So had some time and decided that since I was doing this over pretty much from scratch, I'd take another stab at the VLX91 since I just like the way it feels better than the EP1112. Since I was sort of eyeballing it before as far as a shim to level it off to the lip of the switch cover plate and routing in the guitar.
So I took some time to measure, model, and 3D print up a shim plate for it and it does work... it's not quite perfect and in the extreme positions (1/5) it does sit a little close to the plate, but it's definitely usable.
So once that was done I set about mapping the wiring between the two switches which just took a little time with the continuity meter but was fairly straightforward - the VLX is a weird switch, but it works exactly the same so this wasn't too bad to do. I found that in the end it led to a much neater cavity and has a much more positive engagement... just better "feel", I dunno. But I'm glad I took the time to do it.
I also shielded the cavity while I was in there - not sure it'll have a huge impact but the room I record in has a TON of noise - my active bass pickups just get murdered and no direction or orientation I set my bass in solves it entirely - so I figured it couldn't hurt to do. And lastly, I swapped in a brass tone/sustain block and dropped the string gauge a little bit as I'm hoping that'll take a little bit of the mud out of the bottom as that seems to be the biggest issue with this guitar and low tuning.
I still need to do a final setup and intonation (there's a little more string buzz than I'd like and sustain is getting clipped on the higher strings) but initial impressions are good. I honestly really like the bridge, zero thoughts or complaints there, it's aggressive but retains really good clarity and note separation it sounds good heavily distorted and pretty good clean - it can be a little bitey on cleans though, but it's not "bad". But for chugga-chugga I really like where it lands. The neck pickup is still a bit muddy but vastly reduced from the mojotones and I'm hoping once I get the action and everything set I can do a little height adjustment to maybe clean it up a little more. It's very woofy. The good news is that cleans up a good bit once you hit the parallel switch. In blended positions 2&4 (inners/outers) provide a nice "twang" and some chime and are probably going to be the go-to spots for cleans or slight crunch. I especially like these blends with the neck in parallel - I realize it's 3 coils at that point, but for whatever reason the mellowing effect of running the neck in parallel just makes it really nice in those positions. Position 3 is maybe the only spot I'm not thrilled with, it almost feels like you get the "worst" of both pickups. It's boomy on the low-end and sort of undefined on the high-end (you lose the aggresion of the bridge and don't really get the smoothness of the neck), again the parallel switch helps some witht this, and maybe with a different amp or a pedal I can make this position more usable, but right now it's the one I'm the least impressed with. That being said - I'm quite happy with this swap and the tones from all the other positions for the most part. Just a little final adjustment to do to dial it in and I'm hoping that just makes it all better. If I can't clear that woofiness out of the neck I may bug you all again for some tips to cut it out - I assume I need to drop a cap in somewhere, but not sure where - and then I'll hopefully be done and can just enjoy playing this thing.
Here is a link to a few pics - I should have taken more, but didn't think about it at the time. I use trem blocks to help speed up the setup of the trem and with the new block, I had to print new ones to see which would fit the best.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QbbRZJctbPrQoAEG9
I want to thank Jack for all of his help through this entire process. I've learned a lot. This is a truly great community and as a total noob I never felt unwelcome or talked down to. That's truly rare to find these days. I look forward to the next adventure in here.