duhvoodooman
September 27th, 2012, 09:05 PM
I still very much like the new Xaviere XV-890HSS I recently bought from GFS, but since the pickups were more of a vintage style and I have other guitars that cover that territory, I decided to go with something hotter. I also wasn't all that keen on the white pickup covers. So I picked up a used Duncan SH-5 Custom humbucker on eBay and bought two Lil Killer twin-rail humbuckers (http://www.guitarfetish.com/Lil-Killer-Black-Humbucker-Rail-Pickup-for-Strats-Three-Versions-Available_p_461.html) from GFS in the 10K "Modern" flavor, all in black. Had to do a little grinding on the bottom plate to make 'em fit in the XV-890HSS routing, but otherwise it was a quick mod to do. I think these hotter pickups fit the character of the guitar better, and I definitely like the black better with the purple body. They sound great through the "Crunch" and "Burn" channels on my Mesa Express 5:25. See pics below.
I also used the opportunity to put a fresh set of D'Addario 10's on the guitar, which necessitated going through the whole string change/re-setup rigamarole with the Floyd Rose. But this time, I followed the directions in THIS VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNNAVzS3cS4) exactly, and it was MUCH easier! Dialed that sucker right in!
http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/XV890/XV-890HSS_new_pups_1.jpg http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/XV890/XV-890HSS_new_pups_full.jpg
I also used the opportunity to put a fresh set of D'Addario 10's on the guitar, which necessitated going through the whole string change/re-setup rigamarole with the Floyd Rose. But this time, I followed the directions in THIS VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNNAVzS3cS4) exactly, and it was MUCH easier! Dialed that sucker right in!
http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/XV890/XV-890HSS_new_pups_1.jpg http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/XV890/XV-890HSS_new_pups_full.jpg