A Pessimistic Revelation

Dear Brothers,

Sometimes in life, things swell and fade.

Most of you have heard that I have been modding cheap Squiers quite regularly. $30 here $50 there etc. It is practically pocket change.

I didn't put a whole lot of money into them as everything was just sitting around the shop of a dollar here or there, and didn't pay a whole lot for them in the first place. I had a lot of fun with them. I learned a lot on the way. All could turn into an easy profit- and may well do so.

"Damn Trashed it sounds like you are depressed, 'ya alright?"

"Yeah Yeah. Nothing to worry about guys, already took my happy pills..."

The last few months I was just playing the Squiers, I put up a bunch of the other guitars because i was satisfied with the Squiers for the time being, and didn't need them out..They sounded good, felt great- or so I thought, so I thought. I have had a lot of fun with them, but there was ONE fatal downfall...

Today, I pulled out some of the Gibsons and high dollar USA Fenders. Slick like butter, ssweet like sugar, and singing like the birds. The Squiers don't make the cut amongst this lineup. They really shouldn't either, factoring in price, and components, etc. but I am disappointed. I have the HH strat down and the blue one. the others are heading to storage for a while.

I don't know if I am a pessimistic realist or realiestic pessimist, or if i am pessimistic about my pessimism but life is life/.

2016-12-27 How to Mod Guitars and Sell them and Not Go Broke!

Here is a tip to save a hell of a lot of money.

When you buy a guitar, love it and start putting money into it, which I must say there is nothing wrong with doing, as I do it all the time. For example stuff like new pickups, maybe tuners, other hardware, bridge, etc. They can add up fast. 

For this discussion I will refer to a Fender Mexican Stratocaster on the used market. Why? Everybody has played one, a ton of us own them, very common and easy to find in any market. I have owned over a dozen over the years, paying between $175-$275 a pop. They are quickly bought and an easy sell.

For this we will say we paid $300. Its a killer guitar, plays nice, but the pickups are a bit bland. that adds up to $150 really fast, no matter if you go Lace sensors, or Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio, etc.

What is the guitar worth? most certainly not $450.

You throw some locking tuners on it (which I hate and I promise I will do a blog on in the near future). lets say, $50.

What is the guitar worth? most certainly not $500.

Lets mix it up...

You find this beautiful American Strat that you are lusting over and want to buy it. However to afford it, you must sell the Mexican Strat, So you list it on Ebay/Reverb/Craigslist/Gumtree,etc. for $500 because it is 'heavily modded' and you have 'a lot of money invested' and wait. THAT IS YOUR MISTAKE.

Nobody in their right mind will pay more than $350 for that, even if it is perfect.

This is what you should have done: KEPT ALL OF THE ORIGINAL PARTS and swapped it back to the way you got it. Nobody is going to give you that astronomical figure for that guitar.

What you have is a guitar with the original parts in installed that your sold for $300. You also have three nice pickups that you could likely get $100 for (or to use on a different guitar OR your new American Strat), and a nice set of locking tuners, ~$30 or again future use.

You lose a LOT LESS MONEY $$$ this way. It is something that I have always done to any guitar i have modded. For the guitars I do have that were modded by me, I have filing cabinets FULL of parts. If I get rid of the guitar I open up the drawer it is in, swap it back, then photograph and list it.

**MOST used gear that is bought used smartly and in the same condition sells within +/-15% of what you paid. That is NOT a published number, just experience of buying and selling a lot of guitars and being glued to the community both on the net and online.**

2016-12-15 Fix up this POS!!!

I am up and running again! Time to do some bitchin'!!

So here you go, you buy this POS (piece o' shite) strat copy, and you want to upgrade it. and you say:

"Trashed, why not upgrade it?"

"I say because it is putting lip-stick on a pig. It just ain't right."

but Trashed, "I love this guitar, and I can make it sound better, I will replace the pickups, hardware, etc. etc."

I respond "I guess you are the type to not heed quality advice and have to mess something up yourself to learn, Good luck!"

So.....

$150 in pickups, sounds a little nicer. but not amazing. $50 on tuners, however, you will most likely drill for them to fit. In case you didn't notice, third world countries don't follow standard sizes as us civilized folk do (to a degree). $200 into a $100 guitar (running total of $300).

There are a couple of points to make to clear the last paragraph up. Tuners are typically not what causes a guitar to go out of tune, normally it is the string binding on somethin. However really junky, shitty tuners can slip and mess up your gig. Ya get whatcha' pay for sometimes. Also if you have a $100 guitar the other electronics are shit too, plan on new pots, jacks, switches, caps, etc.

"Oh shit, Trashed, I am into this guitar three times it is worth, but I love it."

The plot thickens: You develop as a guitarist, you play a nice guitar, and wish your guitar felt like that. $150 on a level and crown, you are getting close!!! Nope.

Now... you are in a running total of $450 into this piece of junk. It isn't worth anything, as YOU DO NOT GET YOUR CASH OUT OF UPGRADES. so there you are. That could have bought yourself something very nice.

*****

Disclaimer...

Not all $100 guitars are junk. Pretty much any current produced guitar @ $100 is junk, just in general. Some people love modding, I do, but its about the journey as opposed to the destination, but that doesn't mean that the destination is where you wanted to go. One thing is that you can find $1000 guitars that will need a fret level and crown, but generally they are much more playable that of the guitars we are talking.

*****

Disclaimer #2...

I am gearing this specific blog to newer or less gear savvy guitarists who don't have as much experience.

*****

Cheers Fellow Axemen, Merry Christmas.

Trashed