I am fairly conservative for the most part, i will generally buy a guitar i like and keep it stock. There are a few exceptions (my hello kitty guitar i dropped in a really agressive pickup) and a grestch Jet Pro i bought was modded to hell before i got it. When ever i change anything i always keep the original stuff in labled boxed. I have seen and heard of some really outragous mods done to guitars and switches. So do you mod like crazy, do you change your guitar to better suit your needs or do you leave it stock?

Most of my Strats are custom-built from the ground up, using hand-selected components personally selected for their specific mission. I generally "get it right" the first time -- hence, no need for modding.

The few original "store-boughts" I still own are all upgraded MIM's and MIJ's......new pickups (usually, but not always, Fender Custom Shop), new mil-spec electronics, and new vintage-spec MIA hardware.

Eight Strats in total.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

1999 Lone Star - bone stock, and it's great that way.

2005 American Deluxe None More Black - probably won't be with me long enough to add anything.

2001 American Deluxe Strat HSS - well... in 2003, I got the guitar. In 2005, I took out the original humbucker and replaced it and the pickguard with a singlecoil-sized Seymour Duncan Little '59. In 2009, I added GraphTech saddles, a black HSS pickguard, a new Tonerider Generator humbucker, removed the standard Noiseless singlecoils and added a DiMarzio Cruiser at the neck & a weird noiseless all-black singlecoil, plus black strap buttons, and a black jack plate. In 2011, I ripped out the second tone control, diverted into a master tone circuit, removed the middle pickup & bridge pickup, then popped in a DiMarzio Super Distortion singlecoil & DiMarzio D-Sonic, respectively. It's an absolute monster- not much can match it for sheer power at the bridge, and the neck pickup is just sublime.

I also added a chrome switch tip.

Banging.

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

I Learned at an early age to get exactly what I want the first time, or I will never be satisfied. I guess a lot of folks enjoy the modification but unless your really good at it you stand a good chance of ruining a perfectly good instrument.
I further understand that a lot of folks do it out of necessity. $$$$$$$$ In any case, more power to you.
----Danny,

Only my Tele has been modded in any way. But both mods on the tele are rather minute. I reversed the control plate to have the volume knob closer at hand, and I took the metal cover off of the neck pickup. Other than that all my guitars are as they were brand new.

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Check out my new FB music page!

https://www.facebook.com/TheDevilandMe.Music

I change the pickups in my Strats,...that's all I change,and then I don't stay with the same brand,my current favorites are Lollar (#1) and Van Zandt (#2).
I do have 2 American Standards that have some Fender 57/62 pups installed that came out of my others.

My strat is nothing like when I got it three years ago. It started out as a MIM standard. Swapped the pickguard for tortoiseshell, pickups are now Kenny Wayne Shepherd Signature, Tone 2 now controls bridge while tone 1 is neck and middle, tone 1 is a push/pull that turns on the neck pickup regardless of position (7 sound mod), tightened the trem springs to lay the bridge flat and sanded out the backplate to access strings.

I plan on getting a roadhouse strat one day that i'll swap the pickguard on and most likely do the 7 sound mod and tone knob remapping on.

If I get a les paul, I can only really see myself swapping humbuckers - not so much you can do with those.

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[08 MIM Standard Arctic White] > [Danelectro Fish n Chips EQ > Radial Texas Bones OD > Tonerider British Distortion > Electroharmonix Russian Big Muff Pi > Vox V847 Wah] > FM65R

I haven't modded anything in my 40+ years of guitar playing, however, I'm considering changing out the p/u's of my CIJ Jazzmaster. I'll probably go with Duncan Quarter Pound p/u's. Also, I bought my Highway One Strat second hand. It's the original model that isn't supposed to have a hum-cancelling, reverse-wound middle p/u . . . but it does.

I've installed a new pickguard with vintage noiseless pups on my first Strat along with locking tumers and locking straplocks on the same Strat. I kept all the original parts labeled and in a bag together in case I decide to sell and want to put back in original condition. I have changed pickguards from time to time on my other Strats but I always go back to the original. I don't see much point in messing with an already good idea.

+1

The same protocol should be observed when replacing damaged or worn-out parts on vintage amps.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I never mod any of my guitars,not that I can't because I've been working on guitars belonging to others for many years.The only mod I ever did was on my '65 Mustang.When I bought it ,it had been stripped of its finish and someone applied the the worst possible varnishing job I'd ever seen.I stripped off the offending finish and applied a Candy Apple Blue finish as that was the closest I could find at the time to Lake Placid Blue.
I never buy a guitar unless I'm extremely pleased with it,if not,it stays in the store. Therefore there's no need to mod any guitars as they were perfect for me when I bought them.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I put a badass II bridge on my mim jazz bass, but other than that the only time the soldering iron comes out is when I've broken something.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

Lots.

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No no and no

I bought my 2004 mim with modding in mind. I wanted to learn how to work on guitars.

Replaced bridge
leveled crowned and polished frets
rewired the crap out of it (all new)
refinished it baby blue (looks nice)
Did some wood work
replaced about every little part and component on it

I learned that I don't want to ever refinish another guitar.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

I have only modded one Guitar, my MIM 60's Classic and that was only a CS Texas Specials pickups...Other than a good set up, which I do myself, I haven't found a guitar I need to mod...and maybe the odd speaker change to an amp.

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.