love cats
Julia C cats suck ass
@@isyaboigenji2483 well that's just your opinion Bitch
I'm a HUGE fan of taking cheap-o guitars and pimping them out, and have been doing just that for about 5 years now. There's tons of low-cost options for improving what is considered "low quality guitars" as well as tricks for improving the feel...but it takes work, knowledge, and skills.
One constructive point I would offer up...
If replacement parts don't line up because they were made for an authentic Fender Strat and you want to put them on a non-Fender product, there are specs that Fender has that are part of their patent/copyright designs that other manufacturers are not allowed to copy. It's not "poorly cut" or "improperly aligned", it's what those companies are allowed to do without infringing. Instead, speak about how to modify further with filling and re-tapping the screw-holes, light sanding the neck for a better feel, dressing the fret ends, using better materials like popsicle stick and wood glue to affix the nut.
Food for thought.
good comments
This is too much Knowledge for my "3 months of guitar experience" brain
Do you make profit put of it.? I love this too, its lots of fun to take an old guitar and bring it back to life.
Why didn’t you just paint a strat pink lol
This is super cool, but that fishman backpiece that covers the trem springs is DISGUSTING
Aidan Lyons it is omg
Yeah I wouldn’t have gone with it
It’s a battery pack...It’s a definite luxury for the active pickups
An interesting video would be to take those part from a 30$ guitar and put them on a high end or at least mid level guitar, and see how it performs.
I like that idea
how do you get that "old green penny" fret texture though?
Perhaps you need to get a batch of High Intergrity stickers printed up, then offer them as merch :)
Chris Franklyn yes!
I'd buy that!
Lol "self lubricating nut"
No shit right?
Ohh that’s nasty
Nice
this is ridiculous...I can't believe you put all that money into a cheap guitar. So, I'm going to do it too. My neck is bad so, I'm going to put a Strat neck on my cheap guitar. Ultralight STRAT!
hahaha yes!
Well the good news you could always get another guitar and take those parts off and use them
I don't even play guitar
I own a guitar... 3 in fact... that's about it, I can't play one :P
Here comes dat boi
Jeez
I left mine in England lmao
You're who i want to be when i grow up ....im 20 here's to hoping
This decides it. I'm putting Fishmans in my guitar. Those guys seem A-fucking-1. I'm sold.
You're going to love them!
Deevo Make sure to screw it up a few times so they'll do it for you.
The flange garbler makes a massive difference to the exuberance of the splimpensploof. It would be interesting to modulate a schmarkoff with an integrated rip shredder. Subbed
Right on point.He also could have trimmed a stermintrimanter bridge unit,and padded the back of the pick ups with neral foam inserts.
Don't forget to rub the flesh grobbits until the stroopiometers have a reading of 870k. This will greatly improve dongianity. Thank me later.
Where on earth is the giggledy shaft?
@@fredfunf3456 34 degrees clockwise and 3cm from the plunge heel. Get your fingers all greased up and have a poke around, when you feel something that feels like a cats nose, peel it off and there you have found it. Just be careful of electric shocks, and don't be alarmed, the shrieking is normal.
BEST. THREAD. EVER.
Man those Fluence pickups sound so much more full, dynamic, louder, and just all the frequencies bumped in the best ways.
Mod projects are super fun. Personally, I look for great value / dollar instruments in the used market so that the craftsmanship is well done. Improvements gained from switching out the nut and bridge cannot be overstated: pickups can only reproduce the frequencies that are already there. My next project will be a fretless bass conversion, wish me luck!
You’re exactly right but ya mostly only gonna get more natural sustain, which is a good thing but still…..
that sticker makes it all worth it
The sticker is worth 29 dollars! LOL
HIGH INTERGRITY INTENSIFIES
Do this as a tutorial. This looks like an awesome summer project.
u can tell how long he spent on this when he has facial hair in one shot and nothing else lol
When you shifted to the modded version in the video, it sounded like it got tracked an additional time, everything felt thicker and just... better. High intergrity indeed
Before and after for sound would have been cool :o but great vid!
You should mod the Hello Kitty Squier
Definitely! I'm just not sure with what yet...
Seymour duncan black winter, half scallops, new brass nut, new bridge, straplocks and locking tuners
Single modern fluence in the bridge with pretty much same hardware and a Killswitch cause why not
Kaelan Saunders only of the killswitch is on her nose, then i'm all in
Just put an emg 85 in the bridge lol
As far as my ears allow it, the fishman pickups sound slightly richer, more harmonic content and slightly more bass. It's pretty tough to hear in a full mix though.
