And it made a world of difference. I installed a SeymourDuncan SH-2n Jazz at the neck and an SH-16 59/Custom Hybrid at the Bridge. And I installed the Mad Hatter Guitar Products Terminator DVDT-4/2 solderless pots for coil splitting. The big difference, besides the solderless connectors, is that when the coils are split, the pot is also switched from 500K ohms to 250K for a much closer single coil sound. The muddiness from the original 650R and 700T is gone. The mud has been replaced by clarity. And I actually had to turn up the bass on my amp just a bit. And when I play into a channel with some Gain / Crunch / Distortion, I can get plenty of growl or tight fuzz. The Jazz split gives almost a Tele sound. When the 59/Custom is split it's using the Custom coil which gives kind of a Strat bridge pickup tone. But split tones I really like is the middle position with both coils split - that is fairly close to a Strat tone. Of course, the middle position with one coil split and one humbucker gives more options. So the tones that I got are perfect for what I play - all in one guitar - which initially was really quite cheap. Since this was the first time that I had ever replaced pickups or pots, I have been steep in the learning curve, but it's been fun times.
Yeah!! Because i didn't like the feel of my GIbson Faded, I bought a G-310 (In avatar pic), put in Jazz/JB, push-pull for in/out of series and 500k pots. The thing is a beast and holds up to it's Gibson cousin. It also has the default benefit of having the neck set further in the body for more comfortable playing. Mine is 2011 Indonesian and has a thin, butter-like neck that blows away the Gibson. Wish I could switch them! Enjoy. I also put pickup rings on it.
Mine was made in 2008 in China; it has the thicker neck and glossy black finish, whatever it is. I like the sound of yours better. The thinner neck would suit me better. I just might look for one of those. I got mine last year really cheap. It appeared to have never been setup or played. It has a finish flaw on the headstock, so it probably sat in some warehouse somewhere. I have a lot to learn, so it's getting some mileage now. But yeah, it's been good to not be stressed out over possibly ruining a really good guitar. I took a cheap guitar and made it better. (That reminds me of a song. Ha!) When I say cheap, I mean the G-310 and a perfectly fitting TKL hard case with one broken latch for US$150. I haven't felt one bit bad for spending a bit more to improve it. Cheers!
