SX Ash mod v2 - DiMarzio Tone Zone DP155 & Fender Texas Special tele

[leonjay1]

Holy f*** awesome mate. Great tone and playing.

[frethand101]

Great Pickup Combo Dude!..

[rafport]

@frethand101 thank you, i did some other mod on this guitar, i should post new vids in next time. Bye!

[EmperorofCartoons]

@rafport I LOVE the pickups you put in, and the sound from this thing, it just suits me, I like it a lot. I saw your older, pre-mod videos and I think you really improved it. Except the pickguard! lol why! The old pickguard was so pretty, it had such a lovely faux pearl look to it lol. But thats a personal choice I guess.

Excellent playing and customization!

[rafport]

@EmperorofCartoons unfortunately this guitar has a very strange shape, the telecaster PUP is smaller than a single and can't fit (or can't stay) into the proper hole. After then, there are no mid pickup. If you swap on my vids, i did also a transparent pick guard and now i've a gold one :) I can't use the standard one. I like also do some try with new (and cheap) material so i'm interested in did some strange results, the plexiglass transparent one was weird :D

[ralfcaetano]

hey are there any different dimensions on this guitar compared to a fender? (body thickness, neck pocket, pickguard etc)

[rafport]

@ralfcaetano Body is almost same, but i can bet on exact to millimeter, and i don't change neck so i really not sure about this (i fear not). The body chamber is a bit smaller than fender, pick guard fender mount but holes are different, pickup holes are little smaller (i put Fender pickup into, but they fit with a minimal free space). Nut is exactly same, the Fender shaped Graphtech is perfect here. Bridge similar, but not exactly same in hole, but compatible.

[ralfcaetano]

@rafport but a fender pickguard could fit right?

[rafport]

@ralfcaetano yes, but holes for screws are not identical so you need to do some added hole for screws... not a problem for a such cheap guitar!

[SuperMetallica83]

@rafport Hey man, great vid. Would these pickups work well installed in my Squier with a basswood body. Also thinking about installing a floyd rose trem.

[rafport]

@SuperMetallica83 yes, basswood will be a good choice. you have to do some count on pots anyway, because the tone zone is quite dark and the texas special (even if not so bright) has lots of high frequencies, so you should find the correct balancing depending how many pots and their value. This depends even from the body and the scale of the guitar. 

[TheCemgesx]

You thought tone zone would split bad? Dude, this pickup is designed for hsh guitars, ( mostly for Ibanez rg series) and it is specially made to be able to split easily

[Thirdgen83]

Nice woody tone. 'Sounds like a Tele.

[porterhouse56]

nice work., cool look with the pu and scratchplate setup.

[gengster247]

Nice playing, but it would be NICE to see your fret hand in the vids.

[erictoniaschwab1009]

Awesome playing brother. I'm thinking about getting this axe for birthday this year or Christmas. How do you like it compared to Fender Standard Strat, Ibanez RG, Squier Strat etc?

[rafport]

@erictoniaschwab1009 It is a pretty decent guitar, but for serious results it need some work on it (all hardware except wood is being changed now, this vid is not recent but almost all was changed there too). This is valid for any instruments, especially cheap ones even if some are much better than others. SX are cheapest of all but really not worst, anyway need some work and some upgrades to shine. Is a good start point for a very reasonable price, as you're not paying for the brand.

[twinratter]

Cool mod! nice playing man..

[GibsonTick]

Very nice! I just picked up a Squier Strat that is getting an overhaul, just a Tone Zone in the bridge with a coil splitter. Can't wait to get it done!

[rafport]

@GibsonTick let me know about you result :)

[GibsonTick]

@rafport I'll be posting a video! I'm currently working on 2 strats, the alder body Squier and a completely custom ash body from StewMac. Not sure which will be getting the humbucker and which will get a pair of single coils.

[rafport]

@GibsonTick maybe you should do some trying before, i'll wait for video i'm curious

[GibsonTick]

@rafport Well, all these months later and the Squier is finally done! Check my channel for the vid. I ended up going with a Tone Zone hot rail.

[victordoscolares]

You play a lot!!!!!

I never seen anybody playing like this.

Very, good!!!!

[rafport]

@victordoscolares Thank you, too kind!

[metalballs2010]

Where did you get those kind of pickguard?

[rafport]

@metalballs2010 a pickguard foil and a hacksaw, a sandpaper on sides and a drill for holes. it is not difficult. it works even with common plastic foil on bricolage shop. and i tried on recent weeks (not a video present now) to cover a pickgurd with a colored adhesive foil, and it come a good work too. now i've a gold pick guard for that guitar you are seeing, same color as gold hardware it mount :)

[OLMOKRISTIAN4]

1:26 SUPER HOT SCREAMING GUITAR PICKING MANNNN!!!!!!!!!! AWESOME. YOU ARE PRO!

