# NPGD!! (Ibbo Universe Modding)



## GazPots (Mar 4, 2009)

Yes, it is a *N*ew *P*ick*g*uard *D*ay. And to celebrate such a monumentous occasion here is a stupidly big pic story just because i was bored. 

Ok so a parcel arrives. Tiz from the land of Ebay. 






It's no real surprise what it is.





Why yes, it is the pickguard i previously mentioned. Jeannie Pickguards as you can see. Just state what you want and BAM it gets made for you.





And here is the geetar we shall be modding.





Here's a better shot. My Uv777BK from 2001!





Right lets get this sucka open. Knife blade time.





And what shall we be changing today? Well, the fucking shitty mirror on my UV and its gash middle pickup of course.  FUCK YOU single coil. 





Say hello to your replacment. Yes, you are being replaced by a bit of plastic. Did i mention fuck you already?





Quick idea of what it'll be like.





Ok packages open and now its time to start the modding. Firstly to the back trem cavity and a quick thumbs up to Mr T, the savior of many of my earth hours.  You win.





And to the jack cavity. Time to disconnect this sucker. Note how horrible the innards of this particular guitar are. 





A quick disconnect and we are rollin. Weyhey!





Time for Mr T to have a quick holiday.





And he shall be joined by his 3 friends, Spring, Springy and Springy B Cheeseburger the III.





Whats the best tool to get springs off? Why an extra spring of course!





We shall see you 3 later!





Mr Lo-pro is now feeling a bit insecure about himself recently. 





I think he's wanting to go for a holiday aswell just to cheer him up.





Ok time to screw around with the pickguard.  Witty. 





Victory!!!





Lets have a look under this badboy............oh dear.





A quick tug and i realise i've forgotten to disconnect the 2 earth wires still there. Doh!





Anyways, looking good now. Mirror has been abolished to another dimension. Namely the bin.





However, there is something lacking. Yes it's Mr Lo-pro who has returned prematurely to his home. Perhaps he missed home. 





Couple of shots to show just how bad wiring my skillz are.  













Enough of that, now i begin to muck around with the new pickguard and seeing what it'll look like. Which is very nice i must add.





Anyways, back to the job at hand. Which by now is getting rid off the old pickguard by stripping all the hardware off it.





And for the final time. FUCK YOU SINGLECOIL. To the bin with your sorry ass.





Was going to sort out the wiring but by this stage but my printer was goosed and i couldn't be sacked drawing out a big diagram. Another day perhaps.





Ok now we are getting somewhere. 





On with my black knobs. Lovely.





Just need to screw around with the pickguard again. Hohohohoh the humour. 





Ok now its on and only a few things left to do.





Namely get Spring, Springy and Springy B Cheeseberger the III.





Screw the jack cavity plate back on...........





Bring back Mr T aswell. Pity the fool.





Quick tighten of the screws.





Raise the knobs off the guard slightly and tighten.





And stick the 5 way tip back on. The finish is in sight!!!





And finally just take the protective film off the pickguard and we are fucking done. YES!





Some random shots of the guitar in its glorious new state.



































And a final shot. Sexy. 






And with that i retire to the amp room satisfied of my mods. Double buckered uv with no crappy mirror or singlecoil. Excellent. 


Over and out.


Gaz


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## liamh (Mar 4, 2009)

Wow, thats much nicer than I expected!


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## Lozek (Mar 4, 2009)

I'd always pondered doing this, and then replacing with black hardware/bridge as well. Only pondered though.


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## Ryan (Mar 4, 2009)

That looks SO much better! I did that to mine a while back too.


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## GazPots (Mar 4, 2009)

Haha, epic. High five to us. 

Ok whie i remember.

I checked the wiring diagrams for my uv and its hardware (specific switch to 2001) and i'm no wiring genius so how hard is it to link up position 3 on the selector to be both humbuckers on full?


Currently it goes. 

Bridge bucker -> usual split tones -> NOTHING -> parallel neck bucker -> neck bucker


Is it quite a quick mod or is it rather complex? 

I tried looking at the likes of double buckered Rg's in the ibanez wiring diagrams but they have different switches to mine so im stumped. 


Here is the diargram to match my uv (and i have the same switch as this). Click thumbnail for bigger version.


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## Dethfield (Mar 4, 2009)

hey, i like the middle single coil


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## Elysian (Mar 4, 2009)

you can probably sell the mirror pickguard, yours didn't look to be broken, which seems to happen enough that you can probably sell it  my 99 UV had a broken pickguard when i bought it, was the main reason i got it for 600 bucks.


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## dowenprs (Mar 4, 2009)

I know i'm probably the only one, but I dont care for that at all. The stock look is what makes that guitar look so awesome to me. Looks too ordinary blacked out. Of course just my opinion. 


Peace

Dan


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## ShadyDavey (Mar 4, 2009)

Damn, thats pretty much my perfect Universe - really nice axe Sir!


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## Elysian (Mar 4, 2009)

hey, why'd you ditch the knobs you had on it before? those things look great, i'd personally keep them, they tie the chrome trem in, imo.

i got a negative rep for this? thats what i'd call rep abuse.


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## GazPots (Mar 4, 2009)

Well i actually am going to be getting my newly modded rg7321 back soon which is now going to be metallica silver with chrome hardware. And you guessed it, those chrome knobs are going on that. The old mirror pickguard was just such a massive pain in the arse. It was covered in crap all the time and was a nightmare to clean aswell as having 5 million scratches that don't really show up in the pictures. I hated it basically.