A noticeable improvement but not mind-blowing difference. I have a guitar with the SRC set and there was a bit of a honeymoon period with them but after awhile realized the good old EMG 81 is better in the bridge. The neck is identical to the sound/feel of the 707
Waking this up from the grave. Great video and great playing.
YNWA brother!
I watched it UA-cam
Happy????
What
@@JoshyDMCOfficial probably a bot. They randomly appear on UA-cam suggested videos and say something that a lot of people say to receive attention.
@@VicinalElk44104 no. he's implying that this video showed up in his recommendations so many times and he finally gave in and watched it.
@@palboytg1 I know what "he" is implying, it doesn't mean that "he" isn't a bot. He very well could be a bot. He hasn't responded to my message calling him a bot yet
@BingaBongaBanga well if nobody cares, why'd you bother writing that paragraph in response to me? That kinda implies that you care, since you cared enough to go off on me. Why don't you shut up and mind your own business then, and stop caring since nobody cares?
Literally no difference between the pickups.
N B, I know, because he mixed it with other things to make it sound better, I want to hear it straight out of the amp
The new pickup signal probaply works trough pedals though
$630 you could’ve spent on a mim or used American standard
I bought my MIM HSS CAR for 250.- so what shall I do with the other 380?
From this video alone: You need some reverb absorption materials and possibly some bass traps (not hard to make yourself for "cheap", but easier to just buy when you get the money), and can be made temp. ;)
I did this with my 200 dollar Squier Vintage Mod Jazz Bass. I dropped new hardware and electronics in it and now it kills. I love it.
Saw this a while back, glad I tripped over it again!
Lots of fun!
Great looking guitar, that PINK ROCKS!!!!
Thanks and GIVE ME MORE!!!!
It's was very fun video!
Were you able to find a replacement bridge?
8:58 woah don’t say heck keep in family friendly
One unshreddy Boi watch your hicken language
I want more of this pimp my guitar stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10:07 You should totally be in a band again. You would look awesome playing that riff on stage with such a guitar.
I'm upgrading my Bullet Strat, so maybe we can start a band that only uses upgraded cheap instruments?
Fairy C Rat im down to be in this cheap gear band lol
Same, but I'll have to scrounge up some dough to upgrade my Peavey Raptor Plus. It's a good guitar really, in spite of a couple chips in the body and needing a good wash. I'll be wanting a guitar solo btw. A slow-ish, bendy one. ;)
Now we need a drummer. Ideally one who started on a kid's kit and upgraded it.
Id be more,impressed with first act upgraded guitars
@@FairyCRat Hey I'm a drummer with crappy drums.Would that do?xd
Love your kitty in the background sneaking up on us 😂🤘
I love hipshot so much now, I bought one set of these open gear locking tuners for one of my 7s and fell in love with them, so I ordered two more sets for 2 other guitars as well as a hardtail bridge. Super high quality hardware, and feels and looks great! Will definitely be my go-to in the future for most of my guitar hardware.
Hahaha right? They’re make such good stuff!
Does a guitar sound demo - *Only demos with high gain*
Great scarf on your wall lad! Greetings from Liverpool, UK!
For a UA-cam video, a fun idea. As an actual thing to do, this is madness. If it was a really great squier with a couple of problems and you know everything will fit, ok. But if you need to change everything maybe it just isn't right.
Looking forward to the pickup demo. Looking to change up my strat but I think I'll end up with an iron gear humbucker in the bridge unless you change my mind.
Alot of money spent but one of the most major improvements I have seen. Props dude. Right on.
Wow, you did great. Magnificent. I just wish we could have really heard it , as shut off the distortion for a bit , but never the less , Magnificent.
This has inspired me to upgrade my very first guitar 🎸. The Peavey Raptor series 1. Gonna go with pretty much everything you put on this one beside the single active Fishman Fluence and single volume knob. Going for a Jim root Strat kind of look. Suggestions on a new neck ? Wanted one with no inlays
If you could do more of these kinds of videos that would be greeeeaaaaaattttttt
Classic meme lol
Thanks Lumberg! :D
the bass mix is fuckin great
Thanks!
Juicy and strawberry starburst’y.. fun little gem you put together!
Unusual that we didn't hear a before and after... *WITHOUT THE MIX*
I wanted to hear the anemic pickups by themselves.
