Improving your gear. Where do you start/stop?

[evamatze]

Hi

I was recently thinking about upgrading my LS85S GT (see my last threads).

It all started with pickups. I went from Gibson to Lollar to H?ussel to Leosounds. Alnico 2,3,5, Ceramic P-90s? Which impedance? How many Henries?

Then I realised I didn't have an aluminium tailpiece and a bridge with brass saddles. Should I buy a Faber kit?

Oh no, my guitar has got a two-piece back. I definitely need a one-piece back and nitro finish! LS160S or LSS195?

After that I thought I needed the 50s wiring along with bumblebee caps and cloth wire and matched CTS pots.

I should definitely change to pure nickel strings. But which one's? D'Addarios? Ernie Ball? Definitely no more Nickel wound strings.

Should I buy one or three baseplates for my Strat pickups to get some more output and bass response?

Oh, no, my guitar cable is not good enough. I need George L's. Low capacitance is a must have!

Then I realised my Fender Silverface Super Reverb needed some new caps and resistors to be fully blackfaced. And I hadn't replaced the transformers to really get a real Blackface.

Should I add a pot in the ext speaker hole to reduce negative feedback to let it distort earlier?

Which NOS tubes should I use? RCE, GE, Philips, Sylvania? And which caps? Sprague, Silver Mica, Orange drop?

Should I bias my amp hot or cold? How many mA? I should definitely add a switchable intensity pot to get the (tone stealing) tremolo circuit out of the circuit.

Then I thought my CTS Alnico speakers might be a little bit old and weak and I might replace them with Webers.

What I'm saying is: There are too many factors in the whole process. And the fine tuning is a thing that might lead to some improvement in tone, but if you want to do it right, you will have to spend more money than you actually paid for your gear to get 5% improvement in tone. And you never know which direction you're going because normally you don't really know how these things will affect your sound.

I think we should rather play our guitars more often than spend so much time online and pay so much money for a lot of gear that will only partially solve "problems" we most likely don't have at all.

That's my conclusion of the last weeks' research... All IMHO of course ;-)

 

[JohnA]

I think you've just put in to words exactly what 90% of us are going through! There's another thread about GAS in the 'general' section which is very similar.

I'm not in a gigging band any more and have got to an age where I spend less time playing & praticing and more time on 'tone chasing' and generally messing about with my gear, it's just another part of being a guitarist that I get enjoyment from, and I now have the time and money to do it.

Whether I'm playing or messing with guitars & amps I'm happy and thats all that matters to me

 

[evamatze]

Hi JohnA

you're absolutely right. If you enjoy what you're doing that's all that matters! I absolutely didn't want to say that messing around with one's gear was bad. I only said that it will be an expensive never-ending story if you want to do it right (whatever "right" means).

 

[hawkeye2u]

You have lovely gear mate

Just play it, enjoy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No one in the audience will hear the difference
Tinkering with perfectly good gear will only depreciate the value in $$$$$

Cheers

 

[Outsider]

+1 to evamatze.

I have the same problem. But I think I'm a little over it (just checked my account, no guitarstuff in a long while), for now at least. I think there are few things you can do:

A) Take lessons. You don't have to commit to it, just take a few. What I do maybe once a year, I book a bunch of lessons and I tell what I want to learn.

B) Play with a band. You will realize that most of the upgrades are useless unless you really concentrate time and energy on your playing. Your bandmates won't thank you for your experimentation with pots and caps, but they will if you lock with the drummers grooves or come up with nice parts to play under the vocals. Get gigs.

C) Commit to what you have. Don't try to be like your idol, because that doesn't lead you anywhere. Little tinkering and upgrading shouldn't hurt you, and if it does, go back to the A and B.

Now that I wrote my "wisdom" down, I'm not sure it's helping at all. I guess it's ok to upgrade and collect if that's what the hobby is about. But where does this guilt come from?

Anyway evamatze had a strong point. Most upgrades are not relevant to making music. Just listen to Tinariwen, a bunch of guys from Mali who play their Sahara-grooves on a relatively unglamorous gear. And also most upgrades don't lead you to the same direction, they are just a bunch of differetn options, and you should be able to hear with your ears, what's the best alternative...

 

[Anonymous]

I think I'm over the worst of it. About 15 to 20 years ago I spent a lot of time and money trying to find a guitar that would do everything. I would get humbuckers tapped to try to make an SG sound like a Strat, put a bridge humbucker on a Strat to try to get a LP sound out of it, I put Strat neck & middle pickups on my Tele (this one was a good move!), etc etc.

Gradually I realised that it was all different degrees on compromise, and you couldn't make an SG sound like a Strat and so on. So I stopped, and I didn't buy a guitar for 15 years.

Recently, a bit like John, I've been able to afford to buy a few nice extra guitars, though I need to sell a few that never really get played. But I also found a teacher last year, and started taking lessons again, and this has been very rewarding, and I would recommend it to anyone who knows that they should be a better player than they already are. I agree with Outsider on this.

And then joining a band again after about 10 years gap, was the real clincher. It's only when I play at small gig volumes that I really know how good my guitars and amp sound and feel. If you can play for 2 hours and be confident that everything sounds good and feels comfortable, you have some great gear.

I do try not to tamper too much with my guitars these days, as I worked out a long time ago that it can be money wasted - you rarely get back your upgrade money when you sell a guitar, even on new pickups. So if I don't like a particular guitar (sound or feel) I'm likely to sell it and get a better one.

Having said that, upgrading a guitar can teach you a lot about what makes it work, or what makes it good, and knowledge like that is rarely wasted.

I guess as long as you don't lose sight of the music you love, it's all cool. 8)

Mike

 

[bunbury]

I agree with Stratman (and the comments on lessons).

And if you play a vintage then there's no need for the upgrades - why ruin your precious original. It's liberation from guitar-bits GAS

So now that I'm free of the need to upgrade and tinker, ... well, I'm looking for an early 80's Breezy neck pup and scratchplate, some Reborn tuners, and the more I look at it, the more I think the volume pot on my ST80 looks a little younger than rest of the guitar .... and so on, :-? Hmmmmm

 

[kevcaster]

OOOhh, but there for the grace etc..... Very good advice on this and I wish I had taken it before I went full tilt down the slippery road to tone-anxiety and ultimate addiction.
I'm rehabilitated now but know that one small purchase could set it all off again. I had a recent re-lapse and bought the Faber kit for the ES130 - which made a good improvement ..... oh oh here I go........
We are not alone here, I acquired a copy of JJ Cale's 79 studio DVD with Leon Russel and he is playing $50 Harmony acoustic that he did some 'construction' on. It now has 4-5 pickups - some work, no back, a builders screw cleat taking the strain from neck to the end block numerous switches and a hammer hole to carry a mic in!

 

[Anonymous]

It's much easier to give advice than it is to take advice... :lol: