Quote:
Originally Posted by coltonbraun
Okay...here's the story...
A couple years ago I decided I wanted to take guitar lessons, but after about a month of them, i quit.
At the beginning of this year, I decided to take them up again, and I plan on sticking with it...
When I first started, I bought a crappy Austin strat style beginner pack...and when I decided to start up again, I didn't like that guitar so i decided to buy a new one. It's a hollow-body and I like it, and right now, its my only working electric.
I decided it would be a fun project to basically re-do my crappy strat to make it better looking, and not such a low-end guitar.
I sanded off the finish and I'm getting a custom made pickguard, and custom coloring it so I know I'll love it looks alone, so I have no problems with that.
I do have a few questions however:
1. Since I'm still using the Austin body and neck, will it still be a really crappy guitar?
2. I'm going to swap out the pickups and this is a main question of mine...Can I switch out the neck pickup and replace it with a Tele pickup??
3. I've heard about fast-fret, and products like that, but what do they actually do?
4. Is it really worth my time and money, will it become a better quality guitar, or will it just be a nice looking peice of ****?
I know, newbie questions, but I appreciate all of your questions, and If you have advice, please let me know.
Thanks,
Colton
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1 - If you like the feel of the guitar, then no. If you think the guitar plays badly, then yes, it will still be a crappy guitar. This can be alleviated somewhat by replacing every single piece of hardware including bridge and nut, but a crap neck will always be a crap neck, just as a crap cutaway or loose neck joint will always be the same. As a point to make, if your neck joint is not tight, then you will notice your guitar will not sustain nearly as long as a better guitar, no matter what you do to it.
2 - Unless it has a tele style pickup already, then no. At least not without extensive, and EXPENSIVE modification.
3 - Fast fret and suchlike are basically a grease within a weak solvent, mixed with some oils that are supposed to nourish the wood of your fretboard and promote easier playing. In practice all they end up doing is making your strings feel temporarily slippy. If you have a rosewood or ebony fretboard, you will be much better off simply cleaning the fretboard with a rag to remove your sweat and grime, then putting lemon oil onto the bare wood with a rag, leaving it 10 mins, wiping off the excess, and restringing. This will keep your fretboard clean and the wood well nourished to avoid cracking or dryness which can damage the board.
4 - It depends on the guitar and the amount of value you place in it already. A guitar that plays nicely or nice enough already, can be made into a fine instrument with a change of hardware easily enough. If it plays reasonably but you want to make it play a little better, then you can do ceratin things to it yourself, like sanding the neck finish to scuff it up which will make it stick to your hands lessthan a gloss finish. You can also use rotary sanders to change the cutaway slightly, if you are comfortable with sanding off the rest of the finish and refinishing your guitar to protect the wood.
Any further than that however, you may as well build from scratch using all new parts and wood, or buy another guitar.
Hope that helps.