Last weekend all major changes to the RG2550 were complete but it took some tweaking during the week to perfect the setup for my style of playing. Overall, I’d say it’s as good, if not better than many £1500 guitars out there - glad I didn’t spend that kind of money on a JP6/JS1000 ;)
The modifications:
1. Pickups: Installed a Breed bridge but it wasn’t as hot as I expected it to be, so I switched back to the Tone Zone. My ears are quite happy with the Evo neck + Tone Zone combo so I doubt I’ll be making further changes.
2. Custom H-H Pickguard: Shielding the pickguard with copper tape was a PITA but it’s a one-time affair. The smoked gray mirror looks really good against the galaxy black finish, clearly better than the bronze stock pickguard.
3. OTAX VLX91 super-switch: Wiring the OTAX wasn’t exactly easy and took over an hour - one reason I don’t want to change my pickups again lol. The new coil-tapped switching positions are really sweet though especially for clean guitar.
4. Nut shim added to reduce open fret buzz, as a result of straightening the neck.
5. The Edge Pro locking stud mod is brilliant, giving me 100% tuning stability no matter how much I use the whammy bar. Makes you wonder why the hell Ibanez stopped using locking studs in their Edge trem systems.
RG2550E before the upgrade:

Nut shim - pickguard w/shielding, locking studs, OTAX switch - studs installed:

RG2550E customization complete:
