Jonnysleftfoot
Well-Known Member
Got my hand on this guitar from reverb about 2 months ago. It was mint condition with all original hardware. The only thing wrong with it was the 3 way switch. It was cutting out on some positions and finally died on me about 2 weeks ago. Today i finally finished this little project.
Upgrades: Hipshot open gear locking tuners
Hipshot Ibby HM bridge
Hipshot O-ring knob (moved volume to tone position)
Covered up holes with nylon hole plugs (found at lowes in the nuts in bolts isle, in one of the drawers. I think the drawer was labeled hard to find? If not they're found close to that drawer haha)
Bareknuckle Black Hawk 7's
Had hatter terminator wiring system (Cavity shielded with copper tape)
I missed my opportunity to snag one of these when they first came out and was lucky enough to find this on reverb. Green is probably my favorite color, and the figuring on this top is pretty sick in my opinion.
Plugged the holes because i hated the volume knob location, and prefer 5 way switches to the 3 way with mini switch. I wanna say i used 5/16th" and 1/4" plugs to cover up these holes but i forgot to make note of the sizes that worked (i just bought a bunch to make sure i had the right one).
The stock hardware was fine, i just wanted to have black hardware rather than cosmo black. The hipshot bridge is slightly more comfortable than the stock gibraltar bridge, however i only replaced it for cosmetic reasons.
I actually drilled a hole slightly too big for the hipshot tuner screws. I filled it with wood filler and drilled a smaller hole. A wooden dowel would have been better, but these screws seemed insignificant enough to use wood filler. Worked like a charm.
Additionally with the tuners - they're slightly out of line. This is due to me being stupid and just eyeballing it, rather than actually measuring the hole spacing properly. Doesn't seem to really affect anything so it doesn't bother me. Lesson learned.
The stock bare knuckle brute force pickups actually sounded pretty good, but i wanted something a little different. I had never tried black hawks before, but i've always loved the look of them. This guitar will be staying in B standard / Drop A with NYXL 10-59 strings. It sounds mean. These pickups have a certain flavor to them that i dig. The definition, output and feel are all there. They may not be my favorite pickups ever, but they'll be staying in.
The mad hatter system is the easiest wiring i've ever done. Pretty expensive at around $140, but i dig it. It makes swapping pickups a breeze, and changing with coils are active on the split settings is easily changed by just swapping the placement of two wires (well 4, but there are 2 wires per split terminal). Soldering would definitely be cheaper and take up a bit less room, but you cant beat how easy this system is. I didn't include a picture because i didnt clean up the wiring. I didnt cut any wires from the brand new pickups, so there are a ton of wires just being pushed down at the moment. I could easily get in there and clean it up, but i'm lazy and don't see a reason to unless something stops working i guess.
The only thing i want to change now is the selector switch screws. I'll be changing them out to black screws whenever i go to lowes again.
Frets have been mirror shined, she's all intonated and set up with nice and low action. She shred's, now if only i could haha.
Upgrades: Hipshot open gear locking tuners
Hipshot Ibby HM bridge
Hipshot O-ring knob (moved volume to tone position)
Covered up holes with nylon hole plugs (found at lowes in the nuts in bolts isle, in one of the drawers. I think the drawer was labeled hard to find? If not they're found close to that drawer haha)
Bareknuckle Black Hawk 7's
Had hatter terminator wiring system (Cavity shielded with copper tape)
I missed my opportunity to snag one of these when they first came out and was lucky enough to find this on reverb. Green is probably my favorite color, and the figuring on this top is pretty sick in my opinion.
Plugged the holes because i hated the volume knob location, and prefer 5 way switches to the 3 way with mini switch. I wanna say i used 5/16th" and 1/4" plugs to cover up these holes but i forgot to make note of the sizes that worked (i just bought a bunch to make sure i had the right one).
The stock hardware was fine, i just wanted to have black hardware rather than cosmo black. The hipshot bridge is slightly more comfortable than the stock gibraltar bridge, however i only replaced it for cosmetic reasons.
I actually drilled a hole slightly too big for the hipshot tuner screws. I filled it with wood filler and drilled a smaller hole. A wooden dowel would have been better, but these screws seemed insignificant enough to use wood filler. Worked like a charm.
Additionally with the tuners - they're slightly out of line. This is due to me being stupid and just eyeballing it, rather than actually measuring the hole spacing properly. Doesn't seem to really affect anything so it doesn't bother me. Lesson learned.
The stock bare knuckle brute force pickups actually sounded pretty good, but i wanted something a little different. I had never tried black hawks before, but i've always loved the look of them. This guitar will be staying in B standard / Drop A with NYXL 10-59 strings. It sounds mean. These pickups have a certain flavor to them that i dig. The definition, output and feel are all there. They may not be my favorite pickups ever, but they'll be staying in.
The mad hatter system is the easiest wiring i've ever done. Pretty expensive at around $140, but i dig it. It makes swapping pickups a breeze, and changing with coils are active on the split settings is easily changed by just swapping the placement of two wires (well 4, but there are 2 wires per split terminal). Soldering would definitely be cheaper and take up a bit less room, but you cant beat how easy this system is. I didn't include a picture because i didnt clean up the wiring. I didnt cut any wires from the brand new pickups, so there are a ton of wires just being pushed down at the moment. I could easily get in there and clean it up, but i'm lazy and don't see a reason to unless something stops working i guess.
The only thing i want to change now is the selector switch screws. I'll be changing them out to black screws whenever i go to lowes again.
Frets have been mirror shined, she's all intonated and set up with nice and low action. She shred's, now if only i could haha.
I think that RGR5227MFX has one of the punkiest looks that Ibanez has pulled off. It performs like a proper RG and looks like a rebel.
