What are the first mods you make to a newly acquired guitar?

[tremoloman***]

First thing I always do is toss the stock strings and give it a complete setup with Elixir .010s. When money allows Callaham block, saddles, and bridge screws are next.

[Spudman***]

Mine all get their frets polished with steel wool and the fingerboard gets a lemon oil cleaning treatment if it is rosewood. I then follow with a fresh set of strings.
I tend to keep mine stock until I really notice something that really needs an upgrade. That may take months but by then I know the instrument well and have a pretty good idea of what changes will be best suited for it.

[Cranium]

I keep them the same until I get problems, I only replace low quality parts, like if the block is zinc or something I will replace with a steel one, maybe sometimes replace the nut (usualy I don't buy guitars with bad nuts, lol) I usualy keep stings for a while, until they break. Usualy the only thing that needs to be replaced on good guitars are pickups, only if I don't like them though.

[tremoloman***]

My description of "complete setup" consists of using steel wool on the frets, fine tuning the nut so its friction free, setting intonation, string height, and the float in the tremolo if it has one. I like it to flot just about the thickness of an E string.

[Nelskie]

I tend to keep mine stock until I really notice something that really needs an upgrade. That may take months but by then I know the instrument well and have a pretty good idea of what changes will be best suited for it.

I think the Spudman is right on the money here. For me, too, it takes awhile for me to become fully acquainted with a new guitar's tone & feel. Once that happens, I can then decide what will work best for me as far as mods go. Funny thing, tho' - sometimes I have mods in mind when I buy a guitar - such as a particular type of p'up, or maybe different tuners, pots, whatever. And then I get it, and I do absolutely nothing to it, cuz' I like it just the way it is. My last two guitars have been that way.

As for strings, cleaning, fretwork - I consider those maintenance items, and not really "mods". I'd suppose we all have our own "quirks" when it comes to new guitars, and me - I'm not too finicky when it comes to set-ups, strings, or whatever. For example, I haven't brought my G & L Tele in for a set-up since I got it (it came to me perfectly set up), and I've had that guitar for quite awhile now. If it sounds good, and plays good, there's no reason for me to mess with the mojo. In the immortal words of Mr. McCartney, "let it be, let it be."

[jpfeifer]

For electric guitars, the first thing that I do is put some GraphTech String Saver saddles on them.
http://www.graphtech.com/prodssaver.htm
Since I started using these on my electrics I have never broken a string. It just takes the worry out of it for me, knowing that I can bend strings and play as hard as I want without worrying about breaking a string in the middle of a gig. I highly reccomend these.

-- Jim

[Katastrophe]

I don't do anything to my guitars until something breaks, with the one exception of adding an Invader to the Ibanez. All I've had to do at this point is replace pickup selector switches and a couple of jacks.

And, as a bit of trivia, Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers has a Broadcaster that he claims never to have taken the neck off of. The interview also says that all he's had to replace was *1* fret that had worn out.

[Bloozcat]

Depends on the guitar. I expect a higher end guitar to have some better quality components already built into it. For any guitar though, the first things I do are, check the frets for level, polish the frets, change the strings, and check the nut for proper function. So many guitars today come with the nut set up for .09's. I always use 10's, so the strings are often a tight fit in the nut. After that, I just play the guitar for a while before deciding if anything else needs to be done. With some guitars like the lower end Agiles, Ibanez, and Squires, I usually end up replacing pickups and re-wiring. I expect that going in with lower end guitars. I buy them for the inherent playability and not their high end electronics. Tuners are the last thing I look to replace. Most tuners will hold tune if the nut and bridge are set up properly. I'll only replace the tuners if they're hard to turn or are not smooth when turning.