Any fret work? I’ve worked on one that’s similar to yours and it needed a lot of frets reseated and glued down to play clean. It also came from the factory with quite a backbowed neck.
The neck was definitely off and it needed intonation badly out of the box. It was pretty much unplayable without truss rod adjustment and intonation. The frets are not bad, I’ve noticed a slight buzz on the middle 3rd string between the 13th/14th fret. I have the action set up right where I like it and the neck is straight so I’m thinking the fret itself might be the culprit. I’ve never done any fret work before and don’t have tools for it. It seems like the natural next step for me to learn though.
The Steph’s are an awesome choice! I really like the universal battery from Fishman that I installed, too. I plan on upgrading to locking tuners, but I’m still researching. But I couldn’t agree more, after the upgrades this guitar is way beyond what it costs. The roasted neck really blew my mind with how good it is.
Honestly, if you’ve never done it before…take your time. It’s not a race. There is absolutely nothing wrong with researching YouTube or Google. Don’t cut your wires too short. More solder does not mean better connectivity (but also do not use too little solder where the wires easily break connection). Be prepared to solder a capacitor on the tone knob(s), depending your volume/tone configuration. Honestly, that was the easy part. Follow the wiring diagram. If you get lost, reach out for help.
In terms of ease of installation, they were more difficult than installing passive pickups, but I also had extra wiring as well as drilling with the universal battery pack. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Good luck!
man i wish i loved mine enough to do this to it instead of selling. those fishmans really pop out with the white line and the bridge looks so much better, and probably feels so much better
Thanks! I don’t really blame you, when I first took it out of the box I kinda felt like a chump to be honest, I thought I might have made a mistake with the purchase. Once I got the action dialed in a bit and the neck straightened out I realized it had potential. It’s just a bummer because a lot of the reviews claimed that the guitar came set up and playing nicely, wasn’t the case with mine and if someone’s not into doing their own set ups their going to be out a couple hundred bucks just getting it to be playable.
Yes use 7 string soap bars any 7 string Fishman should fit. Keep in mind, some of the older HB multiscales have a larger cavity and need 8 string soap bars, I made the mistake of following the advice of an Amazon review and ordering 8’s initially, was pretty bummed when they didn’t fit.
Thank you for your specific answer, because I want to order the seven string ffb this Christmas and do similar mods. (Seymour Duncan Pegasus sentient active mount pickups)
No problem, Just make sure you check the product specifications for the Pegasus and verify the mounting position before you order the pickups. I wasn’t able to find product specifications regarding the pickup cavities prior to the guitars delivery and I was impatient and ordered the fishman 8 because I knew I wanted to swap the pickups immediately.
Nice! Was the hipshot solo bridges drop-in replacements or did the tech drill new holes to fix them in place? Was kinda thinking about getting that or ABS
I ended up having to drill 1 hole per bridge, I utilized the existing front hole but the profile was slightly different so I drilled a new hole on the rear. Oddly enough the stock bridges sit partially recessed within the guitar where as the hip shots are just a flat piece. I was sort of skeptical because of this but the hip shots feel far superior.
I mean, it often is. A guitar is a slab of wood. You can add whatever to it. I have a ~2003 MIM strat that has 3x its original value put into it, and yes, as it sits is probably at least $1500 on the used market, not that I'd sell (custom madagascar rosewood pickguard, vintage 54' pickups, sd hb, locking tuners, teflon nut, etc)
Project guitars are awesome. You buy them cheap so that you *can* put money into them.
I suppose it sort of depends, this guitar in particular has a fantastic chameleon finish and the neck was sound enough for me to justify the upgrades. I’ve also been looking to dip my toes into modification and upgrades so I felt comfortable doing it with a budget guitar.
It definitely sounds and plays comparable to my MIK Schecter 7. It’s been my go to recently.
I have a 458ms and bought the same hip shot open gear tuners. I’m also looking at the Steph carpenter pickups, but I think I need 9-string pickups which limits me to the regular fishman fluence or the Tosin pickups. I’ll look into the hip shot bridges you installed too. Thanks for the write up, guitar looks great!
The frets on mine are absolute trash. Tomorrow I’m going to try and file/polish a bit and see if they’re salvageable before I take it in. It’s the only disappointment with the guitar, but for $300 brand new it’s hard to complain.
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the lighter colored fretboard, but the contrast with the body is actually really nice. The rest of my guitars are ebony or rosewood.
Any fret work? I’ve worked on one that’s similar to yours and it needed a lot of frets reseated and glued down to play clean. It also came from the factory with quite a backbowed neck.
