Modders, why so much change?

[BMiller]

I went through the phase of buying inexpensive guitars and dumping more into them to get them closer to their high end counterparts. Once I caught the PRS bug, I sold all of them. I'm happy with every Core PRS that I have just they way that they are (minus strings and little adjustments of course). I wouldn't have bought them otherwise.

Amps on the other hand......some of my amps are bone stock (PRS and VHT). Other amps, ones that I build or come across my bench, well, I like to mod. For example, I like to add Post Phase Inverter Master Volumes in a lot of older Marshalls and Fenders. A JTM45, Super Lead, or Super Bass have a great tone when pushed hard......but they are loud! With a few parts and 15 minutes of time, I can get close to that sound at a reasonable level. On repair jobs, if I already have the chassis open, I offer it as an option (typically $20 bucks or so). On these amps, I like to add things like tone stack lifts or adding switches to change the characteristics of the tone stack as well. Or drop in an effects loop.....or.....or.....or. Start with a solid foundation and go from there.

I built a friend of mine two Marshall Bass amps (not bass guitar amps.....between the JTM45 and the Lead.....1986 series). I built a prototype that was dedicated to the original circuit. There were certain things that he liked and other things that he wanted to hear......but without getting into the Lead territory. I ended up building a circuit which was a hodge podge of various vintage Marshall circuits to get what he wanted to hear. Lots of mods and tweaks along the way. Working on rebuilding a '71 (?) Fender Bassman 100 right now.....waiting on parts. Mods for this once I get it operating as normal again (caps, tubes, resistors, etc.....)

 

[Jnug]

I mod all my PRS's simply because PRS doesn't offer a core model setup the way i want them and i'm not going private stock or the more expensive routes just for a pickup swap or to wire 2 volume pots. The Custom 24/22 and McCarty have never had pickups i like and i prefer 2 volume pots instead of 1 volume and 1 tone. I don't like the 85/15's in my new Custom 24 so they are fixing to come out and i'm going to wire it with 2 volume pots. I do the same thing with Les Pauls and Strats, swap out pickups and change how the volume and tone pots are wired to fit how i like them.

 

[Deli6505]

1. Because I want the guitar to have certain things it didn't have to begin with.
2. Because the stock pickups sound like a$$.
3. Because I like being unique and my guitar is an extension of my personality.
4. Because I can. It's my guitar and I'll do whatever the hell I want with it.

 

[jvin248]

.

Guitars bought new tend to stay new in cases unmodded ... and sadly unplayed because they might 'get scratches'.

Guitars I bought used and abused, get repairs and mods, and a lot of play time.

There are regular player modding phases:

1-first guitar learning to play, keep it stock

2-group of guitars get a bunch of mods, including that first guitar as a victim now. Whatever is in vogue on forums/magazines, cosmetic pickguard/etc swaps now happen

3-Tone chasing, all the magic woods, pickups, tuners, nuts, on and on

4-figure out what mods actually do things and which are snake oil, create a core set of mods the player believes in

5-any new guitar coming in gets that core set of mods. Might be just a 4-way switch on a Tele, or could be tuners+pickups+nut and saddles or whatever

6-Just buy stock guitars and play them

.

 

[Shane DeBoe]

There simply isn’t a stock guitar out there that sounds and works EXACTLY the way I want it to. Some are close. The fact is that there are just better products out there than what come on guitars stock. I probably agree about not severely modding up an instrument that costs over a grand....just go to Warmoth at that point!

 

[danktat]

There simply isn’t a stock guitar out there that sounds and works EXACTLY the way I want it to.

See, this is kind of what my post was about. That is almost like being "addicted" to modification as opposed to things "needing" modification. I mentioned in a previous post in this thread that I know people who are thinking about the mods BEFORE the even pick a guitar up to play it. Meaning they have already decided it needs mods regardless of how it plays or sounds. The decision to mod was already made in advance.

