Anybody totally hot rod a semi hollow?

[marty_the_westie]

I want to get a semi-hollow, but do not want to spend more than what a decent Korean would cost, and then spend a few hundred more fixing it up. There is the obvious choices: Epi dot, Ibanez artcore, Peaveys new jazz box, and so on and so forth. First question is what is the general concences as to which model is the best to beef up. And secondly, has anybody totally revamped a jazz box of some sort? I mean the whole 9 yards. If so, I would love to hear about what you did, and how it sounds/plays.

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Anybody totally hot rod a semi hollow?

I'm really not sure the "best" model to hotrod, but I love my Dean Chafin Del Sol. I put in Dimarzio Virtual PAFs and they sound great, nice mix of single coil and humbucker type tone. Good for jazz, great rhythm tone and when I decide to handle distortion, the bridge pup makes sure it stays articulate and tight.

Ibanez Artcore are basically, rock-a-billy, jazz styled guitars. I wouldn't exactly call them semi-hollow, I think they'd be more hollow bodied electric style. I've heard very good things about it and I think it looks great so it would probably work very well for what you want. I thought a while ago I had tried it and thought it was a decent guitar for the money, but a lot of people are saying that it's phenomenal, so I'd look into it based on that.

The Epi dot is not that great of a guitar. I'd rather get an Epi Sheraton, but that's JMHO.

[tone4days]

Re: Anybody totally hot rod a semi hollow?

i totally overhauled my ibanez am-50 about 18 yrs ago .. it is a small bodies, semi-solid, two humbucker electric .. it used to have a 3-way toggle for pup selection and volume and tone for each pickup .. now it has a master volume and a master tone .. a 4-way rotary pickup selector (chicken head knob for mojo!) that gives me "neck alone / neck and bridge in phase / neck and bridge out of phase / bridge alone" .. and each pickup has a mini toggle to do internal series or parallel ... replaced the stock ibanez pups with bill lawrence 500XL


pics of my AM-50

i wouldnt change it back

cheers
t4d

[ArtieToo]

Re: Anybody totally hot rod a semi hollow?

For what its worth, 'cause I only tried them in the store, I really like the new Peavey JF-1 more than the similar priced Ibanez's.

But then again, I do tend to have a slight pro-Peavey bias.

[Alvin Lee Fan]

Re: Anybody totally hot rod a semi hollow?

I did the following to an Epi Dot:

Seth Lover pickups
CTS 500k pots
Orange Drop caps
'50s wiring scheme
Switchcraft pickup switch
Bone nut
Tonepros bridge

I found the construction on the Epi to be great. Nice sized neck, good fretwork. Solid guitar. I haven't seen the new Peavey in person, but it's about $100 less than a Dot to start with, unless you're buying used.

Mine sounds great with these mods. I could fish up some clips if you're interested.

[Wattage]

Re: Anybody totally hot rod a semi hollow?

An Epi Dot is a pretty good deal and a nice guitar to mod out. Some of those new Artcores are pretty nice and I just ran into some Yamaha Semi's that were outstanding.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Anybody totally hot rod a semi hollow?

I have an Epi Sheraton that I love. It has great binding and inlay application, great fretwork, and a good sound unplugged. I swapped out the nut, the tuners (stock ones were crap), put in CTS pots and orange drop caps, and it has a pair of Phat Cats in it now. I can get pretty much any sound I want from it, I get compliments on the looks and sounds from everyone whenever I play it, and I came out paying way less than a 335 (though I still want a Gibby ).