Stick a fork in 'er and call 'er 'done' ...

Thursday, March 12, 2015 -- The correct pots for my Ibanez Gio GAX 30 arrived earlier this week. They were identical to the first set I received except the shaft was longer. The first ones were

Before photo.

designed to be mounted on thin material like a strat-like pickguard. The Ibanez pots are mounted in the body, therefore, the threaded mount had to be longer to accommodate the thickness of the wood in the electronics cavity.

As a guy who has spent his life in electronics, I find it a little funny when guitar people say they "replaced the electronics" in a guitar -- meaning the pots and the pickup switch. Pickups are usually described individually if they are replaced. In guitar world lingo, I suppose I "replaced the electronics," though all I really did was to replace the two bad pots with new ones.

The three-way switch was fine; I've read about guys replacing perfectly good pots and switches and swearing they make the guitar sound different. I strongly suspect that its a lot like the effect I get when I wax my car -- it seems to run better after putting that much sweat into making it look nice.

Of course, cheap-ass pots can get dirty and scratchy, as well as wear quickly. Replacing them is indeed usually better than replacing them. But I don't think my amplifier can discern between one 500k pot and another, and I really don't think it is going to change the quality of the output signal (unless the pot is somehow defective anyway). I know guitar folks also talk about replacing the capacitor as well, but here again, unless you are changing values, I don't know that there's any real difference between caps.

Anyway, late last night I finished installing and wiring the new pots and mounted them. The new pots DID make a difference because the old volume pot was dead except for one spot that gave me about half output level ... it was one of those deals where you had to hold your tongue just right in the corner of your mouth to make it work.

The new "electronics" installed, this morning I had to find the speed knobs I received some time back. It took some searching, but I finally found them on my desk. They were the final touch that marked the Ibanez's official completion.

At full volume now on a clean output, I noticed a little bit of buzz on the low E string ... the saddle needs to be raised a bit I think ... once I find the hex wrench that fits it, lol. But overall, the guitar plays easily and sounds good ... a much more aggressive, metal sound than my strat copy. I was going to take a photo of the completed guitar, but I really need to clean 'er up and get the dust out from around the pickups and the headstock.

I'm still not sold that these pickups are the best, though I generally read good things about them. One reviewer said this model Ibanez  has an "SG vibe" .... Not sure about that, the way I remember it, a Gibson SG is a heavier instrument.

The GAX 30 is lightweight and comfortable to play ... the neck is fairly narrow at the nut, which is an important consideration for someone with smaller hands (like me). I think its pretty much the same scale as a typical strat or strat copy, though it has 22 frets vs. 21 on my strat (the extra fret on the Ibanez has a final fret at the very end of the neck at the body end, whereas the strat copy does not).

Overall, I really like the guitar and I've been impressed with Ibanez's overall build quality (for a Chinese-made low-end guitar). While the finish on my Chibson looks better than the Ibanez, the build quality is superior on the Ibanez (or that's my experience with it ... your mileage may vary).

Anyway, my wife is home waiting for me to come upstairs and go down on her for her first orgasm since her hysterectomy ... don't want to keep her waiting. Here's to sex and rock 'n' roll!! (" 'Cause two out of three ain't bad ....")

Rock on!