Let me see if I can correlate an example. I see it as similar to someone who is addicted to salt. No matter what they are about to eat, they grab the shaker and give it a generous sprinkle of salt all over everything. Not even knowing what it tastes like, it was already decided that the addition of salt was going to be a part of it. . . . . I had a friend once that was at my house and we ordered pizza. When the delivery came, he went and grabbed a paper plate and my salt shaker. Proceeded to start dumping salt on this slice of pizza. So I asked him "Yo dude, what is up with that. Pizza is salty as hell already. You didn't even taste it. How do you know it even needed salt". His response to me, without breaking stride, was "Because everything needs salt". Later, after thinking about it, he actually admitted that if he didn't put salt on it, even if it tasted ok, he wouldn't feel satisfied because he would know that he didn't add salt. That at times, even if he was half way through a meal and the realized that he forgot to put salt on it, he would put some on there after he realized it. Even if it was good for that first half of the meal.

I feel like some people take that approach to guitars, or motorcycles, or cars, or tattoo machines, or whatever. It doesn't matter how perfect something is. It would drive them absolutely nuts to know that they didn't do something to it to change it a bit. Even if the change isn't really an "improvement", it is the "change" itself that is satisfying to them.





I already mentioned earlier in this thread that if you are buying a cheap guitar with inferior parts, I can absolutely see bringing up to a level that is similar to some higher end models at a much more reasonable price. I am just one that if I am investing in quality, I am buying something for what it is....not really what I think I can turn it into.

But again that is just me.

 

[Antmax]

A lot of people choose instruments for looks, comfort and playability. Not necessarily in that order, but looks do seem to be quite important for someone to live with the guitar. Then it's just a matter of making it sound how you want or making it personally yours. Most mods are reversible. I basically have a tackle box with separate pull out trays for the spare parts from my guitars. A lot of my mods are too valuable and transferable to sell on the guitar so I can swap back should I decide to part ways with the guitar.

I guess it's like buying a house, you have something in mind and look for something with potential that covers most bases. Your going to have to live with it and spend a lot of time with it. The previous owners aren't necessarily going to share your tastes so there will most likely be changes down the road.

Not sure what the big deal is really. I think the majority of people do keep things pretty much stock but pretty much anything that has an enthusiast following, your going to get a few people that want to modify things and make it unique and their own. I don't see many PRS guitars being modded really, probably less than 15%. Fenders with all the interchangeable parts and saturated market of compatible parts invite and encourage people to experiment more.

 

[Shane DeBoe]

See, this is kind of what my post was about. That is almost like being "addicted" to modification as opposed to things "needing" modification. I mentioned in a previous post in this thread that I know people who are thinking about the mods BEFORE the even pick a guitar up to play it. Meaning they have already decided it needs mods regardless of how it plays or sounds. The decision to mod was already made in advance.

Let me see if I can correlate an example. I see it as similar to someone who is addicted to salt. No matter what they are about to eat, they grab the shaker and give it a generous sprinkle of salt all over everything. Not even knowing what it tastes like, it was already decided that the addition of salt was going to be a part of it. . . . . I had a friend once that was at my house and we ordered pizza. When the delivery came, he went and grabbed a paper plate and my salt shaker. Proceeded to start dumping salt on this slice of pizza. So I asked him "Yo dude, what is up with that. Pizza is salty as hell already. You didn't even taste it. How do you know it even needed salt". His response to me, without breaking stride, was "Because everything needs salt". Later, after thinking about it, he actually admitted that if he didn't put salt on it, even if it tasted ok, he wouldn't feel satisfied because he would know that he didn't add salt. That at times, even if he was half way through a meal and the realized that he forgot to put salt on it, he would put some on there after he realized it. Even if it was good for that first half of the meal.

I feel like some people take that approach to guitars, or motorcycles, or cars, or tattoo machines, or whatever. It doesn't matter how perfect something is. It would drive them absolutely nuts to know that they didn't do something to it to change it a bit. Even if the change isn't really an "improvement", it is the "change" itself that is satisfying to them.





