Because there are so many places to get each other's take on which pickups or nut material will yield such-and-such sound, this year's No-Brainer Mods outing (our fourth so far) takes the same tack as last year's. As with all past NBMs, we've purchased a handful of quality affordable axes, but rather than just upgrading them with one of the innumerable sets of great pickups on the market, and maybe a fancier bridge or set of tuners, we're taking a more adventurous approach. Guitar shops the world over are full of well-made instruments you can get brand-new for $300–$500 and then turn into something you'd never be able to buy off the rack simply by investing a little more time and money. In the process, you'll have a whole lot of fun and hopefully end up with an inspiring new "custom" instrument. If something goes a little haywire or the experiment's end result isn't quite as mind-blowing as you'd hoped, at least you haven't lost a ton of dough—and unless you've really botched things, you can always try out your next great idea on the same "canvas."
Considering how many cool, well-made affordable guitars there are, what's a "no-brainer" about all this isn't so much what we do in our No-Brainer Mods series—it's that you take advantage of the waiting gold mine of possibilities to do the weird stuff that occurs to you. We're just here to stoke your imagination a little.
Last year, we had a blast walking the mod path less taken. We turned a T-style into a 12-string, gave a Squier Starcaster the Jazzmaster trem so many offset aficionados feel it needs, and made a semi-hollow Ibanez's dreams of sounding more orchestral a reality. This year, we're taking on a couple of mods that are roughly as ambitious as those, but we've also thrown in one for folks who need something a little less invasive to chew on during pandemic downtime. We've again enlisted guitar-repair guru Dave Helmer, a two-time Red Wing lutherie graduate based in Iowa City, Iowa, to carry out these glorious transformations. —Shawn Hammond
Before and After Mods Video Demo
Squier Semi-Fretless “Cabronitar”
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Squier instruments have long been a staple for modders looking for an affordable, solid-playing axe to put their own personal touch to. Beyond the brand's usual classic looks and respectable build, the Paranormal Cabronita Telecaster Thinline ($399 street) we've chosen for our first mod has a couple of additional neat things going for it. First, it's lighter than virtually any thinline/semi-hollow guitar we've encountered in this price range. Second, the fiesta red finish is so upscale looking it's easy to almost overlook the Fender-designed alnico Jazzmaster pickups. We thought about swapping them with a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquity or Curtis Novak pickups, but then we remembered our "more adventurous" MO. Besides, the pickups sound pretty good (astute JM fans are bound to note the unusual inclusion of adjustable pole pieces).
As I pondered what sort of specialized sonics might be cool to add to the Cab, I hit on the idea of turning this familiar-feeling guitar into a fretless sitar.Having done fretless conversions before, Dave called me a little after starting the project to make what ended up being a fantastic suggestion: Why not keep the frets on the lower half of the neck and ditch 'em on the upper portion? That way the "Cabronitar" could be used as both a chordal and a lead instrument. Genius! In the end, we decided on fretless past the 10th fret.
At first we thought we'd just buy one of those Gotoh sitar bridges that Danelectro uses on its Sitar and Baby Sitar instruments. However, as of publishing time, it appears Gotoh is no longer making them. This actually turned out to be a boon, though, as the Gotoh wouldn't have fit in the space between the Cabronita's bridge and bridge pickup, and would have required more drastic measures with the bridge and/or other hardware.
Even so, keep in mind that—at a quick glance—the ebony "buzz bridge" portion of this mod looks deceptively simple. Like us, you'll likely end up needing to fashion two or three bridges before you've got all the minute cuts and surface angles right. This fine-tuning by trial and error is why you'll notice successive photos below sometimes show the guitar with strings on, then unstrung with protective tape on the surface, then strung-up again. That's because the only way to know for sure if you're getting things right is to string the guitar and see how it sounds at various points throughout the process. So you'll want to have a few sets of your chosen strings on hand. Luckily, Dave did a lot of great research and built a few prototypes himself, and the lessons he learned should help you get the nuances right, regardless of the guitar model you're modding. —SH
Ibanez JEMJRSP with “Monkey Grip-u-Lator”
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Steve Vai's innovative, aesthetically vibrant signature guitars have been turning heads since his 1987 debut as Ibanez's most prominent and influential artist. The JEM777 started it all. But while Vai—then fresh off both his first tour with David Lee Roth and filming scenes as the Devil's flamboyant guitarist, Jack Butler, in Crossroads—has always put the guitar's unusual "monkey grip" feature to good use, few mortals seem to be able to pull it off with similar aplomb. So we thought we'd take advantage of the grip anatomy on the JEMJRSP ($499 street) to facilitate something more practical—yet weird enough to hopefully still meet with Vai's approval. Taking inspiration from another virtuosic experimentalist, avant dreamscapist/sound mangler /former Bowie sideman David Torn, we've decided to use the space already carved out for the monkey grip to house a circuit similar to the "Tornipulator" he's had installed in guitars by luthiers Uli Teuffel, Saul Koll, and Izzy Lugo at Ronin Stringed Instruments.
