What is your favorite mod?

What's your favorite mod that you have done to your tele/any other guitar? Just curious =] could be as simple as replacing a certain part
Looking for ideas, maybe, or just to ooh and ahh at the genius of my fellow TDPRI members =]

pics would be cool, also

4 way switch

The Ted Greene mod.:grin:

The fezz parka mod.

:grin:

I also love flipping the plate.

Pickups

Ops forgot..... the Gibson LP 50's mod

Just flipping the control plate. 90% of the time the selector switch is in the middle and the tone is dimed, then backed off a nudge. I do want to get to the volume once everything else is set up. Not to say this is for everyone, or ANYONE, but I like it and it makes life easier at least for me.

A Professional Set-up...I'm still amazed at the number of Players who have never experienced a well Set-up Instrument.

Compensated Saddles

Dunlop Straploks

I think getbent is my favorite mod, though I'd gladly have a pint with any of them!

Tim

The Ted Greene mod.:grin:
I've never heard of this one.
The fezz parka mod.
I've seen the name about a zillion times here. But what is it actually?
:grin:

I also love flipping the plate.
Already got that one. :smile:

Compensated Saddles

+1

Treble bleed mod - without the resistor - just the .001uF cap.

electrosocket jack

4-way and flipped control plate. I put in a no-load pot too but I now hate it.

Favorite mod ? Pete Townsend.
No, seriously, upgrading my AVRI 52 Tele with a SD Antiquity bridge pup. Not very original, but an awesome upgrade.

I've never heard of this one.

I've seen the name about a zillion times here. But what is it actually?

Already got that one. :smile:

Here is a link to a pdf explaining the Fezz Parka mod: http://www.singlecoil.com/docs/tele-tone2.pdf

Also, this website has a list of lots of mods (not tele exclusive, but "single coil" exclusive) so give it a look.

http://www.singlecoil.com/guitar.html

This one...

Ha! Good one.

Myself.

I was once too quick to mod things before I completely understood them.

Now, I leave my Teles alone and simply attempt to extract what is already there in a Tele.

I seldom mod anything any more unless I'm goofing around with errant guitar parts. My serious guitars are all stock. Even the ones I build.

Good set up

Practice (still haven't tried that one, but I heard it works wonders)

Try a different tuning and have fun (I have a lot of fun and and that's what it's about for me... still suck though...)

I've never heard of this one.

I've seen the name about a zillion times here. But what is it actually?

Already got that one. :smile:

It's the LP 50's mod. Learned it from Ted Greene. That's why I call it the Ted Greene mod.:lol:

Yes, Peggy Lipton. With Lincoln Hayes coming in a close second. He's just too cool.:cool:

I like especially to swapping volume pots with different values, or experimenting with changing tone pots for tone switches. Sometimes I like to put an active buffer into a wiring.
I have a quite original taste, so I'm almost always doing some mods in stock guitars.

Shielding and switching the 1 ply plastic pickguard for a bakelite one.

Neck transplant. I like them a little bigger than what's available on the guitars I can afford. Also, the master tone control/blender pot mod for strats. Best idea to come along since the 5-way switch, IMO. It really opened up some new sounds for me.

As soon as I get a new tele on my hands.. I always like setting it up by jacking the the string height/action high, adjusting the pup heights and then doing the neck trick after.

For electronics - 50's wiring if needed, also maybe change the cap to a PIO or to a different value =) Enjoy tweaking!

ooooh, tough one. For the sake of variety, I'm going with Sperzel locking tuners. Changing strings is one of my all-time pet peeves, and the Sperzels make the task quicker and easier.

I think getbent is my favorite mod, though I'd gladly have a pint with any of them!

Tim

If that joke was a car, it's due for an oil change. Hehe

Fresh Strings.

Changing the control plate and replacing the selector switch with a second volume knob, then rewiring to J-Bass scheme (2 volume, 1 tone), with a cap value change and a modified Fezz Parka (Ted Greene) tone hookup. The range of sounds is phenomenal.

All the mods I like I learned here...

for playability, #1 would be flipping the control plate...

For tone, definitely the "fezz parka" tone mod...

Still want to try the 4 way switch thing. That's going to have to wait till my next tele project...the ones I have now are "just right", and I don't want to blow it! :grin:

4-way

Disabling the tone circuit, and using the tone knob as a second volume, one for each pickup. This lets you really fine-tune each pup's sound, and is great for adjusting the middle-position, both pickup sound.

I was very reluctant to do mods to my guitars for years because the basic design of a Tele or a Strat is very good. Buying a used guitar with mods is always a questionable experience, some are done great but many are done poorly.

But I took the plunge after hanging around here and have discovered that mods can have very positive results. I installed 4-ways, .022 caps (was .047), Fezz Parka mod, 250K pots with the tone control being a no load. I now find that I can use the volume control without a change in tone and the tone control is now very useable. Prior to this I rarely used either the volume or tone control on the guitar. One man's poison is another man's heaven, it's all a matter of personal preference. If you mod your guitar it is always wise to save original components so you can return it original state.

Hands down, I prefer threaded inserts in my necks. The clamping power adds incredible sustain gain.

After that, I love three saddle compensated bridges.

Callaham enhanced compensated vintage saddles...

http://www.callahamguitars.com/t_sd_bv2.jpg

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/photo.php?fbid=460852727498&set=a.246108462498.137031.674427498

Sorry I haven't been on in a while, I've been busy. Thanks for all the input.
I got a used Nashville Tele, and it was pretty fantastic EXCEPT ;)
here's a list of everything I've done from top to bottom
and, if theres a color preferrence, I did black for everything

replaced vintage style tuners with Gotoh 510's
replaced vintage string tee with a roller tee
replaced cheap plastic nut with brass
Dunlop flush mounted straplocks
black pickguard
replaced tex mex pickups with Bill Lawrence Keystones (OH MY GOSH, AMAZING)
replaced five way switch with Megaswitch E model
black control plate
black Wilkenson bridge with brass compensated saddles
black jack cup
black knobs

my dads an expert solder-er so he did all the soldering for me. It looks, feels, and sounds fantastic now.
so, this fez parka mod, it eliminates treble loss as the volume is rolled down? I might actually find a use for my volume knobs if I do that....

here are a few terrible cell phone pictures. I named my little black beauty Sadie. I normally don't name guitars unless I really love them =] and this one has reached name status

A Bigsby and a middle pickup.

4 way switch

Without question, that is the finest mod in the history of the universe, as it allows you to do just about anything solid bodied.

Much better than a coil tap on a Lester, if you ask me. Ych, that's a tone I'll never come to like, no matter the pups. And I've tried a few.

Vintage Noiseless PUs
Sperzel Tuners
Schaller Strap Locks
Electrosocket Jack

Man I think Ive done them all
4 way switch
Ted Greene aka Fezz Parka classic vibe mod.
pick-up's
vintage 3 barrel saddle
pickguard's
pro luthier set-up by far the best of them all my tele play's so well

Changing the control plate and replacing the selector switch with a second volume knob, then rewiring to J-Bass scheme (2 volume, 1 tone), with a cap value change and a modified Fezz Parka (Ted Greene) tone hookup. The range of sounds is phenomenal.


Sounds interesting. I use a blend knob and a tone knob. Atm the selector switch is just for on/off, but i plan to use it for series/parallel. Do you have any vids of you using this?