5 Lessons I've Learned From Modding Guitars
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- Hey everyone! No build today since I'm not even in the country at the moment. I wanted to talk a bit about my journey through this weird hobby of tearing apart a perfectly good instrument to make it something truly yours, and the pitfalls I ran into along the way. Hope this helps if you're just getting into guitar modding!
Instagram: @_nisebelle
00:00 What are we doing today?
01:05 Tip #1 Dress for the mod
02:20 Tip #2 Soldering irons are loud
03:15 Tip #3 parts that fit or make them fit
04:31 Tip #4 hollow bodies take extra work
05:52 Tip #5 Mod to solve a problem
Filmed, Edited, and scored by @nisebelle
Thanks for watching!
#diyguitar
#guitarbuilding
#guitar
One more tip from experience: always keep one guitar in playing condition while you work on the rest!
That’s a great tip! I’ve definitely been guitarless for a few days here and there due to my poor planning…
Omg, I am still picking up the pieces from my ugliness. Great tip! I wish I had this kind of foresight lol
Yep, made a big mistake changing the neck of my replica strat and had to borrow a guitar for more than a year before I could buy myself another one.
That goes for amps as well.
All I heard was an excuse for more guitars. My wife would like to speak with you a moment. lol
You had a good list of suggestions. May I add one that my lifetime (73) in electronics taught me? Always have a small fan blowing across your face, this will keep the solder smoke away from your nose and eyes. The smoke contains lead. As we all know lead is bad for your brain, but what most don't know is lead can also cause retinal detachments. I've had two retinal detachments in my single primary eye. Believe me, you don't want to go through just one at any cost.😊
Good advice, because I have watched many videos about soldering and safety is sometimes given a short shrift, with a throwaway line like, "I know I shouldn't be doing this, but...(followed by lame excuse)".
Soldering and the solder itself can do the kind of permanent damage that won't heal like a simple razor cut.
But you don't want those either.
I've been doing something similar for about 40 years. I keep a small fan that I salvaged from an old IBM PC (the original model) but nowadays you can get a USB fan. (I have both.) But instead of blowing on my face, I have it blowing on the work so the fumes are driven away from me.
BTW, entertaining video. Very enjoyable.
Surprising considering lead's boiling point is around 2023K, and the hottest soldering iron I've seen goes to about 753K. If you lick your fingers when you work it's probably really bad for you but I don't think anyone does that.
It's probably the flux that's doing it, the MSDS says most brands of flux list eye irritation.
@@xx-----------xx873 Most of the smoke is from the flux, though it could probably have lead molecules in it. Solder is not pure lead, it's a 70-30 alloy intended to reduce its melting point. Even if the smoke has no lead, breathing flux fumes is not a good idea.
@@jeffbosch1697 Agree with the smoke being mostly flux, I try to use 60/40 solder for personal projects because it flows better which obviously isn't great for you.
Anyway I will get a better fan now you mentioned it. Thanks!
I "whittled" my first electric guitar back in 1968 (yes, I'm that old). I had a shop that built, repaired, and setup guitars from 1979 -1994. Played in bands and have a 100+ collection of guitars. This video is the first one I've come across that isn't full of "BS" or "voodoo". Great job! Excellent advice! I just subscribed.
The soldering iron creating interference tip is brilliant! Luckily it's never caused me to do any unnecessary work, but I've often noticed that my guitars seem to be noisy when I'm in my basement workshop. It never occurred to me that it was the soldering iron. Wow, thank you so much for this insight!
Not had that problem myself. I wonder if it's because we have a different electrical system here in the UK? All plugs grounded and the 220-240v supply? Of course, burning myself with soldering irons is something everyone does, even after years of experience. It's a curse of the job lol
Fluorescent lights are also notorious for introducing hum and other noise. They're possibly the reason humbuckers were designed. When I was a video engineer many moons ago we used to have to have isolation transformers to block hum from coming through the ground plane.