[rafport]

@OLMOKRISTIAN4 thank you, i'm not so good unfortunately but i appreciate a lot your post!

[charvelstrat81]

sounds really nice bro! i was thinking of gettin a SX ash strat to mod myself are these pretty good out of the box playin wise?

[rafport]

@charvelstrat81 SX has some nice things and some bad things. if you good in setup and customizing the guitar, maybe you can change all bad things and mantain good (woods in mine SX was pretty decent and neck is fat as i like). without those works it really depends, my SX thinline was nice not that bad to play, this strat was very bad and not suitable to playing without heavy changes in components

[pablostillborn]

nice rocking tone!!

[rafport]

@pablostillborn thank you

[dean19581]

This shows what you can do with a inexpensive guitar when you put the right pickups in it. Plus the capable hands of a good guitar player...

[rafport]

@dean19581 thank you, it is exactly what i tried to show on my channel because players are too involved into brands and judge stuff with price tags and not with hands. it is fundamental for a guitar player do lot of experimentation, and is rather difficult with expensive guitars. here you can put, leave, drill, change everithing risking few dollars. results can be very very good. it is not brand or finish of the top to do the tone (and sometime inexpensive guitar has very nice finish too)

[RowenCx4]

fucking rockin' man!

[patrickwood77]

Very nice tone! Love your style!

[rafport]

@patrickwood77 thanks!

[chqtarzan]

you ripped

[relwark]

Sweet tone!

[TornDays1]

Sounds fucking orgasmic!

[rafport]

@TornDays1 thanks

[shogun506]

damn bro I was watching this video for the tone zone but that neck pickup sounds VERY hot

[rafport]

@shogun506 yes, it is a great pickup. is selled in pair with bridge (hot too but not as tasty as this one, i prefer vintaged bridge tele pickup). work very well with ash bodies

[Winterhe4rt]

awesome work due. =)

u think the tone zone fits well in a basswood guitar for high gain playing or do u think its to bassy?

[rafport]

@Winterhe4rt basswood and tonezone are usually a good pair. it depends on pots you use anyway, their values. if you mix single and humbucking. with a single 500k volume and no tone will be surely bright. with 2 500k volume and tone should be ok. with more pots or lower value mix the risk of too dark tone is not that far

[Winterhe4rt]

@rafport i have 1 5way switch for splitting, yes. and a tone and a vol pot. at the moment my bridge pup, a Seymour duncan tb5, sounds extreme bright and sharp. it has the exact amount of bass, but lacks all kind of mids in my ears. so i would try zje tone zone and/ or the dimarzio d sonic. u have experience with that one? thank you =)

[rafport]

@Winterhe4rt Dual Sonic is a very interesing pickup, and i plan to try in future on some guitar. It is very aggressive one, and has different coils so you can mount in 2 ways obtaining quite different tones. Anyway it is something you can do even with your SD, have you tried to turn the pickup? The mid response it really depends on woods (and on tastes), maybe on mahogany body it will play better, basswood is quite resonant on highs. pots value can do difference but just for adjust brightness

[rafport]

@Winterhe4rt Anyway for example after this mod you see on this SX i needed some other work, and i put some different feature to add another pot because it was still too bright (maybe in the record cant be eard, but it really was). decreasing highs can be a effective ways to increase other value, and light pickup distance adjustment can do the rest. Obviously you cant change as you want the inner tone, but a good setup can be effective

[Winterhe4rt]

@rafport Thanx for all the information, man. =) i play the TB5 now for a year and the setup now is as good as it could get. i think it just not the right choice for the wood and my playstyle. i just fear that the TZ could be too bassy. it has a high amount of bass and mid respone and the highs scooped. thats why i thought it would be a good choice for the basswood ibanez, yeah. the D sonic has similar specs as the TZ but from what ive read its less compressed and more lively albeit higher output

[rafport]

@Winterhe4rt they are quite different pickups, the alnico reaction make the TZ very different to a ceramic one, is softer to picking and is quite warm where the DS is very aggressive and direct. TZ need a bright guitar and it play very well, but you shouldn't expect ton of mid-highs (like an Evolution for ex or a JB). Neither the DS is anyway. You should think about it... anyway there are bot very good pickup for hard rock music :)

[Winterhe4rt]

@rafport thx. i guess i will try the TZ first. Thanks for your help and informations, dude. keep on rockin. =)

[rafport]

@Winterhe4rt very good, let me know about that project :) hi!

[Guitarstring187]

im obsessed with the tone zone. I bought one just need to install inot my 04 mim fat strat.

[clemmdupree]

Great playing and great sound. Can you please put up a link to that guitar on rondo? There are several ash Strats but not sure which one is closest to the one you are playing.

