Overriding all commands in Makefile.am

[NightStrike]

Since this list is obviously not dead, here's my first of several questions:

(this is all with automake 1.10)

How do I individually override everything that takes place for a given
target?  For example, if I have this:

lib_LIBRARIES = libmylib.a
libmylib_a_SOURCES = source1.c source2.c

The resulting Makefile will perform:

$(CC) $(AM_CPPFLAGS) -o source1.o source1.c
$(CC) $(AM_CPPFLAGS) -o source2.o source2.c
$(AR) (AR_FLAGS) libmylib.a source1.o source2.o
$(RANLIB) libmylib.a

I have the ability to override the AR command by setting libmylib_a_AR
to any arbitrary set of commands, allowing me to have incredible
control over step 3 above.  However, I have not found out how to do
the same for steps 1, 2, and 4 (or at the very least prevent RANLIB
from running).  For instance, I could, if I chose, do this:

lib_LIBRARIES = libmylib.a
libmylib_a_SOURCES = source1.c source2.c
libmylib_a_AR = echo \!* > /dev/null

and it would serve as a very kludgey (albeit effective) way to disable
the AR command for that target only (this is just an example..
obviously there are other, better ways to do it).  How do I achieve
the same overriding capabilities for everything?