Change My Mind

I had 2 Ibanez that just gave me problems

I've been leaning towards fenders lately, but I started off on jacksons. I have an Ibanez or two in storage. Haven't had problems. Just out of rotation.

Back In the early 2000s, the major guitar companies had an all out war to see who could offer the best bang for buck starter guitar. It really revolutionized the production process. I cant complain too much, todays starter squire is 3x better than anything jimi hendrix could hope for

Yeah, some companies out did themselves, while others got worse. Some of my best guitars are actually knock offs that I went out of my way to find. Same high quality as an original, but at a fraction of the cost. I scoop those up as soon as I see them because some of those companies are no longer in business.

Testify. $150 guitar, $200 mods=over indulgence

Agreed. I've only modified one of my guitars. A fender strat knock off I had converted for nylon strings. I have a strat knock off that I've Frankensteined from other strat knock offs, but I don't consider it modified. I'm currently in the process of Frankensteining another.

Last couple of years, I've been digging the dragonfire pickups. A lot of emg knockoffs at half the price

I've been toying with the idea of changing out pick ups. Never done it before. I like keeping the original pick ups just because I've come to accept each guitar's tone. Thanks for the insight.

Changing pickups is not that hard. They have diagrams online of every conceivable combination. Most people are intimidated by the soldering iron, but its simple.
Pro tip: buy a cheap ass soldering iron. The expensive ones are big , get in the way , and get too hot. So a $10 soldering iron is ideal

Thanks. Not worried about ruining the guitar. Just never considered pick up knock offs. And I've saved a few pick up and pot configurations from magazines I found were interesting. And a soldering iron has been on my tool list for a while. Guess this is a good time to get one. Weird how this is coming together for my next Frankenstein strat.

If your worried about ruining your guitar, but your guitar has a full pick guard.......just buy an extra pickguard, put all the new pickups and pots in it , then all you have to do is connect the ground and jack. If it doesn't work out, just put the old pickguard back in