Girl with a soldering iron… I’m in love ❤
Guitar tech here, got a couple tips :D
1. Surgical tubing to the pot shafts is the easiest way to get everything back in place in a semi-hollow
2. Guitar wireless systems, you got no idea how much interference dirty power or bad cables can pick up. Bypass them wirelessly
3. Small fume extractor on your table while soldering, so you can breathe with no issues.
4. After swapping pickups and before adding all screws back, TEST THEM by poking the polepieces with a metal object. Nothing worse than undoing 11 screws to realize you did something wrong or that ground killed your signal
5. Do not disregard string tension when changing gauges, it will throw off your relief if you go from 9s to 10s or the other way around
Thanks for a great video. It's so cool when people are humble and honest enough to admit their mistakes, but even better when they share their mistakes to help others. I always tell my trainees " if I tell you to look out for this or that, it's not because I think you're stupid. It's because I don't want you repeating my mistakes. My goofs are copywrited, you have to come up with your own."
As far as chasing a particular tone, I mod to find new ones I have never heard before. I am at the point in my guitar journey ( 53 yrs ) where I no longer want to sound like anyone else. I want my own voice, and i want my axes to have theirs. Dewa, Stacy
I love that approach to both teaching and tone chasing!
I've been working on instruments for 12 years and still found some great tips in here!!! Thank you so much
This video saved my ass, was working on my first electronical repair and forgot to turn off the soldering iron when I tested it, heard some really bad buzzing and thought of this exact video. Turned it off and it sounds pretty good for such an old squier! Thank you so much for making this
As someone that is getting into guitar building, I'm very happy the algorithm recommended you. You explain things in a way that others just expect people to understand. That you are yourself not a professional luthier I think makes it feel more accessible. Thank you!
Great content here. It's refreshing to see someone lay out their mistakes for us to learn from rather than pretending that they're perfect and know everything. This community could use more humility. Subscribed!
The bit about parts fitting reminded me of a child hood friend of my older brother’s who would take now vintage starwars toys and jam them into vehicles that could not accommodate them while shouting, “I’ll make them fit!”.
fell on this channel by accident. Can't fault the no bs presentation and the down-to-earth directness. Most excellent, thank you.
Love this video! I love to mod my guitars, and have been doing so for more years than I care to mention. The one piece of advice I would add is - its always good to know what the conventional wisdom is on this or that - THEN its usually a good idea to ignore that conventional wisdom and just try whatever you have in mind anyway, ESPECIALLY if it goes against what "everybody knows" to be true. Because often the conventional "wisdom" is really just not worth much. Also - when working with molten solder, be careful to protect your eyes. a blob of molten solder in your eye can ruin not just your day, but possibly the rest of your life.
Here's a fun tip. A Mic stand is a really handy soldering iron holder.
This was a terrific video! Great to get to now know you and I look forward to more videos in the future!
Well done - great video production… cuts and b-role keeps the pace just right… We need more of that in our youtube guitar building community 😃🎉👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Wow, this was so helpful and very inspiring. I really appreciate it when people are sharing as they're learning. I feel like it's more relatable. The spirit in what you do, it made me subscribe.
I love this so much. I look forward to catching up on your other videos.
I laughed so hard about the dress-turned-guitar strap. I've ruined my share of things with a wayward soldering iron 😄 Great video, and I hope the trip was excellent!
Haha they are such destructive little things the second you stop paying attention. Thanks! One more day in Tokyo, then heading down to check out some other cities!
Wear eye protection when soldering! I nearly lost my right eye tinning the tip when hot solder splashed up into my eye. I was lucky that all the burns missed the lens. My eye itched for a few years, but it could have been a lot worse. And my eye would not have made a good guitar strap.
@Jeff Bosch Absolutely great advice! Thank you!
Really enjoyed this! Mod to solve a problem.. so true. Thanks for the video.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
That soldering iron thing probably just saved me hours of frustration. Thank you.
Instant subscription! Great content! Cheers from Mexico!!!
I almost went crazy after hours of troubleshooting on my 1st pickup swap because of the noise to only find out it was coming from my iron being on. I wish I had this video back then. Thank you, all great tips!
Your videos are so good, I just love the storytelling and the work you put into each one of them. Keep it up!
Thank you so much!