[rafport]

@clemmdupree thank you for apreciating my work and my playing. in this vid (i mod and change other things you can find in recent videos) i've almost change everything on the sx, pickups, pickuguards, pots, selector, bridge, tuner and nut. the pickguard is cutted by me so i guess you cant find same configuration on rondo, it was a common strat. i suggest you to choose an ash model with natural finish it should have same woods and measure than this one

[rafport]

@clemmdupree happy to be useful :)

[BlueBarrier782]

@rafport I've actually got one of those Ash strats, it plays great.

What kind of bridge did you replace yours with? I haven't found the one on mine stock to be all that bad, but if I'm upgrading the tuners I might want to upgrade the bridge as well.

[rafport]

@BlueBarrier782 you right, bridge was not that bad like tuners, but mine had problem with the trem bar, it was blocked cause a damaged screwing step, so i needed to change. i put a couple of wilkinson trem and tuners taken from ebay for a very good price. beware bridge has not identical measures of a common strat bridge, the wilkinson mount well but i needed to put saddlers to max highs and distance for tuning, it seem a bit shorter than the sx one

[roge69charger]

Man! That Instrument Now Sounds Like Heaven! Keep up the Great Work!

[rafport]

@roge69charger i did other mods on them and in my opinion it play even better, check for newer video on my page :) (one with plexy pickguard :D)

[GuardianOfFate12]

Wow, sounds great! What coil are you using on the tone zone?

[rafport]

@GuardianOfFate12 i'm using the bridge side one, i splitted that coil and ground the central side one. thank you for compliments!

[MrSimonAegerter]

hey I have a charvel with a tonezone in the bridge and i d like to mod it with a coil splitter.

could you please tell me how you wired your guitar and if the top or bottom singlecoil of the tonezone runs in split-mode

[rafport]

@MrSimonAegerter i mount my pickup with the standard position (so wire in direction or voluem knob) so i guess the master coil will be the one near the bridge. for splitting i leave the hot pole connected and ground the 2 mid wires, so it become just the coil in bridge side alive. there are guitarists (petrucci for ex) who prefer split the other and it is needed too connect as hot pole the other side, so when you ground mid wires you exclude the bridge. it depends on taste you can do some try

[jojay25]

cooooollllllllllll!!! cool!

[rafport]

@jojay25 thank you

[dinkymau]

what a cool sounding strat man!! nice tele sounds!!! i liked it :)

[rafport]

@dinkymau thanks, on my channel you can find a newer video with other mods on this guitar, i hope you can find this one interesting (and more tele oriented). bye!

[NightSyrc]

Awesome Tone. Bright and crunchy ! I Absolutely love it !! Kudos !

[rafport]

@NightSyrc very thanks my friend!

[fanofthemusic1090]

@rafport

Are the pickups and the mini switch the ONLY things you modded? 

[rafport]

@fanofthemusic1090 on this vid yes, in the electrical part. but now the guitar is pretty different, i did a plexiglass pickguard, 3 pots, no switch, analog split of the humbucking

[fanofthemusic1090]

@rafport

Could I mod my guitar so that one of my tone knobs controls splitting my bridge humbucker? So, if it was on 10 it would be both coils on full, but as I rolled it down one coil would gradually turn off, until at 0 one coil was completely off?

[rafport]

@fanofthemusic1090 sure is very easy, like wire the tone knob. i post a video on my youtube homepage, you need to put the 2 central wires (cold of first coil and hot of second coil, the humbucking connection in pratics) to a pot and make the pot when 10 nothing happen, so is humbucking, and when to 0 all to ground so just first coil will play. in bethween you will ear single and a bit of second coil depending on voumle :)

[fanofthemusic1090]

@rafport

Very, very cool. Thank you!!

[fabou13]

one of the best playin and tone I have ever watched on youtube...

[rafport]

@fabou13 very thanks! i did some other mod on the guitar, same pickup but differents values in pots. tone is almost same anyway. i'll post something soon

[kainicol]

気持ちがこもった弾き方で好きです：）

[sghrd]

Bellissimo suono! Complimenti anche per il la mano.

[rafport]

@sghrd grazie per il suono e per la mano :) ciao!

[rafport]

@sghrd grazie per il suono e per la mano :) ciao!

[feet2oofast]

Hey man, as always... thats a baddddddd guitar :) keep up the good work.

[rafport]

@feet2oofast thanks!!

[pastorkev777]

Really great sounds but this is not very stratty its unique. No real neck pickup sound do to how bright the neck pickups is. ThIs is a sweet sound. The neck pickup sounds like my Xavieres neck pickups in split mode chirpy but not nazelly (my guitar is much more bassy though/ mahogany). The tone zone was the perfect choice for the bridge pickup in that guitar. -Pk

[rafport]

@pastorkev777 thank you. i've already other strats, so i searched for a different tone for this mod

[Stratboy999]

Very nice range of tones. Good playing again...!

[rafport]

@Stratboy999 thank you very much!