Also i'm either going to sell the chrome trem on this and get a black one or just use the beaten up cosmo one i have in the drawer (you can see it on the table in a few shots).


Apart from the chrome trem being a bit out of place i think it all looks awesome.


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## Elysian (Mar 4, 2009)

GazPots said:


> Well i actually am going to be getting my newly modded rg7321 back soon which is now going to be metallica silver with chrome hardware. And you guessed it, those chrome knobs are going on that. The old mirror pickguard was just such a massive pain in the arse. It was covered in crap all the time and was a nightmare to clean aswell as having 5 million scratches that don't really show up in the pictures. I hated it basically.
> 
> Also i'm either going to sell the chrome trem on this and get a black one or just use the beaten up cosmo one i have in the drawer (you can see it on the table in a few shots).
> 
> ...



the beat up cosmo trem might look pretty cool too.


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## Mwoit (Mar 4, 2009)

Looks great! Did you just bin the middle single coil or you keeping it? Seems a bit of a waste just to bin!


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## Fred (Mar 4, 2009)

Haha, I didn't think a pickguard replacement picstory could possibly be that long or entertaining. Top work Gaz. I love the stock UV look but must admit that your modded one is looking pretty fucking nice!


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## Korngod (Mar 4, 2009)

looks nice, definitely go for the Black lo-pro, i bet all black would look sweet.


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## GazPots (Mar 4, 2009)

No, i didn't bin the blaze singlecoil. It's actually sitting on the desk upstairs but it may aswell be in the bin. I will never use it.


Finally got my printer working and rewired the whole thing as per the diagram. Except for one small detail. It seems the bridge and neck are reversed on the 5 way so i shall have to redo it all tomorrow.


Fucking joy.


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## Apophis (Mar 4, 2009)

looks great


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## Aenima (Mar 4, 2009)

Nicey 

But was it realy necasery to take Mr. Lo-Pro, Mr. T, Spring, Springy, and Springy B Cheesburger the III of?.
Why you didnt just lock Mr. T and cut the strings?, would have bin a lot les work.


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## GazPots (Mar 4, 2009)

^^^

Because if i take the springs and tremolno off i can just whip the trem out with strings attatched. Then within 1 minute have them back on and pretty much at the correct tuning. SO much less hassle than any other way. The strings are the same set through out the modding.





So i finally found an ibanez wiring diagram for 2 dimarzios humbuckers, 5 way with the same type of switch as me.


So i've spent the last hour and a half doing some rewiring.


Hopefully tomorrow it'll be up and running. Until then its a silent universe.


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## mattofvengeance (Mar 4, 2009)

GazPots said:


> No, i didn't bin the blaze singlecoil. It's actually sitting on the desk upstairs but it may aswell be in the bin. I will never use it.


 
Good man. I'm about to do the same thing to mine.


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## Shawn (Mar 4, 2009)

Nice work. 

That looks killer.


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## yellowv (Mar 4, 2009)

Looks much better.


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## renzoip (Mar 4, 2009)

Very impressive, I must say. Good Job!!


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## mattofvengeance (Mar 5, 2009)

Now throw in some Bare Knucks!!!!


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## 7 Dying Trees (Mar 5, 2009)

Buy a diarzio switch of ebay, it's a good upgrade, worth doing, and will allow for the wiring you want 

If you hate the single coil and want to get rid of it, let me know, i'm actually looking for one for a guitar!


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## John_Strychnine (Mar 5, 2009)

What pickups are they? Blaze Custom? I've been trying to work out what the pickups are in my 2077xl for ages and they have the same bases so im guessing there probably the same pickup.


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## GazPots (Mar 5, 2009)

Dimarzio Blaze II's in this universe.


The 1077/2077's have Dimarzio "custom" 7's whatever they are.








Edit - Better x077xl specs here.

http://www.jemsite.com/ibanez/21-ib...info/606-7-string-specs-rg-xl-27q-scale-.html


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## Anton (Mar 5, 2009)

Looks much better this way,Look fucking killer good job!


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## Rick (Mar 5, 2009)

I think I still have that Ibanez catalog somewhere. 

*"Springy B Cheeseburger the III"*


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## playstopause (Mar 5, 2009)

Soooo nice! Well done sir.


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## Bygde (Mar 6, 2009)

They should have been more like this from the factory. Good job!


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## Koshchei (Mar 6, 2009)

I generally hate black pickguards, but that's a big improvement.

What a rat's nest of wiring that Ibanez had. No pride of workmanship at all


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## xfilth (Mar 6, 2009)

My UV777bk is similar  

1 EMG81-7 and black guard 

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/se...nez-uv777bk-modded-56k-warning-pics-clip.html


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## GazPots (Mar 6, 2009)

It was your UV that made me go and buy that pickguard. Something about the plain blackness is just awesome.



High five for us.  




Koshchei said:


> What a rat's nest of wiring that Ibanez had. No pride of workmanship at all



Yeh, thats my fault not ibanez's.  It was a beater UV anyway so im not to bothered about the messyness aslong as it works (which it did at the time).


However im sticking it in to a shop for a full rewire.


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## botoxfox (Mar 6, 2009)

I didn't think a black pickguard on the UV777BK would look that good.


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## Dusty201087 (Mar 6, 2009)

Dude that's awesome! 

I usually like the mirror pick guard but I can see where it would probably get nasty or get a lot of fingerprints on it (seriously, that is why I hate glossy black guitars. Finger prints.) but the black looks pretty awesome. And I really like the chrome bridge even with everything else being black.

UGH... UV gas


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