Great vid! First I've seen of yours- subbed. As a fellow modder, I can give two tips ( to anyone it may help ) 1)Keep a fan around to blow soldering smoke away 2) the more you do stuff, the less impossible it seems- keep going, keep learning, study both peers and pros alike.
Great work! You cleared some doubts I had, thank you! 😄
I really like your videos. They make this whole modding thing easier to digest. I hope to see more mod videos from you.
Great tips. I've run into a few of these myself, particularly the metric vs imperials issue. Great video, this is the first I've watched of yours, you have a very good delivery, well done.
I'm glad I found the show! This was a great episode and very nice delivery. The other videos look great too. Keep it up!
Thank you so much!
Love it. I can see how this hobby can become an obsession. I just did my first and second pickup swaps on my ibanez. Now I'm looking at swapping the edge bridges with some lo pros and to add a push pull volume knob for some series and parallel wiring.
What a lovely video and channel. This is my first time seeing you and I really enjoyed this. Gonna keep these tips in mind when I work on my 1982 Japanese Squire Jazz Bass :)
Good advise. Well done Nisebelle!
Think you've been blessed by the algorithm, and I'm here for it. Definitely found a new channel to binge :)
This was great. Thank you!
Great video! Informative and funny. Thanks!
Super helpful, thank you!!!
Great video and great advise. I've been building/repairing for a year now and just finished building a Jazzmaster. I love the offset guitars but they are a bit of a challenge. One thing I've learned about tone is that it's not just the pickups. It is also your amp and the speakers that make a difference.
Very good advice, thanks so much for sharing this!
Amazing! I'm glad RUclips recommend me your channel!!
thank you for sharing this info , you are saving a lot of peeps making this same mistakes.
Wow, really great video and advice.
I saw a video of a guy attaching oxygen tubing to the pots of his hollow body so that he could pull the pots back through the same hole when done. The endings fit right over the pots. You can buy that cheap from any medical supply store at different lengths. Haven't tried but looked like a great hack.
I once added a piezo pickup inside my mandolin- had to fish around inside it a lot with a carefully bent coat hanger just to get the jack mounted
Aquarium airpump tubing will usually work just fine; easier to find in most locales without having to go to a medical supply store. Dental floss also works fairly well for this purpose.
That is genius! I’m headed straight to the home aquarium store when I get home!
@@nisebelle , oh, If you'll forgive me for saying so, lesson number 6 should be, when you do a video keep the level of the background music way down, and make sure that it's not distorted.
Oh man, you're awesome. I have so many solder burns, thanks for the practical tips!!!
I've got a neck and a set of pickups coming through the mail so I can't express enough how grateful I am for this video!
Huh, happy I got this channel recommended. Subbed!
Thank you for mentioning point 2. It doesn't get discussed enough in videos like "where's that noise coming from" and "do I really need to shield my cavities?" If anyone goes to upgrade their soldering irons, ultimately it's going to come down to a choice between Metcal and JBC Tools (not affiliated with either, TLDR 25 years as a tech).
They use different technologies to operate - Metcal uses RF stimulation which sprays just as much as it sounds like it would and JBC Tools idk what they use but it's either very well shielded or just doesn't emit EMI aggressively. The only thing I'd use Metcal for these days is heavy lifting but JBC does have some impressive temps as well as some tips with decent mass for the size of the unit. You can also lock your station so people need a code to power it up; Metcal doesn't offer that afaik.
Got me subscribed just by the loud solder! Keep up the good work!
Awesome video! I just recently picked up electric guitar and have used soldering irons and other tools to mod video game controllers in the past. Toughts of moding guitars have already crossed my mind, so seeing this video was great. Also, welcome to Japan!
Great content! This was very helpful
"...injuries to myself, or even worse, my guitar"
Solid priorities 😎
Haha you know it!
One more tip: Sometimes just adjusting things can make a difference. Tonally pickup height changens more than just volume and on pickups that have screw polepieces screwingg them out a few turns can make them sound brighter (sometimes quite a bit too). Other even more important adjustment thing is a good setup. Having the truss rod, string height etc. properly adjusted will make the instrument easier to play and will make you want to play more.
