EASY GUITAR MODS

Get your six-string ready to rock with seven of the most important upgrades

- Alex Lynham

Looking to breathe new life into an older axe, or just change things up a bit? Whatever the reason, making modifications and small improvements to your instrument is a common pastime for guitarists, and is usually a far more economical approach than buying a completely new guitar. What's more, there are many mods that can be done quite easily at home. Improvements broadly fall into three categories, to our minds - looks, sound and feel. And if you have an entry-level instrument, providing it plays okay, simple things like shielding or rewiring can improve the basics, while switching pickups can make it punch vastly above its weight.

Making modifications to your guitar can be intimidating at first, and in most instances we'd recommend taking your guitar to a local tech to do the work. Most of the jobs here would be reasonably affordable and you could double up with a full re-string and setup to ensure your pride and joy is playing at its very best.

1. BLOCK YOUR TREM

WHY? Increase sustain, improve tuning stability

If you don't want to use your guitar's tremolo system but also don't wish to switch it for a hardtail unit you can block the trem. This mod in its most simple form involves putting a block between the rear of the trem cavity and the metal trem block, and supposedly leads to increased sustain. The best thing? It only costs as much as the small block of wood. And if a block of wood is too primitive for you, there are devices like the Tremol-no, which do the same job and offer more control so you can lock or unlock your trem more easily.

2. REPLACE YOUR PICKGUARD

WHY? New-look pickguard, noise reduction