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Post subject: Can a cosmetic change make you fall in love with a Guitar?
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2016 4:31 am
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I've had my 2009 Baja Tele for about a year now. originally it was Blonde with a single ply black pick guard. The previous owner replaced the whole pots and switches assembly with a better one that still kept the four way switching but got rid of the S1 switching. He also had all of the wiring upgraded, installed a Joe Barden bridge and put in locking Gotoh tuners. It was a tremendous player with great tone but there was something I never liked about it and that was the pick guard. Blackguard Teles look great when the body is butterscotch blonde. Not so much when they are blonde in my opinion.

So I ordered a white 5 hole single ply pick guard from Amazon and installed it last Friday night. Now I can't put this Guitar down and can't stop staring at it. I just love it. Mike Campbell has a B bender Tele that has the same colour combination and the Edge plays one that looks the same. This could jump to the top of the queue now for being my main Guitar.

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Post subject: Re: Can a cosmetic change make you fall in love with a Guita
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2016 10:05 am
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Very nice guitar the second one.


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Post subject: Re: Can a cosmetic change make you fall in love with a Guita
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 6:08 am
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To answer the question posed in the title of this thread:

Yes, the cosmetics of a guitar can make me fall in love with it.

But it will also have to sound good, feel good, play well and stay in tune, otherwise I won't stay in love with it.

After reading your post, it sounds like this guitar already fit all the criteria, except the looks... so if a cosmetic change made it that much better, goodonya.

I had a similar situation with a recent acquisition--I changed the pickguard, pickup covers and knobs on a Fender Modern Player Telecaster Thinline Deluxe, and it went from a "slightly homely but good-playing and good-sounding" instrument to "something that looks like it came out of the Custom Shop."

Same for changing the pickguard, pickup covers and knobs on my Stratocaster and the pickguard on my Telecaster

A few little changes can make an instrument "pop" visually, especially on a Fender (since pickguards, etc. are such a huge part of the looks of the instrument).

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Last edited by Screamin Armadillo on Tue Mar 15, 2016 9:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Can a cosmetic change make you fall in love with a Guita
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2016 8:31 am
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I like the black pickguard more.
Cosmetic improvement only becomes important to me IF I really like the tone and 'playability' of the guitar first.

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Post subject: Re: Can a cosmetic change make you fall in love with a Guita
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2016 5:59 am
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Screamin Armadillo wrote:
To answer the question posed in the title of this thread:

Yes, the cosmetics of a guitar can make me fall in love with it.

But it will also have to sound good, feel good, play well and stay in tune, otherwise I won't stay in love with it.


Guitars are like women[*]. Looks give me desire. Looks also gives me the good feeling of others being envious, lusting after something they shan't have.
But it's how she feels and speaks to me that makes me love.
A cosmetic makeover won't make me love her more or less. It might briefly rekindle desire, which is all well and good, but that's temporary.

[*]: Except that guitars don't complain when you bring home another guitar.


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Post subject: Re: Can a cosmetic change make you fall in love with a Guita
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2016 6:18 am
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IM4Tone wrote:
I like the black pickguard more.
Cosmetic improvement only becomes important to me IF I really like the tone and 'playability' of the guitar first.

Agreed. And if the tone and playability are there but there is something cosmetic about the guitar you don't like and can change without a lot of effort or expense I say go for it. It can improve how you feel about the instrument.


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Post subject: Re: Can a cosmetic change make you fall in love with a Guita
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 6:30 pm
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If a cosmetic change can make me love a guitar then it very likely wasn't worth owning in the first place. I'll make cosmetic changes to make me love it MORE but if I don't already love it I have to ask myself, WTF did I buy this thing for? More to the point, why did I spend even more money on it when it should be for sale on the used market?

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Post subject: Re: Can a cosmetic change make you fall in love with a Guita
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:31 pm
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Cosmetics would be a deciding point for me if there were two guitars that I equally liked for playability, sound, etc. That would definitely be a factor with a guitar that was just okay ... pick it up or not ... probably not unless there was some unique cosmetic feature that made it stand out at least to look at. That leaves: would I buy a guitar that played and sounded great but defined ugly?

I only once had that happen -- guy selling a vintage Strat. But he had stickers for bands that, let's say were more or less opposite my lifestyle and the places I might play. Also, he had others that used language I was brought up not to use. I could have it stripped but that might wipe out the mojo it had, not to mention cost me a lot. So I passed; it was just too ugly to deal with despite the great sound and playability.


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