David Torn dons his Tornipulator-outfitted Ronin Mirari for an epic soundscape expedition in this 2013 TEDx Talk performance at the California Institute of Technology.
Our "monkey grip-u-lator" circuit has three momentary pushbuttons for engaging 1) a lo-fi "sampling" microphone (a Shaker-brand harmonica mic) that's been added under the guitar's pickguard, 2) a 60-cycle hum (great for conjuring anarchic/deconstructionist vibes), and 3) a 1/4" auxiliary input you can use to connect, say, your phone, an old cassette player, or another outboard device to aid in your havoc-wreaking sonic adventures.
Yamaha Revstar Mojo Pickups Dual Foil Mod
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For those of you who've been shaking your heads at the two previous mods, first—in the immortal words of King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail—"You make me sad." Second, thank you for sticking with us anyway. We're rewarding you for your valiance with this straightforward mod. Although the Yamaha Revstar RS320 ($399 street) comes stock with pretty respectable pickups, we've been intrigued for the last little bit by U.K. outfit Mojo Pickups' recent Dual Foil designs—which are humbucking interpretations of the unique gold-foil pickups found on old Teisco and Harmony guitars. As we can attest, the Mojos sound delicious—which is why luthiers at boutique outfits such as Abernethy Guitars, Uma Guitars, and Deimel Guitarworks have recently been gravitating toward them.
Each guitar has its own resonant frequency. Some guitars are bright, some are darker, and some are just flat-out midrange heavy. In large part this has to do with the density of the wood and the quality of the hardware, which helps explain why certain makes and models of pickups can sound fabulous in one guitar, but not so good in another. If your humbuckers sound too dark, rewiring them could be the perfect solution. It’s certainly worth trying before you replace them.
Some background. The two coils in a humbucker are typically wired in series. This produces the highest output, but also the darkest tone. If a humbucker has a 4-conductor harness, its coils can easily be wired in parallel. In this configuration, you lose about 20 percent of your volume, but the tone is brighter and cleaner.
When a humbucker’s coils are connected in series, the signal path of the first coil flows through the second coil and then on to the pickup selector switch, volume pot, and output jack. When wired in parallel, the two coils still operate together, but the signal path doesn’t travel from one coil into the other.
Photo 2
Planning the procedure. Stock Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz humbuckers are wired in series. Before we can modify the 4-conductor harness to wire the coils in parallel, we need to understand the Duncan color codes (Photo 2). Except for the bare ground wire, each colored wire is either the “start” or “finish” of a coil. How these wires are connected determines whether the pickup is wired in series or parallel. Here’s the breakdown:
• Black is the start of coil 1.
• White is the finish of coil 1.
• Green is the start of coil 2.
• Red is the finish of coil 2.
• Bare wire is always the ground.
Note: This applies only to Duncan pickups—other manufacturers use different color-coding schemes. See “Obey Your Color Codes” for more details.
Photo 3
Photo 3 shows these five wires connected in a series configuration. We have the black wire acting as the hot or primary lead, and the red and white wires are soldered together to create the series link (that is, they connect the two coils).
Fig 1
The green wire is connected to the bare wire and then soldered to the back of a pot to create a ground. Figure 1 shows how the hot wires connect to the 3-way blade switch for series wiring, and how the switch itself is configured.
Photo 4
Photo 4 illustrates how to connect the wires of a 4-conductor Duncan humbucker in a parallel configuration. As you can see, black and red are joined—they become the hot or primary lead. White and green are connected to the bare wire to become the ground, and all three are soldered to the back of a pot. The parallel wiring diagram for the 3-way switch is show in Figure 2.
Fig 2
By wiring the humbucker in parallel, we have connected the start of coil 1 to the finish of coil 2. For the ground, we have connected the finish of coil 1 to the start of coil 2 and both are joined to the bare wire.
Doing the deed. After removing the strings and pickguard, unsolder the pickup wires from the switch and pots, being careful not to overheat them. Separate the wires from each other with your soldering iron. Next, twist and solder the black and red wires together. Do the same for the green and white wires, and join them to the bare wire. Now solder the black and red to the input lug on the 3-way switch, and the green, white, and bare wires to the back of one of the pots.
That should do it. Put the pickguard back on, restring, and test out your new tones.
