I'm mad! Quite, quite mad.....
I thought I'd share my madness with you. Specifically my intentions for my RG7321 guitar. Some of you may question my sanity after this, and anyone without any understanding of the workings of guitars may well get lost!
Ok, I was getting a bit fed up of the crappy sound from the standard pickups of my RG7321 and I'd been spending way too much time on jemsite.com lusting after a Universe UV7BK, so I hatched a little plan. I'd upgrade my pickups, but go for green pickups like the UV7. This spiralled into a 4 stage plan:
Stage 1 (complete): Replace crap standard pickups with green Dimarzio pickups, an Evolution 7 in the bridge position and a Breed Custom in the neck position. I'd really wanted an Air Norton 7 in the neck, but Dimarzio won't do those in green, despite saying they'll do any pickup in any colour as a custom order on their website. Junk standard electrics for 2 push/pull volume pots operating series or parallel humbucking.
Stage 2: Add a killswitch and replace standard black volume knobs with green Dimarzio bell knobs (with numbers going up to 11!)
Stage 3: Add graphics in a matching shade of green to the pickups and knobs. Probably these will be logos of some bands I like (Annihilator, Nevermore, Kill II This etc), but I'm definitely going to have Steve Vai's "hindi" style logo behind the bridge in a similar style to the way he names his guitars.
Stage 4: The final attention grabbing modification, at some point in the future when funds allow, will be the addition of green led fret markers.
Yes, I probably am mad spending what will probably amount to around £500 on a £300 guitar, but it'll be unique, stand out in the crowd, and the pickups have already made it wipe the floor with my Ibanez RG7620. To put that in context, my £300 guitar with £170 worth of aftermarket pickups sounds MUCH better than a guitar that would have cost £1000 when it was new. I think my insanity may be worth it....
One standard Ibanez RG7321, before I attacked it.
The Ibanez Universe UV7BK. Note the green dot inlays.
Stage One complete.
The inspiration for the graphics idea. It's a UV7BK, just with some graphics on it. It really makes it stand out from the crowd.
Ok, I was getting a bit fed up of the crappy sound from the standard pickups of my RG7321 and I'd been spending way too much time on jemsite.com lusting after a Universe UV7BK, so I hatched a little plan. I'd upgrade my pickups, but go for green pickups like the UV7. This spiralled into a 4 stage plan:
Stage 1 (complete): Replace crap standard pickups with green Dimarzio pickups, an Evolution 7 in the bridge position and a Breed Custom in the neck position. I'd really wanted an Air Norton 7 in the neck, but Dimarzio won't do those in green, despite saying they'll do any pickup in any colour as a custom order on their website. Junk standard electrics for 2 push/pull volume pots operating series or parallel humbucking.
Stage 2: Add a killswitch and replace standard black volume knobs with green Dimarzio bell knobs (with numbers going up to 11!)
Stage 3: Add graphics in a matching shade of green to the pickups and knobs. Probably these will be logos of some bands I like (Annihilator, Nevermore, Kill II This etc), but I'm definitely going to have Steve Vai's "hindi" style logo behind the bridge in a similar style to the way he names his guitars.
Stage 4: The final attention grabbing modification, at some point in the future when funds allow, will be the addition of green led fret markers.
Yes, I probably am mad spending what will probably amount to around £500 on a £300 guitar, but it'll be unique, stand out in the crowd, and the pickups have already made it wipe the floor with my Ibanez RG7620. To put that in context, my £300 guitar with £170 worth of aftermarket pickups sounds MUCH better than a guitar that would have cost £1000 when it was new. I think my insanity may be worth it....
One standard Ibanez RG7321, before I attacked it.
The Ibanez Universe UV7BK. Note the green dot inlays.
Stage One complete.
The inspiration for the graphics idea. It's a UV7BK, just with some graphics on it. It really makes it stand out from the crowd.