New (Used) Guitar Day SZ520QM Mods Planned

[t1r12003]

I got this off an auction for a great price, $250 shipped. I just got it last night. I was a little disappointed in the hardware: knobs, pickups rings, bridge all tarnished. But other than that, it was in excellent condition.

The mods I'm planning on are: black/cream zebra pickups, I'm thinking Custom Custom bridge and Pearly Gates neck for a more vintage classic rock sound; new chrome pickup rings; change the wiring from 2 volumes and one master tone to 1 volume 1 tone and 1 push pull pot that will just split both pickups. New pots, 3 new chrome knobs and a new 3-way switch with cream tip.

Here's the pics:

[Agent540]

Nice "little" axe !

I have one, It's a very comfortable to play guitar (is that englishly correct ? )

[t1r12003]

Is yours stock or did you upgrade the pickups?

[jairic]

My friend has one, amazing instrument aside from the hardware getting naked pretty quick. He put an Invader and Super D in his... very nice guitars, I would love to get one sometime.

[Agent540]

Originally Posted by t1r12003

Is yours stock or did you upgrade the pickups?

she has the stock pickups.......for the moment !
she sounds nice, but I will surely replace them for an experiment... when I got the idea and the bucks

Anyway, it's a fine guitar to test any PU

[t1r12003]

Well, I'm playing musical pickups and trying to get a good color combo for this guitar, so it's lead me to a couple different options.

Option 1. Black/Cream zebra Duncan Custom Custom bridge and B/C zebra PAF Joe neck. Chrome pickup rings and chrome hardware.

Option 2. Chrome covered Dimarzio PAF Classic bridge and Virtual PAF neck with cream pickup rings and amber knobs and cream pickup switch.


Obviously, option one is going to give me a higher output combo and a different look. I love black/cream zebra on amber. Option two would be more vintage sounding and look more like a Les Paul.

What do you think?

[t1r12003]

Decided to go with the vintage look. Haven't had a chance to crank it up and see how I like the sound, but looks cool. Didn't have a cream switch tip, but it's a very small detail to fix later.

[screamndemon69]

Looks nice. Which pup set did you decide on?

I had one of those (in blue) and liked it so much I sold it and bought the Prestige SZ4020. I had planned to drop a JB/Jazz set in the blue one before I decided to sell it. The stock pups weren't exactly horrible, just a little less bite/output than I wanted.

I thought about changing the pups in the SZ4020 but honestly, the stock pups are good all around beasts.

Congrats.

[Rotti]

Hey good choice with the mods/upgrades. I had one and replaced the pickups, switch, tone pots, etc and it made a HUGE difference. Really an excellent sounding guitar when done.

[t1r12003]

It was the Dimarzio PAF Classic bridge and Virtual PAF neck.

Still haven't had a chance to crank it up through my amp yet to see if I like them. Probably tomorrow when my wife goes back to work.

I also threw an Evo bridge and FRED neck in my JS100 (another thread) with a Gotoh bridge I'm dying to crank up too.

Merry Christmas to all.