And while flat screen displays were not instantly better than the old bulky CRTs for the picture quality, they did generate a load of interference... So we are quite lucky now. I remember recording short snippets from quitars in to my computer back then and even with humbuckers I had to hit record and power off the screen, play and teh power on the screen again and then stop teh recording.
The flat screens may be better but the fans in my computer are absolutely horrible.
@@leo._.vincent With laptops not much can be done for the fans, exept keeping them and the other parts of the cooling assembly absolutely clean. If it's a desktop (or floor standing tower), you can change parts to make it quiter. There are lot of options but you have to keep in mind that top gaming performance might not go together with quietness.
@@Elektronijaenis Ill have to see what i can find. my desktop computer creates horrible interference.
@@leo._.vincent The most important thing about the noise is to find out what part is loudest and do something about that one. Replacing other parts then the loudest will only make a barely noticeable difference if any at all. It's been a long time since I've researched this, but I'm pretty sure there are still many websites about making computers quiet.
Hi, I found your channel from the burncaster thing, and I just wanna say thanks for starting the rabbit hole that I know I'm falling down! Your channel is fantastic! :D
Thanks for posting this. I just started recently getting into doing my own guitar work with the help of my local luthier. He has been really great about giving me advice.
Wow I wish I had this video when I started out modding. Very good info and well presented. I am subbing to your channel now. You are awesome !
Wow, this video was so good it made me subscribe immediately. I am not one to do that as I subscribe to only a handful of channels. I am particularly impressed with your stories. How practical to mod a guitar to solve a problem. That changed the way I think about the majority of my guitars. Ok, less gear and more skill . . You even inspired me to try my hand at something more complex than applying shielding paint and changing strings. Please offer a video on how to choose a good soldering iron AND how to use it properly.
Thank you so much, I’m looking forward to the next video.
All great tips! Thanks for the video!
I wish I saw it last year when - instead of modding a guitar I could mess up beyond recognition - I started off by getting a cheap Jazzmaster style guitar kit, I assembled it and started learning to mod on that. I've so far only worked on that guitar but boy have I learned a lot. Probably the funniest bit was learning about tuners the stupid and expensive way (and I wholeheartedly attest to what you said about them in the video). First I installed the ones that came with the kit just to get the hang of it. That went fine so I went on and ordered a new set of locking tuners. But when it came I found that a 3+3 set made for traditional headstock won't cut it no matter how I try. OK, next attempt - now I'm much smarter and I'm ordering a set of tuners in a single line to fit the Fendery headstock. But then I find that these new ones are vintage style while the stock tuners are modern which meant I had to order bushings to fit the tuners into the bigger holes plus I had to drill new holes for the screws in completely different places than where the screws went with the original tuners.
Bottom line: I still have a set of brand new 3+3 chrome locking tuners if anyone's interested :) Otherwise I'll save them form my next project.
I also managed to absent-mindedly reach for the soldering iron without looking giving myself a couple of nice blisters in the processs.
Fun times!
Great video. The only tip I’d add is that aquarium air filter tubing is your best friend when working on semi-hollows.
Direct, to the point, insightful, humble, entertaining and, oh, yeah, cute and just downright sweet to boot. I got no problem subscribing to this channel.
Thanks for this. I’m only just starting out modding. Good to know m!
That's a great tip about the soldering iron causing noise. I would have never thought about that.
I'd say if you are chasing a certain tone, the first place to start is a speaker, not a pickup.
Pickups are great, but ultimately the speaker is going to make the biggest impact. Get a good speaker first, and then try changing pickups.
Awesome video, thanks for sharing your expertise! I've been watching guitar channels for years and never knew about soldering irons causing so much noise. Hope you're having a good trip!
Thank you so much!
