This book will explain how to perform the more common and desirable modifications to electric guitars, specifically those that require no specialised tools or advanced repair techniques. Emphasis will be on choosing the right parts to fit existing instruments, their features, their differences, their applications and their effect on tone. Basic installation techniques and methods will also be discussed.

There will be an in-depth chapter on wiring, which will include everything the reader will need to plan and complete any wiring job or modification.

There will be an entire chapter documenting building a guitar completely from parts, and will cover everything from the planning stage to finishing, assembly and setup.

Important reference material will be included, for example: pickup colour codes for popular manufacturers, how these relate to each other, and applying them to schematics. A selection of at least 20 wiring diagrams will be included, covering every important and useful wiring scheme.

Contents

Chapter 1 - Pickups (25 pages)

• Design and function: windings, magnets, stagger, covers, potting, output power, tone, output wiring
• Specifications: DC resistance, resonant peak
• Pickup types: single-coils, humbucker, P90, lipstick
• Sizes: PAF, mini humbucker, P90 dogear, P90 Soap Bar, lipstick, D'Armand
• Active pickups
• Special pickups: PAF and Strat sized P90s, Single-coil sized humbuckers, Strat shaped Tele pickups, etc.
• RWRP single-coils
• Choosing the right pickups: matching to wood types, construction styles, sizes
• Mounting methods: mounting rings, direct-to-wood, pickguard
• Piezo pickups
• Pickup mods: converting to four conductor cable, adding a Tele style baseplate to a Strat pickup, swapping magnet types, modifying stagger, potting, screening, adding covers to humbuckers

Chapter 2 - Wiring and electronics (50 pages)

• Soldering equipment and methods
• Pickup colour codes, phasing issues, series and parallel pickups
• Wiring kits
• Wires: plain, shielded, cloth-covered
• Pickup switching: blade switches, toggle switches, rotary switches, slide switches, "super" switches
• Switches: types of switches, coil tap, coil cut, series/parallel and series/parallel/single-coil, phase
• Controls: pots, volume controls, independent volumes, capacitors, tone controls, treble bleed circuits, no-load tone pots, push-pull pots
• Active circuitry: active tone controls, boosters, effects, power, fitting a battery
• Unique circuits: ToneStyler, VariTone, stereo, Sustainer/Sustainiac devices, Starr Switch
• Noise control: grounding, screening, hum-cancelling, dummy coils
• Specific electronic mods: Fitting a 4-way Telecaster switch, Strat bridge tone control, applying screening tape, adding a "neck on" switch, fitting piezo saddles, fitting a treble bleed to a Strat, fitting a treble bleed to a Les Paul

Chapter 3 - Tuners (10 pages)

• Types: open, closed, sealed
• Locking and non-locking: thumbwheel and camlocks
• Gearless tuners
• "Drop-D" and others detuning devices : EVH D-tuna, Hipshot Xtenders, String Bender
• Tuning ratio
• Tuner staggering
• String trimming
• Fitting: drilling new holes, enlarging holes, filling holes

Chapter 4 - Bridges (25 pages)

• Important specs: fixing centres, body routing, string spacing, block depth, bridge length
• Hardtail: vintage Tele, modern Tele, hardtail Strat
• TOM, wraparound, trapeze, through body stringing
• Trems: vintage Strat, modern Strat, Wilkinson, Floyd Rose, Bigsby, springs, stabilisers, floating, blocking
• Recessed bridges
• Piezo bridges and saddles
• Fitting bridges: how to tell if it will fit, swapping one type for another
• Saddles: steel, cast, roller, Graph Tech, compensated

Chapter 5 - Other Hardware (20 pages)

• String trees: butterfly, round, roller, Graph Tech, fitting
• Nuts: bone, corian, micarta, graphite, Graph Tech, roller, locking, compensated, string spacing, replacing a nut
• Pickguards: materials, screw positions, countersinking, screening
• Knobs: metal, plastic, wood, screw & bushing
• Strap buttons/locks

Chapter 6 - Bodies (15 pages)

• Woods, laminated tops, pinstripes
• Anatomy: body shapes, body contours, hollow bodies
• Routing: Pickup, bridge, control, socket, neck pockets
• Binding

Chapter 7 - Necks (15 pages)

• Necks: woods, back contour, scarf joints, heel width, truss rods
• Headstocks: woods, veneers, pinstripes, angled headstocks, string pull, break angle, nut width, decals
• Fingerboards: woods, scale length, radius, inlay, scalloping
• Frets: materials, height, width
• Neck attachment methods, getting a good fit
• Fretless, scale length and baritone conversions

Chapter 8 - Finishes (35 pages)

• Types of finish: nitrocellulose, polyester, polyurethane, water-based, French polishing, oil
• Colours: solid, transparent, bursts, dye, metallic, pearl
• Finish touch-ups
• Removing a finish: nitro, poly
• Dyeing guide
• Oil finishing guide
• Spray finishing guide

Chapter 9 - Building a "Partscaster" (20 pages)

• Planning
• Ordering
• Finishing
• Assembling
• Setup

Chapter 10 - Setting up (15 pages)

• Truss rod
• Bridge action
• Nut action
• Intonation
• Pickup height

Chapter 11 - Recommended upgrade parts (15 pages)

• Parts for Telecaster
• Parts for Stratocaster
• Parts for Les Paul
• Parts for Les Paul Junior or Special
• Parts for archtop

Appendices (40 pages)

• Pickup colour codes: Barden, Bare Knuckle, Benedetto, Bill Lawrence, Bulldog, DiMarzio, EMG, Fender , Lindy Fralin, GFS, Gibson, Gotoh, Kinman, Lace, Lawrence Research, Mighty Mite, PRS, Schaller, Seymour Duncan, Swineshead, TV Jones, Van Zandt, Vintage Vibe, Voodoo, WCR, WD/Kent Armstrong, etc.
• Schematics: various
• Online resources
• Suppliers