tonight's guitar tech and mod work - my RG520Q is a tone MON

[AJ Love]

took my RG520Q over to my guitar tech's house for a set-up and pickup change and basically another lesson in guitar tech work...here's what he did:

took off the nut and discovered a few shims underneath the nut, also realized that the first fret was slightly too long...so he shaved off a little bit of the extra wood from the neck where the nut meets the neck (***THIS IS NOT recommeded for non-professionals to try!!***) and took out the extra shims --only to later realize that one shim (instead of 3) would actually work well for this particular guitar....once he got the first fret and the nut just right he moved onto the pickups....

took out the stock pickups and installed DiMarzio Evolutions (man what awesome pickups, more on that later)

then did the basic set-up stuff, set-up the intonation perfect, set the pickup height correctly, adjusted the action slightly

it never ceases to amaze me what magic a great guitar tech can work....my RG520Q has been transformed from a very cool guitar to a certifiable tone monster.....it plays SO much nicer and the intonation is sweet now

those EVO's completely rock in this guitar....a few people have told me that the EVO's might be too harsh for this guitar but they sound fantastic, lots of sustain, plenty of overtones and chime, and the clean tone sounds great too (a LOT of people have said they don't like EVO's clean tones)

just thought I'd share tonights experience...personally Im psyched about this guitar, though it may still end up being a really sweet back-up, as it looks like I'm finally gonna be sending out the payment for that JEM 7DBK tommorow from Rich!!!

[Kyle Odom]

I did something similar with my 520QS when I got it. *Mine had the nut too high too. *It's a great playing guitar and I have always prefered the Edge to any other trem including the Lo Pro Edge. *So much fun to play around with.
If you didn't have your tech do it, I highly recommend a fret dressing. *Even on a brand new guitar, the difference is amazing when a good job is done, but it spoils you. *I've done about 15 of them now and have pretty much perfected the process. *Best two hours I ever spent with any guitar. *Better intonation, better sustain while applying vibrato, easier bends, much less noise, and easier and more accurate sliding of notes up and down.
Anyway, what he did with shaving down the wood in front of the nut is one of the parts of the Buzz Feiten process. *Most production guitars are notorious for being too high at the nut. *It really all depends on how you like your guitar set up. *You can have a slightly higher nut but have a consistant action from first to twenty second (or fourth) ala Satch, or you can do things the traditional way and have a graduated action.
No doubt you have a great guitar and it sounds like it is set to your liking, so GREAT FOR YOU!! *There is nothing like a guitar that plays how you want it to!
Enjoy it!!
KO

[shawn]

i think aj means that the tech shaved under the nut to eliminate the need for so many shims, the feiton mod requires that you shave in FRONT of the nut to shorten the scale length --- 3 hundredths of an inch to be exact. *just thought id clear that up so every doesnt go shaving under their nuts thinkin that they have the feiton mod . . . . . i really didnt like the way that came out * :biggrin:

[Kyle Odom]

Shawn, thanks for clarifying to readers. *I wasn't trying to encourage others to try that but on second read it could seem that way. *I switched thoughts mid paragraph from intonation to action. *I do not encourage anyone but the most seasoned of repairmen to try to mod a guitar to Buzz's specs. (this includes myself, although the thought has crossed my mind
KO

[YngVaiTriani]

Awesome job with the pickups and tech work. Too bad the 520 has such a small wimpy neck. The neck has so much to do with tone. The neck is probably the most important part (not including pups) when talking about sustain and tone.