I get requests to undertake all kinds of upgrade work to all sorts of different instruments. But is it all sensible, and are expectations from our cheap beginners instruments just a bit too high?
What makes a good platform for upgrade?
An electric guitar is made of a number of constituent parts. The body, neck, hardware and electronics. There are always two main places to upgrade: hardware and electronics, and normally electronics is the biggest gain, pound for pound. But this has to rely on certain other issues - mainly the body and the neck. How do you tell if they are a good platform to upgrade before you start buying parts?
If you are looking to find a luthier to do the work, the best way is to go and see the Luthier with the guitar before you buy any parts. But that’s not how it always happens, so what if you’re impulsive or intend to do the work yourself. How do you tell whether the cost is worth it?
Does it play well?
Even if the guitar sounds a bit weak, does it play well? If it doesn’t, then the first issue is why it doesn’t. And remember we’re talking about economy models here in the main. the sort of stuff that you pick up new at under the £250 region - so to upgrade it you’re not going to want to spend more than you paid for it! A re fret isn’t likely to be in the budget.
Neck
Is it straight? Look down the neck from the headstock to the body, along the side. You should see that the neck has some relief in it (i.e it bends upwards very slightly). Now look down the other side - is the relief similar. If it is, the neck isn’t twisted. That’s a good start. (If it’s bent back, undo the truss rod by a quarter turn at a time, and keep going until it has relief) **
Is the bend in the neck fairly even over its length? If it kicks up hard at the lowest frets, then it’s a good bet that you’ll struggle to get it set up well. Quite often this is what happens, especially with guitars that have a body end rod adjuster - they simply haven’t got much support all the way to the head. Look for humps in the middle too - these are incredibly common.
Next, if the neck has some relief in it (i.e. it’s not already bolt straight or bent backwards), turn the truss rod a quarter turn clockwise. If the truss rod won’t turn, or is so tight that it’s really hard to turn, that’s scores a point in the “against” column. If the truss rod turns, but doesn’t seem to make any difference to the neck relief, that’s game over.
If you’re still good, lets move on…
(**A good guide is that if you’re stuck, hold the E string down at the first fret and where the neck joins the body. The gap between the 8th or 9th fret and the bottom of the string should be about the same as the width of the B string, or a touch less - if you get it in this ball park then the next stage is easier).
Frets
Are they level? Are they even in the neck properly? It can be hard to tell if you don’t know what you’re looking for, but there are some easy clues to spot whether the frets are going to be a problem.
The first obvious sign is fretwear. If there are big divots in the frets, it’s going to need professional work, or at least assessment - get help.
If you have particular areas on the neck where the strings are rattling or fretting out, while other areas are playing clean (and you’ve got the truss rod in the ball park above), that’s a strong indicator of a problem. Say 4th 10th and 14th are terrible, but the rest is kind of OK. that’s almost certainly high frets, or badly seated frets. That’s got to be sorted before you undertake any other work.
Now, if just the top frets, say 12 upwards, are fretting out, then it might just be that your action is set too low. But if the strings are quite high, that’s an indicator that it will need a fret dress at the very least.
Look down the neck - can you see that the frets all sit properly against the fretboard. If you can see the tangs then the frets are no longer in the neck properly. You shouldn’t be able to get a fingernail under the fret for example. Another mark in the “against” column, it will probably need professional help.
So far so good? You might have a good platform guitar. Now we get into the less difficult areas
Hardware
This is now a cost/benefit analysis. Hardware is nearly always easy to deal with because most starter guitars use standard hardware - it’s just a matter of cost.
Does the guitar tune well, do the tuners turn cleanly and hold their position? If so, that’s something you don’t have to replace. If you have a failed tuner on a cheap guitar, you aren’t changing one, you’re changing 6, because the economics of that makes much more sense. You’ll only be back to the task again if you don’t.
Does the bridge adjustment work - fender style bridges often suffer from corrosion in the saddle adjusters. Does it break strings at the bridge regularly - if so it will probably need new saddles (if it has them). All fairly quick and easy. and not hideously expensive. Not a deal breaker for most guitars.
So you’ve decided to upgrade…
After checking the neck and body, you’ve got a sound platform. So what can you do at a reasonable cost to change your guitar for the better? There are two main areas.
Pickups
You don’t need to change all of them, or all of them in one go. If you’re a rock player, the chances are that you use your bridge pickup most of the time. You can start there. What it’s not wise to do, is to change one cheap pickup for another one just to get it all done in one go.
If you’re not buying a ‘mid priced’ pickup - i.e. one that is better than the ebay specials that cost £20-30, probably best not to bother. You’ll likely be disappointed. Until you get to £40+ per twin coil, or about £70 a set of singles, you’re probably only changing one cheap pickup for another, and the benefit will be small.
Once you get to the Toneriders or Iron Gear Pickups, then you’re into mid priced decent pickups. I’ve fitted quite a few of both and they are good value. There are other similar brands out there, so time to do your research.
If your pots and switches are good, then there’s no burning need to replace them, but there’s no point in struggling on with them if they aren’t working well. Now is the time to do the whole job - change anything that is going to get in the way of your tone.
If your tone control isn’t creating the effect you want, changing the capacitor is cheap. But the key is to use a different value - there is no discernible difference between capacitor brands. Changing a ceramic for a Sprague orange will not change your tone. Higher values will tend to a darker tone and harder roll off - and they are generally cheap so play with a few, it’s pennies.
Another trick is to change the wiring layout - for example putting a master tone into a strat, or a switch to get that Neck/Bridge combo. Or in humbucker guitars a phase switch, coil tap or a treble bleed kit. Again, not big jobs, but can be a good result. One of my favourites with Les Paul wiring is to revert to the 50’s tone controls, because I prefer the tone when you roll off the volume, and the cost is zero. Lots of info out there on the web.
Hardware
Most hardware changes are of low benefit, unless your current hardware has an issue with it. The big gains are in electronics.
But changing bridges can make a difference - mainly because on some guitars the bridges get sharp and tend to break strings, or in the case of something like a strat style bridge have a lack of mass which reduces sustain. If you’re going to change a strat bridge, they aren’t all the same - make sure you get the right dimensions. If you’re buying a heavy block trem to increase sustain, make sure it’s going to fit the body. If you don’t use your strat trem, you can block it to connect the mass to that of the body, which is a common trick to aid sustain.
Another one is to change a nut - mainly for a graphite or bone one, which often increases tuning stability and reduces gripping. This applies a lot to strats, as cheaper guitars are fitted with plastic which binds a bit, but also with Les Pauls or similar type non trem guitars as they can pull sharp or flat if they bind. But its not always an easy task without the right tools, so maybe one job to send to you local tech.
In conclusion
The key word is value. Once you get to spending more than about £100-150 on upgrades, you have to start thinking about whether that’s money spent on a better instrument. But if you have a good base to work from , that £100- 150 can make a good guitar sound like a much better guitar, and keep a useful tool in your gigging armoury for years to come.