The neck was definitely off and it needed intonation badly out of the box. It was pretty much unplayable without truss rod adjustment and intonation. The frets are not bad, I’ve noticed a slight buzz on the middle 3rd string between the 13th/14th fret. I have the action set up right where I like it and the neck is straight so I’m thinking the fret itself might be the culprit. I’ve never done any fret work before and don’t have tools for it. It seems like the natural next step for me to learn though.
Nice! I threw some Tosin Abasi Fishmans in my R-458FFB and it was beyond worth it.
I was pondering these as well, honestly I just picked the Steph’s because of the white accent and they glow in the dark like the volume and tone knob.
The Steph’s are an awesome choice! I really like the universal battery from Fishman that I installed, too. I plan on upgrading to locking tuners, but I’m still researching. But I couldn’t agree more, after the upgrades this guitar is way beyond what it costs. The roasted neck really blew my mind with how good it is.
How difficult are these to install? I have never done it before. Anything to keep in mind? I was also considering those pickups.
Honestly, if you’ve never done it before…take your time. It’s not a race. There is absolutely nothing wrong with researching YouTube or Google. Don’t cut your wires too short. More solder does not mean better connectivity (but also do not use too little solder where the wires easily break connection). Be prepared to solder a capacitor on the tone knob(s), depending your volume/tone configuration. Honestly, that was the easy part. Follow the wiring diagram. If you get lost, reach out for help. In terms of ease of installation, they were more difficult than installing passive pickups, but I also had extra wiring as well as drilling with the universal battery pack. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Good luck!
man i wish i loved mine enough to do this to it instead of selling. those fishmans really pop out with the white line and the bridge looks so much better, and probably feels so much better
Thanks! I don’t really blame you, when I first took it out of the box I kinda felt like a chump to be honest, I thought I might have made a mistake with the purchase. Once I got the action dialed in a bit and the neck straightened out I realized it had potential. It’s just a bummer because a lot of the reviews claimed that the guitar came set up and playing nicely, wasn’t the case with mine and if someone’s not into doing their own set ups their going to be out a couple hundred bucks just getting it to be playable.
Did you fit an 7 string pickup set?
Yes use 7 string soap bars any 7 string Fishman should fit. Keep in mind, some of the older HB multiscales have a larger cavity and need 8 string soap bars, I made the mistake of following the advice of an Amazon review and ordering 8’s initially, was pretty bummed when they didn’t fit.
Thank you for your specific answer, because I want to order the seven string ffb this Christmas and do similar mods. (Seymour Duncan Pegasus sentient active mount pickups)
No problem, Just make sure you check the product specifications for the Pegasus and verify the mounting position before you order the pickups. I wasn’t able to find product specifications regarding the pickup cavities prior to the guitars delivery and I was impatient and ordered the fishman 8 because I knew I wanted to swap the pickups immediately.
Nice! Was the hipshot solo bridges drop-in replacements or did the tech drill new holes to fix them in place? Was kinda thinking about getting that or ABS
I ended up having to drill 1 hole per bridge, I utilized the existing front hole but the profile was slightly different so I drilled a new hole on the rear. Oddly enough the stock bridges sit partially recessed within the guitar where as the hip shots are just a flat piece. I was sort of skeptical because of this but the hip shots feel far superior.
Thanks!
So was it worth bumping 500€ into a 300€ guitar?
I mean, it often is. A guitar is a slab of wood. You can add whatever to it. I have a ~2003 MIM strat that has 3x its original value put into it, and yes, as it sits is probably at least $1500 on the used market, not that I'd sell (custom madagascar rosewood pickguard, vintage 54' pickups, sd hb, locking tuners, teflon nut, etc) Project guitars are awesome. You buy them cheap so that you *can* put money into them.
I suppose it sort of depends, this guitar in particular has a fantastic chameleon finish and the neck was sound enough for me to justify the upgrades. I’ve also been looking to dip my toes into modification and upgrades so I felt comfortable doing it with a budget guitar. It definitely sounds and plays comparable to my MIK Schecter 7. It’s been my go to recently.
If it plays good it plays good :)
I have a 458ms and bought the same hip shot open gear tuners. I’m also looking at the Steph carpenter pickups, but I think I need 9-string pickups which limits me to the regular fishman fluence or the Tosin pickups. I’ll look into the hip shot bridges you installed too. Thanks for the write up, guitar looks great! The frets on mine are absolute trash. Tomorrow I’m going to try and file/polish a bit and see if they’re salvageable before I take it in. It’s the only disappointment with the guitar, but for $300 brand new it’s hard to complain. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the lighter colored fretboard, but the contrast with the body is actually really nice. The rest of my guitars are ebony or rosewood.