Customizing a guitar

Hey

I have been thinking about customizing a guitar for a long time but the bottomline is that I have no idea whatsoever about how I do it.

Can anyone give me any handy links, tips or tutorials in this subject?

(If anyone has any information regarding Tom Morellos custom strat and its build up I would love to hear it!!!)

Thanks!

Howdy here's an old posting I did a while ago regarding the subject ..have fun..

Hello there!

Just wanted to stop by and share an experience I had with some
custom wiring on my "Fender American DeLuxe Fat Strat".

I stumpled across this dude on the net who had some custom pots for several
different guitar types, and his website is very informative when it comes to
customizing wiring.

I got his pot for my "fender HSS" and it worked like a charm very easy to install
a couple of minutes with the good old soldering iron and I was back on track with an
even Fatter fat strat .. man! it certainly did a difference. You have to sacrifice one
tone control and replace it with this "pot " which is sold right from his page.

You get a very good instruction with the package, and excellent and rapid support from
the guy, he is certainly interrested and very skilled in these matters. I think it took
less than a week to recieve my merchandice which is very good (he ships it from the USA
and to me in sweden).

For those like me that like blues he has a blues-cd that is some great tunes without
any guitar solo that is great and he sells it for $5. :) So right now I'm having a ball
destroying all those songs with neverending blues solos (scaring the living cr.. out of
my neighbors)

His website is right here:
http://www.deaf-eddie.net/

Just for the record!!

I am not involved nor do I have any profit from his business whatsoever,
so this is not an add, or me trying to exploit this forum. I just simply want
to share this cause IMHO it gave me so much more value for so little cash,
(the pot for my strat was $20) and it gave me a bunch of new sounds adding
three modes where each of them of course has it 5way selector as usual:
1st mode is the original fat strat
2nd mode is a "telecaster" kinda sound scheme
3rd mode is a "gibson" kinda mode

very cool :)

there are some reviews here which probably explains it better than me *grin*
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data2/Deaf_Eddie/
and another one here:
http://www.allthingsguitar.com/2003Reviews/Fat-o-Caster/fatocaster.htm

This may be old news for you guys but, still wanted to share it.

And then when I got that done (felt like a soldering hero) I got a mini switch $5
and added a "neck-on switch" that gives it alot more attitude, little more edge.
On some modes/sounds it doesn't do a whole lot, but on other it really fullfills it.

This is a very easy modification that I found here:
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/allpickups.php

That page has alot of valuable information.

I hope someone find this info useful.
have a good one,
//Ken

ken1 already gives major resources, theyr great for how to stuffs...
so what can u do?
*you can change pickups, u can put stacked humbuckers for old single coils...
*you can put new tone control pots with different capacitors...
*you can add some switches for, phase, serial or split tricks...
*you can modify the body, shape, color or other things...

First things first... You should familiarize yourself with the guitar. Know the names of all the parts, the specific specs of it, and how they work mechanically. If you can understand how a guitar truely works it's easy to alter it. You can pick up a book at www.stew-mac.com any guitar building books on there are excellent... I recommend Dan Erlewines "Guitar Players Repair Guide".... the guy is a genious and he knows a ton when it comes to luthiery. In any of the books they will show you how to go about doing any customization you want to do. You can get more specialized books that will just talk about wiring or just talk about building pickups or just talk about building good bodies and necks... Just get what will work best for you. When you are thinking about what you want to do to your guitar just be creative and think logically. You want the guitar to maintain it's functionality and quality. If you're looking to customize a guitar with little money... I would suggest saving up some money. I only use the best components because I want my job to be quality... some food for thought

25 Watt soldering iron, strong light, and an extra pair of hands.