Satisfaction Competitive
I must rewatch this with headphones, with my laptop speakers both pups sound the same but im pretty sure its not like that. That said, amazing playing as always, and pretty cool project. I got a strat recently and was thinking about doing myself a sustainer for the neck but i didn't know where to put the battery, now i do. Fuck i need money and get me some fishman stuff
keep the good content up!
edit: the only pink strat I've found under a grand is a charvel pro mod sd1 on neon pink. I think jackson has some soloist too.
Just imagine playing a nice lick and then going "Crap, I gotta go charge my guitar" and plugging it in to a charger.
I love how the bridge has a whammy bar slot thing. One dive bomb that things toast.
This is totally like a "sleeper drag car" guitar!
Who cares if u can hear the difference in the mix?? Ken Fn Susi wired it up!!
Dat pepto bismol color though
with that amount of distortion it's really necessary to change the pickups?
The more distortion you're using, the more important your pickup is. Cheap single coils in particular have a really nasty thin squishy sort of sound under heavy distortion, not to mention they're noisy. You need a good humbucker if you want meaty chugga chugga tones. It all has to do with where the resonant peak of the pickup is, the output level, overtones, etc.
Truthfully, the shittiest single coil in the shittiest guitar from the shittiest Chinese factory will produce a passable clean sound with some EQ; distortion is where they show their true colors.
@@SodomySnake thank you. Im attempt to buy those from china, I dont know if there are cheap, because they just dont have the logo brand like many other stuff
That back ground music is sooo sick i could jam out to that in the gym
On wild vs tame makers. Wild, definitely wild. This was a fun one.
Well It doesn't sound much better with these upgrades.. The difference could have been much greater if you did some work on the fretsand on the neck Pocket. Also, since you weren't able to do the wiring yourself, you basically bought a crapy 630$ guitar, congatulations !
SWEET JESUS NO, THE BEARD IS BACK
ALL HAIL THE BEARD!
I am more than stoked that the beard is back
That’s not a beard. It’s something. A beard it is not
Would you have spent your own money to do that? Or just because you got most of it free?
That's actually a really good question. I do like doing ridiculously over the top projects, so if I could afford to drop $600+ on upgrades, I would do it every time. But I can't because I don't have that kind of money, so if this particular project at this particular time had been completely self-funded, I would have gone with different parts out of necessity!
Weird to think the video that got me into this channel is nearing 4 years
I used to own that same strap. The white one with black decal.
why did he look older 5 years ago
This shows that custom strats are waaaaaayyyyyyyyyy too overpriced.
Slash used a counterfeit Gibson guitar which cost less money than a Gibson standard and people thought he was using a Gibson guitar. When it comes to Led Zeppelin, people can't tell the difference between a telecaster into a recording desk or a Gibson into a Marshall. That tells me that a gigging guitar should be about weight and play ability over sound.
Yes. You can't tell the sound difference based in the guitar you are playing live. Its all about the playability.
orlock20 slashes guitar is technically counterfeit but that’s really selling it short, it was custom made for him and his specs by a luthier
I love hot rodding guitars. That said a hot roded guitar is not quite the same as a custom shop. Keep in mind that you are paying a master luthier for their time, knowledge and experience when you order one. You are getting way better than assembly line instrument. I would recommend that someone who has enough money to buy a custom guitar hot rod a standard guitar to their own specs. Then this should help determine if they will work in a custom guitar.
Like hot rodded guitars though you will not get your money's worth if you resell it. Do both strictly for yourself with no intention of getting rid of them.
Does it? This video suggests nothing about wood quality or playability
When I clicked on this video I wondered what that guitar would sound like after you modified it. Now after I have watched the video, I wonder what that guitar would sound like after you modified it.
I have a white Paulownia wood parts-o-caster. With a Wilkinson high output humbucker in the bridge. Plugged into my Blackstar HT100 it sounds like Green Day!! It roars !
Please don't tell me you are using that adjustable wrench on your more expensive guitars. Get a nice socket wrench set or at least an Esp multi spanner. Your hardware and guitar finishes will thank you.
BunkMasterFlex77
Yes!!! Hunter use that Patreon money and get yourself some decent tools. Check out StewMac for guitar specific tools. You will enjoy these rebuilds way more!
I cringed when I saw him take a damn wrench to the tuners!
Someone start an Agufish string winder fun, ASAP.
Cant even hear the difference with the track and effects lol nice build tho
Now all it needs is a new paint job and you got yourself a beast of a guitar
that dark fretboard looks WOAAAH😍
This bass has a serious flaw: Why does it have 6 strings?