Mods And Rockers

Welcome to another edition of Guitarist magazine, which this month is devoted to the joys of modding your instrument. Most of us have dabbled, at one time or another, in what could be a whole pastime in itself: swapping out pickups, upgrading hardware and buffing the look of your guitar until it’s exactly how you want it. That’s the theory anyway – more often than not modding is a bit of an adventure where no upgrade behaves just exactly as you expect it to. That’s maybe because (and I’ve certainly been guilty of this) we sometimes expect mods to be a ‘magic bullet’ that solves all our tone or playability issues at a single stroke. But strengthening one factor in your guitar’s performance often creates a weakness, or at least a compromise, somewhere else.

I remember fitting a really lovely set of Cream T pickups to my reissue Thinline Tele to replace the 1980s stock units that it left the factory with. The Cream Ts were more breathy, dynamic and sweet sounding in every way. But later that month I got a rare chance to observe how my guitar sounded as an audience member, rather than the person playing it. On a joint-billing gig in Bristol with ex-Blue Aeroplanes guitarist Rita Lynch, she broke a string on her black 70s Tele, mid-set, and asked if it was okay to borrow mine, which was sitting at the side of the stage. I said okay and she carried on with her superb, punk-edged set. But I did notice that my Tele was much less gutsy than hers, sounding a bit quiet and flimsy by comparison. So, arguably, the pickup swap had gained me extra dynamics and tonal detail at the expense of some old-fashioned clout that the hotter, stock pickups I’d taken out had. So, like a crystal, the sound of your guitar displays different facets as you turn it this way and that in the light of musical experience. That can make modding frustrating from time to time but it’s all part of the journey and, most importantly, you learn something about tone and your own musical needs every time you do it, so it’s a rewarding pursuit. Send in pics of the coolest mods you’ve made and we’ll print the best! See you next month.