Any device that contains a pulse-mode switching supply, which is just about everything digital nowadays, is going to generate noise that ranges from audioble buzz and static (and noise so high that only a bat can hear it), to noise that a battery-powered radio can tune into, and sometimes right down to the 50 or 60 Hz frequency of the wall current. Cell phones and cell phone chargers, almost any separate charger voltage adapter these days, LED bulbs and LED lighting, as well as fluorescent lighting, all of these can generate significant amounts of noise that is both broadcast through the air like a radio transmission and also radiated back into the power lines so that your entire apartment or house becomes like an antenna for noise transmission. The 1st thing to do try is turn off (or better yet, *unplug*) any test equipment, computers, cell phones, chargers, and lighting and see if the hum or buzz you're getting is changed or eliminated; then plug in and turn on your other devices one at a time to see if the noise comes back, and this way you can isolate the specific device around you that's causing the problem. Sometimes you can minimize or cure the problem by running a long heavy extension cord into another room or elsewhere in the house or apartment that is on a different circuit from your circuit breaker panel electrical, and plug your amp into that.
Anything with a transformer can also generate a hummy/buzzy magnetic field, and if you are sitting within a few feet of your amplifier your guitar will probably pick up some noise from the transformer of the amp (especially if the guitar has single coil pickups or isn't very well shielded), which might be minimized if you turn sideways with the guitar or move a few more feet away from the amp. One of my soldering irons is an older Weller unit that doesn't have a switching power supply and instead has a transformer in it, and if I get close to it with the guitar the pickups will grab some hum from the transformer. Most modern devices come however don't use an actual transformer anymore, because Transformers are expensive and heavy, and the parts used to make switching power supplies are smaller, lighter and cheaper. If you have a little "Wall-wart" power supply adapter or charger that weighs next to nothing, it's probably a switching supply. A switching power supply in a plastic case won't have any shielding capability whatsoever and can send that noise out through the air as well as back into the power lines and in the rest of the house becomes a noisy radio transmitter ! Sometimes you can lower the noise by getting a donut shaped Ferrite coil and running the power cord of the noise-generating device through it a couple of times.... You can also find ferrites in a plastic case that is designed to snap right over the power cord.
What a great video. Subscribed 👍👍
I too started off modding on a semi hollow body ( Epi Sheraton II). I learned a lot - the hard way!😂. Great advice about the soldering iron affecting the guitar. ✌🏽
haha ive done that second mistake SO many times and never realized it was my soldering iron! great video, and hope you have a fun time in japan!
Right?? It’s such a sneaky little noise maker! Thank you so much!
Cool video I've bought all the stuff to mod one of my Harley Bentons and its been just sitting around, I'm nervous to get started lol, glad I found your channel!
I’ve only worked on one HB so far but I was thoroughly impressed by the quality to cost ratio of those guitars. Hope the mod goes well!
A couple of very good tips/advice. In particular solder irons are loud & metric/imperial (imports/US). I tried to mod a cheapo Yamaha “S” style guitar. I tried to upgrade the tuners. I started with the low E string. I attempted to make the hole for the machine head bigger & split the head stock. I was able to glue it back together & ended up bringing it to a shop to so that they could install the machine heads.
Thanks, very informative. 😊
Loved this video!!!
Great tips. Thank you!
Just found your channel as I'm about to try and do my first pickup swap. Subscribed immediately!
+1 Inspired. I wanted to buy a new guitar and when deciding what to get I fell upon your videos, only now am I emerging from my rabbit hole with facts and ideas about humbuckers, shims, and partial coil splits falling out of my ears. I have no idea but I decided to take the dive and buy a Jaguar and modify it like crazy, not just to make it perfect but so that I can appreciate all that makes it perfect. I'll let you know along the way how much I screw up!
Really enjoy you channel I do a lot of losing on my guitars as well. And yes I have had a tele style body end up in a dumpster because of measuring wrong. ❤loving the channel. Thank you.
Impressive! I am so glad I found this channel.
Great video. Thanks for keeping it real. ✌️
I wish I'd seen this 6 months ago, I spent hours trying to "fix" a pick-up install before figuring out the noise was coming from my soldering iron! Another noise problem that was hard to figure out was a bass with active eq that would get noisy whenever the back control plate was up against my pants pocket which had my phone in it!
Phones are a sneaky one! I remember having issues with a pickup install, because my phone would only interfere when I was getting a text. It was driving me crazy!