I already mentioned earlier in this thread that if you are buying a cheap guitar with inferior parts, I can absolutely see bringing up to a level that is similar to some higher end models at a much more reasonable price. I am just one that if I am investing in quality, I am buying something for what it is....not really what I think I can turn it into.

But again that is just me.

You actually make a really good point. I feel like a lot of modders just mod for the sake of it. It’s kind of like fear of missing out because people want to have the best instrument/ tone/ look/ feel possible, and if they don’t make those changes, they feel they are simply missing out on what could have made it better.

In my specific case, however, I pretty much only do mods that serve a very practical purpose. On my Jackson dinky, I was toying with the idea of a killswitch for a long time. I just couldn’t justify taking out the tone pot to do it even though I never use the tone pot anyway. I needed a bit more reason to do such a mod. And then it hit me. I could install a switch as a volume pot bypass so no matter where the vol. knob is for rhythm tones I can flip the switch and have it sound like the guitar’s volume is at 10 for lead tones. This saves the trouble of having to move the volume knob from the position that sounded good for rhythm and having to find that spot again all while playing live. This modification is pretty easy to do but it also provides a very practical purpose. The part that really sold me though is that when the vol. knob is at 0, just flip that same switch back and forth and I’ve got a killswitch too. These two things together are what convinced me to remove that tone pot.

 

[Mozzi]

I know looks can be important for a guitarist. Its the aesthetics that compel you to pick up the guitar and want to play it. I know that when I used to go into a music shop, I would be compelled to pick up the guitars that I liked the look of and the ones I didn't like visually, would not be tried - regardless of what brand, what model, how playable they may have been, I just wouldn't be drawn to play them. I couldn't care less if the shop had the best sounding, most playable guitar in the world and I miss out because its 'blue' or doesn't look aesthetically pleasing to my eyes, I would never try it to know I missed out or would even buy it if I had tried it. Call me shallow if you like especially as all my guitars are red and certainly all look very similar.

As for 'unique', ALL my guitars are unique without being modded. Yes they may sound like any other Core Custom 24, 509, HBii or DC594, because each has its own unique grain pattern - maybe one of the reasons I don't really like stock painted guitars so much and much prefer to see the grain of the woods used.

I can see why some may mod their Guitars and I would certainly be more inclined to mod guitars if I bought 'cheap' or 2nd hand. I may also be tempted if I had multiples of a certain model - for example if I owned a few 594's, I could be tempted to swap the PU's out of one - maybe some Seymour Duncans Alnico 2's like Slash uses - just so I have something different rather than two guitars that sound so similar. I already have 2 guitars with the 58/15 LT's (both my 594 and HBii have these) and I would love to add a 594 Hollowbody to my collection - a 3rd guitar with 58/15 LT's - although I still wouldn't mod any of these 3 because they all sound different enough - the HBii with Piezo and slightly longer scale length, the difference between a solid and hollowbody of course. Maybe quite similar too but enough of a difference to be worth keeping stock.

Like I said though, I do tend to buy my guitars based on how they look, sound and play. If any of these 3 criteria aren't met, then I won't buy. I know some may buy because it looks good and if it sounds bad or plays bad, they will mod it to make it sound and/or play much better. I tend to buy knowing that it looks, sounds and plays great and until I buy 'duplicates' of any model, then chances are I won't Mod. I am not actively gigging and play for my own enjoyment. I am not looking for my 'unique' tone, something that few (if any) have, something that could be categorised as 'my' tone. That may also be a reason I am not bothered by modding and happy to enjoy the tones these instruments offer as stock. I really can't fault PRS guitars and their PU's - they really do suit the instruments they are on - that is perhaps another reason I am not interested in changing them.

I can understand why some may want a hotter PU in their 594 for example - make it a bit more 'modern' sounding so I have nothing against those that do mod, for whatever reason, for me though, I only buy guitars based on what they look like, how great they sound and how well they play so have no need to mod - at least so far but then I only own 5 guitars and they are all different.