worst mod

[jxe]

i once pulled the frets out of a 60s teisco del rey because i wanted to try a fretless. still sounded terrible.

worse: stripped the factory finish off a rickenbacker 360/12 jetglo i bought new because i wanted a red one. ‘is that binding melting? so it is.’

what are your crimes against guitar?

 

[jep1210]

The most embarrassing "mod" I ever did was to a mid 80's Ibanez Destroyer Phil Collin model. It was all black and I really wanted to jazz it up with an airbrushed mural type decoration, only thing is not only did I not have an Air Brush I didn't have the any talent to do any such air brushing mural work. So the best I could come up with was a brush painted pink triangle using model paints on the headstock...complete with brush streaks and hairs left behind.

 

[Wakester]

I covered my first electric (Harmony/Tiesco H802) with 3/4" Mylar video tape splicing squares. Then pealed off every other one to get a shiny checkerboard effect. It looked horrible, and got worse as the remaining squares began to peal and leave sticky residue all over the body. I eventually went Pete Townsend on that Guitar. No big loss really, they cost the same today as they did back in the 80's.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

what are your crimes against guitar?

You mean, besides playing one? ;-p

 

[jxe]

‘it was a victimless crime.’

You mean, besides playing one? ;-p

 

[László]

In 1970 I had a tune-o-matic bridge installed on a 1965 SG Special. Back then, it was just an old guitar, no one worried about keeping it original in those days, and truthfully, it sounded better with the TOM, and stayed in tune better.

But I couldn’t afford to have it refinished, so the tech simply glued some mahogany dowels in the holes where the old Gibson one piece bridge was, and stained the ends to match the cherry finish. The guitar is still around, and still looks every bit as homely as it did in 1970. I just didn’t care how a guitar looked back then.

Obviously, any value compared to an un-modded one is minimal. But I got an awful lot of use out of that thing; at least, that’s my excuse for destroying its value!

 

[JMintzer]

Worst Mod?

Definitely RugerPC...

Bwahahahaha!

 

[veinbuster]

Cut big carves out of each side (hoping to be able to bow). Tried to make the pickup bend in the middle without destroying the electronics, so string to bobbin heights would stay correct. I forget what the heck I did to the bridge, but have a feeling I tried to carve something out of wood because I had no metal machining tools. All with hand tools. It was a fun project, not as satisfying as Sergio’s design on a dime bag, but I was young.

 

[jxe]

i once (on ebay) saw a 56 les paul custom routed for a kahler. the description was like ‘this was done in the early 1980s when no one cared.’

 

[gush]

I have a 1983 G&L nighthawk. I bought it new. I just had to have a trem that stayed in tune so I went for a floyd but got talked out of that and into a kahler.

The guitar tech tried like hell to talk me out of routing the thing for the kahler but..........

I'm really embarrassed to admit this because the kahler sucked. I eventually took the kahler off and put stock trem back on it but had to add a black metal plate to cover the hole. Really stupid.

Still have the guitar, played it exclusively for a long time but not so much any more.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

‘it was a victimless crime.’

's'truth. I recently quoted on my Facebook page a quote I really liked. I forget the quote, but it went something like, "if you are practicing something that you are really bad at -- and with no expectations of ever being good at it -- you have to really love that activity".

I really love playing guitar.

 

[django49]

Once upon a time I had an "interesting" guitar. I will hastily say it was not ME that modded it!

"It" was an OLD Gibson ES-345, cherry red, Varitone, stereo.....Someone outfitted it with a pair of "Super Distortion" pickups, two mini-switches for coil splits, and TWO built-in variable gain/boost/distortion amps. Which could be stacked for even more effect. It WAS fun to goof around with, but got old quick. I probably bought and sold it for right around $500.

Now that I think about it, certain modern guitars (Scott Walker comes to mind) often come with splits, built in gain and buffer circuits, etc.......And at a pretty hefty price, I might add.......Maybe I shouldda kept the $500 Gibson......

 

[jxe]

what is that?!

Once upon a time I had an "interesting" guitar. I will hastily say it was not ME that modded it!

"It" was an OLD Gibson ES-345, cherry red, Varitone, stereo.....Someone outfitted it with a pair of "Super Distortion" pickups, two mini-switches for coil splits, and TWO built-in variable gain/boost/distortion amps. Which could be stacked for even more effect. It WAS fun to goof around with, but got old quick. I probably bought and sold it for right around $500.

Now that I think about it, certain modern guitars (Scott Walker comes to mind) often come with splits, built in gain and buffer circuits, etc.......And at a pretty hefty price, I might add.......Maybe I shouldda kept the $500 Gibson......

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Great (BAD!) t0pic. I took my 79 Ibanez Artist high school graduation present, and a great guitar, and after a few years when it was my ONLY guitar decided I need it to be more versatile. I bought a complete pickup/switch package from Carvin, that had their pickups, coil taps and “series/parallel” switches, and brass knobs. I drilled three holes in the top of my Artist to install the switches. While I did like it at first because I had single coil and other tones I didn’t have before, I’ve regretted it since just a couple years after that.

To this day, I debate taking it to someone and seeing what they could do to repair the top if I removed the switches.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Man, I’ve ruined so many guitars it’s hard to pick the one I jacked up the most.

 

[jxe]

i’m almost sure i’m forgetting some.

 

[jxe]

i am DYING to rout the 98 goldtop for a middle pickup — but i’m trying to be reasonable because i really think i want a ce24 or something santana-shaped. but with 3 pickups either way.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Mid 70's nice natural P-bass...I thought the Leo Quan bridges were cool, but didn't know they came in different heights...so I bought one, and got out the hammer and chisel. Still see it show up around Westminster every once in a great while...I did a horrendous job. But, to my defense, I was around 15 at the time.

 

[rugerpc]

Worst Mod?

Definitely RugerPC...

Bwahahahaha!

...somehow I sensed this coming.

 

[django49]

what is that?!

An example of a Scott Walker (Santa Cruz) to show that mods like built in boost and buffer preamps, as well as other switching options, can be done without carving up a vintage guitar.