Obey Your Color Codes
Different pickup manufacturers use different color codes for their 4-conductor humbuckers, so before you start brandishing that hot soldering iron, make sure you’ve got the right color codes and have figured out how to connect the wires. Here are a few parallel wiring combinations for several other popular pickup manufacturers.- DiMarzio: Red and white are hot, black and green are ground.
- Gibson: Black and white are hot, green and red are ground.
- Jackson: Green and red are hot, white and black are ground.
Plan of attack. I decided to install a CRL 3-way switch, a high-quality unit you can get from such luthier suppliers as Allparts and Stewart-MacDonald. (Oak Grigsby and Switchcraft are two other excellent brands.) Though they cost a few more bucks than cheapos, good switches will give you much longer service and are well worth the investment.
After gathering your tools and supplies (soldering iron, 60/40 solder, 12-gauge stranded wire, hemostats, and a medium-tip Phillips head screwdriver), unscrew the control plate, flip it over, and eyeball the existing 3-way switch. Remember to place the screws in a small box so you don’t lose them. Plus, you don’t want a wayward screw to end up under the guitar because it will scratch the finish.
Tip: Before you unsolder and remove the switch, draw a diagram of how it’s wired. Even if your new switch comes with a diagram, it’s a good idea to document where each wire is attached on the original one.
Fig. 1
The old switch in this guitar used the traditional Fender wiring, so my diagram looked like Fig. 1. This is the standard Tele configuration.
Fire up the iron. The next step is to unsolder the two pickup wires from the blade switch. On a stock Tele with single-coils, there should be one lead wire to remove for each pickup. When soldering or unsoldering a wire, grip it with a pair of hemostats so you won’t burn your fingers! Once the solder is molten, give the wire a gentle yank to pull it free.
In addition to the pickup leads, there’s one wire that connects the output of the switch to the input of the volume control. Unsolder this wire from the switch only. In all, there are three wires to unsolder from the switch.
Detach the old blade switch. Next remove the two mounting screws that fasten the original switch to the control plate. Typically these are Phillips head screws, but some guitars require a small flathead screwdriver. The blade switch should drop right out of the control plate.
If you have a guitar with an inexpensive “box” switch, confirm that the mounting holes line up properly for the new switch you intend to install. Some imported guitars have different hole spacing than U.S.-built models for mounting the switch onto the control plate. If that’s the case, you’ll either need to get a new box switch or swap out the old control plate for a new one with hole spacing that matches an American CRL switch.
Photo 2
Photo 2 shows the CRL switch I’m about to install. Take a moment to compare it to the wiring diagram. Use the spring to orient yourself with the various lugs and their functions.
Install the replacement switch. CRL switches come with mounting screws, and you can either use them or the screws from the original switch, assuming they fit. Mount the switch on the control plate, then insert and tighten the screws.
Note: You can install the switch oriented in either direction, but sorting out the wiring will be easier if the new switch is oriented the same way as the original. In other words, if the spring on the old switch was facing the pickups, then mount the new switch that way too.
Wire up the new switch. There are four lugs for attaching wires on each side of the blade switch, making a total of eight lugs. For this classic Tele scheme, we only need to solder three wires onto six lugs. Each pickup lead will have its own dedicated lug. The other four lugs will be used to join both sides of the switch and connect the switch to the volume pot.
Before you begin wiring, review this simple breakdown of the switch while comparing it to the diagram. Each number represents a different lug on the switch. Next to the lug number is a description of the wire you’ll need to solder.
Spring side of the switch
1. Output wire to volume pot
2. Connects to prong #1 (switch output)
3. Unused
4. Lead from neck pickup
Non-Spring side of the switch
1. Lead from bridge pickup
2. Unused
3. Connects to prong #2 on the spring side of the switch to join both sides
4. Connects to prong #3 (non-spring side)
Tip: Unsure of your soldering skills? Check out “Soldering 101: A Step-by-Step Guide.”
Photo 3
Solder the leads from the pickups to the blade switch, and then add a jumper wire to connect both sides of the switch to its output lug. For the jumper, use a piece of 12-gauge stranded wire. Be sure to “tin” the entire wire before you solder it onto the switch. Tinning the jumper will make it easier to solder the wire in place, and you won’t need much additional solder. Finally, solder the wire from the volume pot’s input lug to the output lug on the switch. Photo 3 shows the CRL switch with the completed wiring.
Test drive. Now it’s time to button up the Tele. Flip over the control plate and re-install the screws to secure it. (Aren’t you glad they’re in that little box?) Now you’re ready to test out your work. Your Tele should have the classic switching configurations:
• Position 1: Bridge pickup only
• Position 2: Bridge and neck pickups
• Position 3: Neck pickup only
If everything is working correctly, slap on a new set of strings to celebrate the completed project and get ready to enjoy your new switch!