Modders, why so much change?

[danktat]

Just something I have never quite gotten with people who can't seem to NOT mod their instruments is , why not just buy the instrument that sounds like you want it to from the beginning?

I always hear stuff like, "yeah, I spent a couple of grand on this guitar, and I love it, BUT, if I just swap out these pups I can make it sound more like a strat". Or, "Yeah man, this guitar is sick, but what can I put in here that will make it sound more like Gibson PAF". Or, "If I just take this Archon and swap these tubes into it, it'll sound just like a Mesa".

For, me, part of what I like about an instrument is the combination of things the manufacturer did to make it the instrument it is. I, for example, don't want my PRS to sound like a Gibson. I wouldn't want my Strat to sound like a PRS. If I bought I Hot Rod DeVille, I don't want it to sound like a Marshall. I bought the instruments that fit my tastes in both sound and look and playability.

Now, granted, not only musicians do this. Everyone I know who has a Harley is on a non stop rampage to change things on it to "Make it their own". All of my tattoo artist friends and colleagues are on a never ending quest to tweak their machines to make them run more like ANOTHER MACHINE! You have no idea how many of them say "I have this rotary running JUST LIKE A COIL machine". To which I always say, "If you wanted it to run like a coil, why did you buy a rotary"?

Granted, I know it can be fun to play around and see what you can get from some swaps. Also, I know it is possible to buy a not very expensive guitar, and improve on some of the elements that make it "cheaper" so that it sounds, plays and feels like a more expensively produced instrument. I also realize that, often, sheer boredom with the same old same old can set in and make people just decide to look for change. BUT, if I am going to invest a good amount of money in an instrument, I try to spend that money on the instrument that works best for me.

Just a thought/rant. I am pretty sure I am in the minority on this one though.

 

[Coop]

I don't have a guitar at home that isn't modded except for my Guild acoustic (not much to mod there). If a guitar plays amazingly I know I can probably change the pups to get the sound I want. It doesn't always work, but more often than not a guitar that just has that feeling will respond as I'd expect to changes. My Peavey strat… upgraded pickups. My Peavey Wolfgang... got it for a steal with a messed up body so I bought a new body. My Ibanez 7 string... found an amazing deal on a Fishman Fluence pickup to drop in. My P bass... wanted a Jazz neck on it. My S2 Standard 24... didn't love the stock pickups. All of these have performed just like I'd hoped they would with the mods I've made.

 

[danktat]

I don't have a guitar at home that isn't modded except for my Guild acoustic (not much to mod there). If a guitar plays amazingly I know I can probably change the pups to get the sound I want. It doesn't always work, but more often than not a guitar that just has that feeling will respond as I'd expect to changes. My Peavey strat… upgraded pickups. My Peavey Wolfgang... got it for a steal with a messed up body so I bought a new body. My Ibanez 7 string... found an amazing deal on a Fishman Fluence pickup to drop in. My P bass... wanted a Jazz neck on it. My S2 Standard 24... didn't love the stock pickups. All of these have performed just like I'd hoped they would with the mods I've made.

Oh trust me....I am pretty sure I am going to get ripped on this one. I don't know of many people who just leave their stuff alone. (except me) ... lol

 

[pac90]

Upgrade, and once you have a soldering iron and a drawer full of pickups....

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I wouldn’t necessarily pick a tattoo off the wall either, if you dig my analogy.

I might be really into the butterfly that’s number 113 as a starting point, but I want it wearing high heels and smoking a doobie to reflect my personality.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

My McCarty - I can't think of a single thing I'd change on it. Every other guitar I own, or have owned, I've modded.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I wouldn’t necessarily pick a tattoo off the wall either, if you dig my analogy.

I might be really into the butterfly that’s number 113 as a starting point, but I want it wearing high heels and smoking a doobie to reflect my personality.

However you don’t modify, you create!

 

[Ovibos]

For me it depends on the starting point.
All my electrics get Schaller S-Locks or the older kind. All of my SEs have gotten nicer nuts.
Most of mine were bought along lines of OP's thinking: for what they are. I haven't wanted to change pickups on my nicer PRS's, mostly cosmetics.

Wood Library CU24: maybe minor cosmetics (pickup rings, backplate)
Reclaimed Limited CE24: Mannmade NOS bridge, black pickup rings & toggle, shmancy Maryland flag truss cover
SE Holcomb: Graphtech nut, custom "In Rod We Truss" cover, Holcomb & PRSh signatures on backplate
SE Singlecut: black plastics, locking studs, core nut, SE Tremonti pickups with added smoked chrome covers, Grover 406c locking pegs. This one came used with some rando Gibson pickups in it, and it's my "f around with pickups and soldering" guitar.
SE CU24: core nut

 

[ElrytNamrogo]

I think some people just like tinkering with stuff and if they can take a platform and make it to more of their liking, then it's all part of their own creative process. There's definitely a joy that comes from "customizing" anything somebody might hold dear - whether it's guitars, cars, or anything else.

