Guitar upgrades

[Rohai]

Heya peeps,

one are that im not entirely sure so tot i'd ask for advice and opinions of fellow softies. What are the possible upgrades or enhancements that one can do for an electric guitar? Apart for the regular upgrade of pickups, strings etc... I've always been curious on this topic but not sure where to start. Can the electronics like wiring, switches, pots be changed or upgraded to something better? Appreciate all the advice i can get..

 

[CyanideJunkie]

Almost everything save for the wood can be upgraded. Reliability and performance should be your main concern when upgrading.

 

[mightyboy88]

Electronics can be changed , but whether its an upgrade depends on whether you utilize those changes and it makes it easier for you to get things done

For instance, you can upgrade your tone capacitor to a orange drop one which will give you a more even variation of treble reduction as you dial the knob down. However, if you dont really use your tone knob alot it wouldnt be worth the hastle of upgrading

Hence, every upgrade you do should come with a purpose.

For instance,

Noise reduction: Mods like shielding pickups and electronic cavity,

Versatility in tones: Coil tapping to get a single coil sound, changing to audio tapered volume pots so that you can roll off from a distortion sound to a clean sounds etc

You can also upgrade hardware on your guitar to improve tone and stability

For instance,

Upgrading to better quality guitar nuts and bridges
Replacing the tremolo block into a big brass block
Installing tremolo stabilisers etc

Even the wood can be "upgraded" to some extent, albeit very small
-Using tonerite or primevibe to "season" the wood
-Stripping paint down to natural finish to get more highs? i dunno whether this actually happens but i suspect it may

There is really no end to upgrading a guitar

 

[Khai HeadrusH]

N not to forget: the killswitch and, my personal favourite, the blower switch. Both, expertly done to my ibanez by Mike of SVG.

On a more simpler yet effective note (pardon the pun), I use a total of 5 tremolo springs. Awesome, imho, for my tone n sustain..

 

[zesn]

There are endless ways to upgrade

 

[mightyboy88]

blower switch , wow thats a new one . something to explore now hahah thanks

 

[mightyboy88]

oh hahah so its a bypass all controls switch. i did that modification to one of my earlier guitars but i didnt know what it was called haha. Nice name to it

 

[relinquish69]

what amp are you using btw? no point spending all that money on guitar upgrades when being fed into a practice amp.

"upgrades" depend on the individual. things like changing your nut to either bone or brass can make a significant difference in tone. good or not it really depends on personal preference.

 

[Rohai]

using a vox at home but i use my guitar alot for jamming so it depends on what amp the studio has. and i'd also like to use it in future for gigs also thats y looking at how i can improve my guitar..

 

[Godsmen]

Orange drops does makes a difference to your guitar tone even though you don't use the tone pot.

 

[relinquish69]

my opinion is that for electronics like pots and switches, it's more of reliablilty compared to tone.

capacitors is personal preference. its best you try them to see which you prefer. my preference is still orange drops even after trying so many different brands. end of the day it's not about which is the most expensive cap, rather it is which cap you prefer the most.

parts make a difference. higher quality material would add sustain. for example a badass bridge on a bass as compared to the regular vintage style bridge. in both cases, there is no questions on their functionality.

biggest sound difference IMO is the saddles you use, the nut and the frets. of course the neck and body are important in the tone equation too. chunkier neck = more sustain.

it really depends whether you want more sustain or not. I would like a long sustaining les paul but I would prefer a short sustaining strat because of the sound I want from these instruments.

changing all these parts would be an expensive process but you learn a lot about your preference after everything is being tested.

 

[Khai HeadrusH]

In terms of cosmetics, no local dude's been able to do fretboard leds. Dang, I wld be the first in line if its otherwise..