avengers63 Posted November 4, 2023 Report Share Posted November 4, 2023 Last November I bought an Ibanez AX120 on Amazon for about $120. That was $100 off list price. At least that's how I remember it all going down. It was a year ago, and I'm getting old. I got it as an upgrade project. A cheap ax like that is just perfect for that type of project: take a guitar that costs less that $300, drop a couple hundred at most into it, and have something way better than what you started with for hopefully a fraction of what it now performs like. FWIW: Here are the unboxing pics 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted November 4, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2023 A couple of months later, I finally got to the upgrading. I wasn't about to put a pair of $100 pickups into a $120 guitar. At least not this time. I did that several months later. This time, it's Wilkinson tuners and Tonerider P90s in a HB housing. These are never true P90 sounds because the coil is shaped a LOT different. But they DO come really close. My intention was also to replace the tortiose p/g with a black one. I got it all made up in the Spring. I just needed to trim it down a little to fit right between the pickup rings. And that's where it all stopped. I never got around to it, and now I don't know where it is. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted November 4, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2023 But this week, I DID finally record some sound samples. I had made some videos on my phone of the old pickups which were completely unusable. A couple of days ado I did the same with the new pickups. Tonight, I figured out how to extract the audio so it can be uploaded here. DISCLAIMER: This is all audio extracted cell phone videos. It's gonna be pretty low quality. but it does give you an idea about what a difference there was with the new pups. Here's the rig: an Orange Micro Terror through a Roland 8" cab. The amp is set right on the edge of breakup. old bridge bridge old.mp3 new bridge bridge new.mp3 old both middle old.mp3 new both middle new.mp3 old neck neck old.mp3 new neck neck new.mp3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodfab Posted December 10, 2023 Report Share Posted December 10, 2023 Do you feel the new pickups sounded better? So far on my last three guitars I am putting it the (Epiphone Classic Pro Alnico Classic) pickups $50 for the pair.. They are from China so they might be fakes. I can always change them later if I hate them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 14, 2023 Report Share Posted December 14, 2023 I'm a great fan of Tonerider - always have been since I upgraded my genuine and decent spec Gibson Les Paul by popping a pair of their Alnico IV Classics in - a pair of pickups that were less than half the street price of the originals I took out... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted December 15, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2023 On 12/9/2023 at 7:29 PM, woodfab said: Do you feel the new pickups sounded better? So far on my last three guitars I am putting it the (Epiphone Classic Pro Alnico Classic) pickups $50 for the pair.. They are from China so they might be fakes. I can always change them later if I hate them. Well, we have the sound clips here, soooooo....... I think they sound 10X better. To my ear, the stock pups were completely unusable. The bridge was bland & dead, and the neck was even tinnier than the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machinebrain Posted March 29 Report Share Posted March 29 the sound clips are not working... I trust they sound well. I just got the same guitar and inspired by your setup, the pick ups as well. As for the tuners, where did you find those and what model will fit and for a good price? Interested to know. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted March 29 Report Share Posted March 29 7 hours ago, machinebrain said: the sound clips are not working... Probably something on your end. Working fine on iPad/Safari now that I tested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted March 29 Author Report Share Posted March 29 9 hours ago, machinebrain said: the sound clips are not working... I trust they sound well. I just got the same guitar and inspired by your setup, the pick ups as well. As for the tuners, where did you find those and what model will fit and for a good price? Interested to know. thanks I got the Wilkinson tuners on Amazon. They're inexpensive, but definitely not junk. They turn smooth enough and hold the string in tune. IDK what more you really need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Woozle Posted March 29 Report Share Posted March 29 AFAIK Wilkinson get their hardware made by Gotoh (though likely in Korea rather than Japan, I suspect) - I agree that they're worth trying if you want decent tuners for less than "name" brand prices? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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