The Electra Forums

Being that we have alot of guitar techs in the forum, that like to work on their own guitars, I'd like to know what is the best modification or change you've ever made to an Uncle Matt guitar?

Did the mod make the guitar a better guitar?

Was it worth the cost?

Would you do it again?

Did you do the work yourself?

OK, so let's hear about it!

Well, in most cases almost anything you do to a Matsumoku guitar makes it worse, not better! This goes for pickups, tuners, electronice, etc, etc- most of the things you's normally consider upgrading. So my first preference if possible is to go original! If you want a guitar that's got some other feature it doesn't already have, why not get another guitar? :)

Having said that, I really do like replacing a 3-way with a blend pot, but dual volumes will get you the same results, so I suppose it's just a UI change :) On guitars without phase reverse, I like to hardwire the bridge pup out of phase. Ditto coil tap- that's a must-have, but almost all my Matt guitars have that already.

On my first Electra Phoenix the intonation drove me crazy- if I even touched the Tek-glide bridge it went out of tune, so i finally installed a locking nut- just as was done on later models come 85. Now I can live without it, but at the time it seemed vital.

Wow, I'm thinking hard and there's very little I can think of that isn't already there! OK, the strap. On my primary players I often replace the strap buttons with a screwed-onDimarzio strap, so there's zero chance of slipping and 100% chance that there'll be a strap on when I pick it up!

So OK, my vote is for the strap upgrade, no question.

Funny, I'd have to say the strap pegs, too! Some kind of strap locks on each, possibly even differing strap locks on each of my Uncle Mats come to think of it.

Tuners on the Vantage Avengers seem cheap, but still work after ~20 years of ownership, so they're fine I guess...toggle switch on the 12-string busted...pickups on the Cat Bass are now EMGs, but only 'cause the old ones crapped out...I've gone through maybe 5 OEM bridges on the Avengers, but only 'cause I'm brutal to them...they really just seem to work for me as is.

One old Avenger was hot rodded, gave it to a friend: blue mirrored pickguard, Duncan humbucker at the neck, Fat Strat pickup at the bridge, gloss black finish, Schaller tuners I think. Interesting, cool looking.

Put a Kahler on a 2-p'up Avenger once, bad move. Sorry, that statement probably made at least one member here cringe. Worked OK overall, sounded a bit hollow & tinny after, though.

Mostly the Uncle Mats have taught me what mods to make to my OTHER guitars- coil taps!

Oh, yeah, this'll REALLY make members here cringe- a friend of mine had picked up a very vandalized Vantage (I'd guess a VS600 maybe?)- he ended up sawing off the body's "wings" to make like a Steinberger body, modded the headstock like a banana shape, re-configured the tuners so they came out the back like a banjo. He'd carve styrofoam "wings" to different shapes & paint it all different colors for each gig, then either bust off/chew off/cut off parts of the body during the show. He played it in a music video that hit TV, though...not sure if I have any good pics of it.

je