I get what you're saying, though. Why take something that's already pretty solid as it is and try and make it preform like something else? Why not just buy what you're trying to emulate? I don't get it, but if it's somebody else's bag, then I say go for it.

Me, I don't really mod all that much other than aesthetic stuff like pickup rings or backplates. I had an SE in which I had the pickups swapped for more variation in tone (this was before they shipped SE's with splitable coils), swapped the tuners for locking, and a new nut to accommodate larger strings . It worked for me, but as of now, I just leave my stuff stock.

 

[danktat]

I wouldn’t necessarily pick a tattoo off the wall either, if you dig my analogy.

I might be really into the butterfly that’s number 113 as a starting point, but I want it wearing high heels and smoking a doobie to reflect my personality.

That actually annoys the h3ll out of me as well. People take an extremely nice reference that would look absolutely perfect, and then [often] destroy it just to be able to say that they changed it. The change wouldn't actually be an "improvement" and often takes away from the original reference. . .But they feel they HAVE to do it just so that they feel that the image is "their own". I have seen some potentially great pieces ruined because the client couldn't resist that last few tweaks on a piece that they loved from the beginning.

 

[Rusty Chops]

I don’t mod anymore. The factories started offering guitars that met my needs, kinda like when Harly responded to common mods with the Super Glide.

 

[veinbuster]

Does Private Stock count as a mod?

 

[bodia]

I typically only mod duplicates. At one point, I had 5 Santana shaped guitars. All great, and all different from each other. But, 3 off them had the same pickups. Changing those up for different voices was fun. At that's just it; it was fun!

I've also got no problems leaving things as they are. I wouldn't change a thing on my 509, that's for sure. It was spec'd just the way I wanted it (Thanks to Tosca and Brian! and those of us that got in on that WL Run!)

 

[danktat]

Does Private Stock count as a mod?

No....not at all. That is buying exactly what you want from the beginning (which is what this thread was all about)

 

[danktat]

At that's just it; it was fun!

AHHHHHH............. Some honesty!!!!! lol

 

[bodia]

AHHHHHH............. Some honesty!!!!! lol

And for the record, I always ask for advice from the Artist on my tattoos!

 

[gush]

I have 8 prs guitars and every one of them have mods to some degree.

The two guitars that have the least amount of mods.....ce22, only changed PU rings and tuners.
Cu24 added rosewood rings and mann 1 piece trem

All others have been raped!

Now as far as HD is concerned ??? We dipped our toes into the lux touring water 3 years ago and bought an Ultra Classic. It's an 04but we got it really cheap. Previous owner had DUI.

I won't bore you all with details but.......give it some range, give it suspension, give it brakes, give it power, give it some room. The list goes on and on. It's taken HD over 100 years to figure it out.

 

[AP515]

Most of my guitars are bone stock. The only mods done to a few were because they came to me needing something; unloaded for example, so I chose the pups to put in. If I like 'em, I buy 'em. I don't feel the need to try to make them better.

 

[danktat]

Personally, looking at it from the "outside", I feel like modding is a completely different obsession that is separate from the music itself. It is like the idea of perfection is unobtainable, therefore, there MUST continue to be things done to make changes (notice I said "changes" and not necessarily "improvements"). I have literally seen people guitar shopping that are looking at a guitar, and before even making a purchase, going over all the mods they are going to do, without actually ever touching the guitar itself.

Me, I am just the opposite. I have often saw a guitar that I might have liked, but noticed that is wasn't left stock, and passed on the purchase because I somehow felt that I wasn't buying what Fender or PRS or Gibson or Schecter or even Epiphone put out. (Even if the mods were, from just about everyone's opinions, UPGRADES to the original hardware) Again....I know I am in the minority on this. But I think modding is not always improving. I think people just get stuck in a circle of needing to change things to feel complete. And what kills me, is after they make all the mods and adjustments, when I hear them play, they still------JUST SOUND LIKE THEM! And without maybe an A/B video, I couldn't even tell from what they sounded like that was any different.

 

[justjoshin]

I only mod cheap guitars for fun. Like my BC Rich Warlock that was given to me and not working. Did a complete rebuild and refinish on it. It is my fun metal machine now! I just finished my very first guitar tonight. A 2004 Squier Affinity Strat in metallic blue. Brass block, all new electronics, new tortoise shell pickguard, Graphtech trees & nut, locking hipshot tuners, and cleaned up fret ends and polished them. I have a SE 22 coming for a new project that only cost me $100. I won’t mod my ZM, Dean, or Gibson though.