Upgrade Suggestions & Help

[Lucius Paisley]

In the process of making changes to my Ibanez LP - tuners, bridge, electronics - and need some brand suggestions.

I paid $700 (with case), so I'm also wondering if I should go 'top end' with those parts, or keep it in line with the rest of the guitar i.e. Gotoh/Grover vs Schaller in regards to tuners, etc.

I'm not sure what electronics are in it at the moment, but the switch is a bit "cracky", so if I replace everything, I already know I have CTS/Switchcraft as a pre-suggested "go to".

Strap locks or no? I don't move around much and I think the installed buttons are already for strap locks, but I don't have the locks that fit. Either way, the guitar feels quite sturdy with a strap, so I'm not sure.

The guitar holds tune quite well as it is (one tuner can be knocked out of tune quite easily, but no big deal) and I like how the roller bridge looks and acts, would it be worth keeping that over the standard? And either way, the nut has good "give" in regards to bends, etc. right now, would that change anything if I went with a standard bridge? I don't think it would, but there's probably something I haven't thought of.

And lastly, it's a given that I'm selling the Bigsby/Vibramate that came with it. It's gold with slight wear in places and also, left-handed. The heads of the screws are also a bit worn and might need replacing. Does anybody know what a fair second-hand price would be, given those conditions? (I'll take some photos later.)

Anyway, I know this is a lot of questions, but if I'm pulling apart an entire guitar for this, I want to be sure that the idea of upgrading is a good one and I don't find myself back at square one in a month from now.

Thanks for reading my essay.

[Mincer]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

I'd say strap locks for sure. Every guitar should have them, if you move around or not.

[blind1]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

I say do whatever you want with the guitar.

For me, strap locks are the way of the world. I don't even comprehend an electric guitar without strap locks. It's a glitch in the matrix.

Everything else is whatever. Since you posted that it costs $700, I'm guessing you aren't a millionaire, so therefore pouring tons of money into a guitar likely isn't the best financial choice. I've made worse choices at the casino one time. Some upgrades gives far yielding results in regards to sustain and tone, others are just cosmetic or even placebo-like. Only you will know how far you wanna go.

Also, cracky switch.. have you tried using an electronic cleaner on the switch? Much cheaper and easier than replacing said switch.

[Lucius Paisley]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

Bigsby photos, wear and tear.




Slight fade on the arm in the first shot.
The foam dots might need replacing, but when screwed back in place they could be fine. They stuck a little, but the Bigsby lifted off easily.

Close-ups of the wearing away of the gold.



Close-up of the arm.



Vibramate, wear and tear.



Wear at the top.

The foam dots here are practically brand new since the Vibramate sat a little off the body.



Bits and bobs.

The spring and plastic ring may have been replaced pretty recently, they look brand new.



The screws and bolts still have a lot of 'bite' and weren't difficult to remove, the slightly stripped heads just look ugly.




Not knowing how old the Bigsby is, I can't really tell if this is good condition for their age or not, but any guitar would look kickass with it on.

[ehdwuld]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

Piezo bridge perhaps?

I love a roller bridge

But I have recently got into piezo sounds with my LP style guitars

If you have four knobs. It would be simple to make a master tone/volume for the magnetic and piezo

They dont come in roller version as I know
But they do add to the pallet of tones


Locking tuners make it quicker to restring
Grovers are on several of mine and are excellent

I also like the $25 aliexpress KD brand lockers
They seem to be the same ones Allparts sells under their brand

Strap locks are on all mine as well
I use the dual design Dunlop as not all my straps have the buttons

[Lucius Paisley]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

Piezo bridge perhaps?

I love a roller bridge

But I have recently got into piezo sounds with my LP style guitars

If you have four knobs. It would be simple to make a master tone/volume for the magnetic and piezo

They dont come in roller version as I know
But they do add to the pallet of tones

I'm not looking for anything too fancy with this guitar, just update the look and not have to do it again for a long while. I'm still getting used to the varied sounds of bridge/middle/neck.

But I do have another LP style guitar that I can't seem to get rid of I could try it with.

Strap locks are on all mine as well
I use the dual design Dunlop as not all my straps have the buttons

I'm definitely convinced on strap locks.

[Lucius Paisley]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

Also, cracky switch.. have you tried using an electronic cleaner on the switch? Much cheaper and easier than replacing said switch.

Opened it up, and found this...



I'm not sure spraying it is going to help.

Also, does anybody know what pots I've got going on here?



I tried looking up those numbers, but not finding anything.

[ehdwuld]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

The 272B , B means linear

I would take a meter and measure ohms across the outside legs to determine size

Ibanez uses Audio taper volumes and linear tones if I remember correctly

[Lucius Paisley]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

The 272B , B means linear

I would take a meter and measure ohms across the outside legs to determine size

Ibanez uses Audio taper volumes and linear tones if I remember correctly

Took some readings using the 2000k Ω setting.

Bridge Volume - 016
Neck Volume - 007
Bridge Tone - 592
Neck Tone - 560

Something looks... wrong.

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

Took some readings using the 2000k Ω setting.

Bridge Volume - 016
Neck Volume - 007
Bridge Tone - 592
Neck Tone - 560

Something looks... wrong.

Maybe a dumb question, but you are sure you had the pots wide open when you took the readings right?

[Lucius Paisley]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

Maybe a dumb question, but you are sure you had the pots wide open when you took the readings right?

Here's a dumber question - "wide open"?

[ehdwuld]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

Measurements of the outside legs dont use the wiper of the pot

It may be the ground that's skewing the reading

In either case 500 k is what you need

[Lucius Paisley]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

Measurements of the outside legs dont use the wiper of the pot

It may be the ground that's skewing the reading

In either case 500 k is what you need

Well, if trying it with everything turned to 10 is what was meant, then I did that, also at 0, both with guitar plugged in and unplugged.

Same readings every time. Even swapped back and forth between the red and black connectors on the meter, just in case.

[Gtrjunior]

Upgrade Suggestions & Help

Here's a dumber question - "wide open"?

On ‘10’.
IOW not rolled off at all.

Edit: Just saw your post above. Yes, that is what I meant.

[ehdwuld]

Re: Upgrade Suggestions & Help

You are reading the value of you pickups 16k and 7k

Your pots are 500 k