Looking to get some mods done; how much might this cost? (1 Viewer)

[Green Goblin]

I've been looking to get a new guitar, with single coils and a trem, and the best choice I've found is some kind of Jazzmaster size-wise.

However Jazzmasters tend to be big, heavy and expensive. The Guitarfetish ones are nice but ugly headstocks, and shipping/tax is going to be bleh.

The cheapest option may be to get the new Vintage Modified and get a trem put on it.

But how much does this cost? Say I get the Trem myself, how much would it cost to get someone to dig the whole and put it in?

Would I be best off going with a Bigsby? A lot of people say the Floating Trem is a big part of the Offset sound, is it? It might also be awkward to set up.

 

[Space]

the GF Xaviere are supposed to be pretty great for the price. I'd seriously consider going for one rather than paying for a Squier to be modded for a trem, it's a lot of work and probably cost you more than shipping and duty on the Xaviere. If you change your mind about the trem I'd get the Squier and be done but if you want trem I'd get over the headstock and get the Xaviere.

They're cheap so the tax isn't gonna be that bad on them I'd imagine you could get it here for around 300 euros.

 

[Green Goblin]

The Xaviere will require quite a bit of work too, though. The Trem hangs apparently, it needs to be shielded and I'd probably have to swap the neck. The body is also smaller, and the finish on the body and tort pickguard lack depth compared to a real Jazzmaster too.

The Squier just looks and sounds great to me.

I could just get a Bigsby style trem, which would not cost much to do.

Maybe I should wait to get one second hand so it'd cost less to mod? Or find one already modded.

 

[Space]

You could get a Bigsby but as you said yourself some of the sound of the Jazzmaster is the floating trem (I wouldn't know myself). It's really personal choice at the end of the day. You're best bet is contact a local tech/luthier and ask them for a quote for what you want done. I don't see why you'd have to change the neck on the Xaviere though and I'd imagine the trem will be fine, might just need some fine tuning, which you should learn yourself anyways..

Do you post on ILF? think a few people bought and had good experiences with the Xaviers on there no?

 

[Space]

Don't think you really need to get it shielded either and even if you do it's a very straight forward job..

P90s are a tad noisy but I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[Green Goblin]

They're JM pickups rather than P90s. I hear the guitars are pretty noisy.

 

[Space]

ah shit you're right you can get either on them, I'm a fan of p90s myself. Yeah I'd imagine the JM90s are noisier.

 

[Space]

Dunno how relevant to this thread it is but just came across this, makes me think the Squier with a bigsby could be a great idea, certainly looks cool anyways..

http://www.wildcustoms.fr/

 

[Green Goblin]

Yeah, it looks neat. It's just I've been thinking that for the price of that + mod + trem I'd nearly be better off getting a second hand Classics Player, or modding the Xaviere.

 

[Kermit McDermott]

Do those Bigsby things hold the tuning? I like the bigbsy trem sound but if it doesn't stay in tune it's useless.