An addition to tip #1: wool chars, but doesn't burn under typical circumstances. Cotton can burn, but a drop of solder isn't going to make it burst into flames. Rayon and Tencel behave more like cotton, and animal fibers behave like wool. Another thing that's scary about high temps and synthetic fibers: they can burn, but first they will melt and burn your skin.
Thanks for the info! I had no idea that rayon and tencel reacted that way, I’ve always assumed they behaved similar to polyester or acrylic. Time to buy some new clothes!
@@nisebelle Like cotton, they're cellulose (rather than thermoplastics like nylon).
In other words, dress like you're going out to play a "Grunge" cover gig?
Heavy long sleeve flannel and dark jeans....and attitude, bring plenty of that.
First time coming across your channel - really like the tips here and I've definitely come across multiple of the issues you've had!
My favourite hollowbody work hack is similar to your jack pulling tool, I've found that using a reel of solder or some cloth bound guitar wire works wonders for it! It's flexible enough to bend round but rigid enough to guide stuff through the cavities nicely.
Where are you been all my life I thought I had it all with Fran lab and today I found you life just keeps getting better
Great delivery and an overdue subject.
My first jump was a 1978 ES347.
In short, I was told by an old timer to tie dental floss around every individual item to be pulled through the F hole.
It worked great and saved me a bunch of time, when it was time to reinstall.
I'm going to subscribe just to see what else you've got..
Been a while since RUclips recommended something new and awesome to me!
Your content is great, but every aspect of this video’s production quality is so good!
Thank you so much!
Enjoy your travels!
Thank you!
i've worked on a few semi-hollow gvitars & yes...they're a pain when it involves the electronic parts especially when attaching them to their respective locations
one trick i use to make things easier is by using aquarium tubes (correct diameter for the pots)
attach it to the pot poles & gently pull into place, for the output jack socket > saw-off a jack plug, attach to an end of the tube > insert into the socket & pull thru
Sounding like your favorite artist actually starts with the speaker. There was a very famous guitarist (I think it was Keith Richards?) who said, "Give me any guitar, in 15 minutes I'll have it sound the same." So, modding your guitars isn't about sound. It's about making your guitar more comfortable for you to play.
Yes, I do guitar mods and builds and there are lots of things that get me excited about doing them but, I also recognize their purposes.
Just as Niseblle said, try to do what you want and need to make your guitar more appealing for you to play.
That means more playing and better playing and more "Satisfaction".
(sorry for the pun, Keef)
Great video. Thanks for the tips.
Great video and I’m a new subscriber! Bravo!
Great video. Thanks.
And my friends freaked out when I modded my bass. Hats off to you!
The soldering iron noise (or any interference when working on (or with) amplifiers) is easily solved by separating your amplifiers from other appliances.
In other words, your amps should (preferably) be powered by their own separate group (from the mains box/group connection).
Subbed to your channel. You DO have some good tips and guides!
Keep up the good (and fun) work! 👍
Brilliant! Thank you 👍🖤🌹🎶🎶
Jaime and Vicki xx
All of my guitars are solid body, this made me giggle each time you said F hole!
Great video & advice!! Subbed 👍🙂
New Subscriber! Love your content and your delivery!
Nice video and channel! ❤
I just found your channel, an immediate sun and happy to be along for your journey. ❤
Thank you so much!
Great video. To add to the buzz, fluorescent lights like the ones used in the older magnifying lights. Did the same as you mentioned until I turned off the light. Also I would say full coverage shoes can help protect the feets. ;) Keep up the great work
Great video! Just came across your channel! I love modding guitars and have learnt that a good soldering iron makes life so much easier as well as keeping awareness of safely! I was swapping out a control plate on a fender road worn and the knob screws were super rusty and I couldn’t get one off and ended up prying with a screwdriver that ended up slicing my through my thumb nail and the next finger! Now I wear gloves when I need to! 😅
Just now found you! Thanks for the knowledge. Ive been playing forever. To bad i still suck, but i love to play. I started working my junk a few years ago and love that to.thanks again.