Do you make it your own or leave it alone?

[Jimmy James]

Just curious. Some guys pick a Strat or Tele off the wall and say, "If I had to change anything I wouldn't have bought it."

Me, I look forward to making a guitar my own by doing simple things like changing the pots, pickups, and sometimes even the pickgard. I've swapped out necks as well.

If it's old that's different. But if I pick up a Japanese 60's Reissue for $400.00, I'm gonna have some fun. I have three Strats that I've done that too and they sound great. They sound like me.

Anybody else?

[burst_king]

I like to tinker with the pickups. I just had a strat built for me (so I wouldn't have to do any major work) and swapped out the pickups to Rio Bass Bottoms. Everything else is exactly the way I wanted it. The only reason that I didn't send the pickups out to CA to be put in was because I wanted the extra set of Fat '50s. :)

[Stanze]

I play the crap out of all my Strats and repair replace as needed.

American Standard Strat:

Replaced a broken nut.

Installed Dunlop Strap locks

Plan on replacing the saddles with Graph-Tech.

'57 Reissue Strat:

Repaired broken headstock

Installed Graph-Tech Saddles(after I bought the wrong kind, intended for my American Standard Strat)

Installed Dunlop Strap locks

'62 AV Strat:

Still Mint in original condition, bought last Dec. 01

All my Reissues have the 3 way switch left in. :)

[Troy T. Blues]

I usually like changing things around eventually, not right away.

I generally keep things stock, but right now I'm kickin around some ideas:

I have a '79 Strat with the stock black p/g and pup covers, etc.. I want to change that all to aged white.

I have a JV Strat which I love, but I don't like the CAR finish. I got this guitar for an acoustic, traded straight up. I will probably get another body in the near future.

[Aaron Maxon]

The Strat linked below has had the P/U's replaced with some 60's RI, covers, knobs and switches replaced with chrome and the pickgaurd is a temp until the purple moto guard gets here. The pots are next.

http://groups.msn.com/aaronsclub/myg...oto&PhotoID=46

[changeling]

i always try to deal with the achilles heel factor in my stratocasters. they all get:
those new gotoh locking tuners that are exact replacements for vintage-size tuners.
graph-tech saddles.
kinmans
6105 fretwire
this way i can play,and not worry(about tuning,string breakage,noise or fretting out while bending)
that's about it.
ron

[Electron]

I always end up changing something. At a minimum I always put in a megaswitch, to get the outer pickups in position 3 instead of the mid one alone.

My pickups are all stock, but just swapped out the body on my JV for a light 2-pc ash body from Warmoth. That's a pretty major change, but it was the right thing to do... the guitar went from excellent to perfection.

[Black Bear]

That's the cool thing about Fenders... You can change stuff on your guitar like you change underwear and if it starts to stink, change it again!

I go back and forth with different pickup cover and pickguard combinations all the time. Pickups are changeable in less than 20 minutes if your tuners are vintage style, and that's about as tough as it gets...

[BluejazzMalmsteen]

With time machine/custom shop strats I dont change anything. If I dont like it I send it back or sell it later.
But Standards or anything else...ohh...thats a different story. Locking tuners, nut replacements, Fralins or Duncans, Wilkinson or whatever come into play immediately. Thats the fun of it.

[Tonebender]

Originally posted by changeling
i always try to deal with the achilles heel factor in my stratocasters. they all get:
those new gotoh locking tuners that are exact replacements for vintage-size tuners.
graph-tech saddles.
kinmans
6105 fretwire
this way i can play,and not worry(about tuning,string breakage,noise or fretting out while bending)
that's about it.
ron

Changling, I've always been curious about those locking klusons. Is there a significant deifference in performance between those and the regular klusons? How do they compare to Schallers or Sperzels?

[Soulman]

I played my Strat stock for 18 years and then I went MAD!!!

Installed:

Kinman AVn pickups
6105 frets
Red tortoise pickguard
Tusq nut
mega switch (for neck+ bridge combo)
wired the tone pot for bridge pickup


Now I love it!!!

[Dale]

It isn't yours until you touch it with a mod.

Dale

[LefthandBastard]

The only things I change are to make it "period correct"

On 50s and 60s reissues, I'll replace the 5 way switch with a 3 way, and swap out the phillips head screws that secure the tuners with slot heads. And if I'm bored, I'll paint them like George Harrison's "Rocky"

I hope this works...