Pickup upgrade on Ibanez Gio GSA60

Johnny-B

I have an Ibanez Gio GSA60 which has HSS pickup configuration. For what I paid new, it's a really good value-for-money low end guitar. It has a nice neck and I like the variety you get from the pickup options. I'm playing through a pedal board with home-built pedals, mainly from BYOC kits apart from my own-build Timmy and in to a Blackstar HT-5. I'm playing in a church worship band and we mic up the amp to the house system, effectively using the amp as a monitor.
We play a wide variety from traditional hymns to Delirious?, Hillsong, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Jesus Culture, Brian Doerksen, Michael W Smith, Brenton Brown, Paul Baloche, Parachute Band, Tim Hughes, etc.
I'm thinking of hotrodding the guitar with a neck single coil and bridge humbucker and I have 2 questions:
1. Do you think that it is worth spending the money on pickups that will probably cost as much as the original guitar?
2. What pickups would you recommend I fit?

Thanks in anticipation of your advice. ?

IceCreamMan

Johnny B wrote: I have an Ibanez Gio GSA60 which has HSS pickup configuration. For what I paid new, it's a really good value-for-money low end guitar. It has a nice neck and I like the variety you get from the pickup options. I'm playing through a pedal board with home-built pedals, mainly from BYOC kits apart from my own-build Timmy and in to a Blackstar HT-5. I'm playing in a church worship band and we mic up the amp to the house system, effectively using the amp as a monitor.
We play a wide variety from traditional hymns to Delirious?, Hillsong, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Jesus Culture, Brian Doerksen, Michael W Smith, Brenton Brown, Paul Baloche, Parachute Band, Tim Hughes, etc.
I'm thinking of hotrodding the guitar with a neck single coil and bridge humbucker and I have 2 questions:
1. Do you think that it is worth spending the money on pickups that will probably cost as much as the original guitar?
2. What pickups would you recommend I fit?

Thanks in anticipation of your advice. ?

Yip i reckon its woth upgrading as that will be the single best bang for buck upgrade u can do. you can always remove the pups when u sell an re use if you want to.

I would go with ToneRiders , they made the world of difference to my Ibby SA series, toneriders are cheapish as well .

Johnny-B

Thanks, ICM, for the prompt reply. Which model Toneriders did you put in your guitar and which models would you recommend for my GSA60?
Does anyone sell Toneriders in the Joburg area?

---mario---

I second what ICM said, get Toneriders.
I've been looking to do the same on my GIO for a while and what I've learned is that the Gio series' necks comes close to pretty much the same as the normal Ibs, the big difference is the very low grade electronics and MIC ofcourse, so you might want to do the rest of the electronics while you're at it and maybe later get better tuners on for more tuning stability

flatfourfan

glad to hear that you're upgrading it. I so regret selling my old gio. I loved the neck. I have an RGA32 and I have to admit that there isn't much diffs with the gio neck and the RGA

IceCreamMan

Johnny B wrote: Thanks, ICM, for the prompt reply. Which model Toneriders did you put in your guitar and which models would you recommend for my GSA60?
Does anyone sell Toneriders in the Joburg area?

i would say rocksong in the bridge , and city limits in mid and neck

but do some research on em .. the above is what i went with and was delighted with the results

Johnny-B

Thanks, guys, for all the comments.
Mario, when you say "MIC", what are you referring to?
Don't you just hate TLAs!!!

---mario---

Johnny B wrote: Thanks, guys, for all the comments.
Mario, when you say "MIC", what are you referring to?
Don't you just hate TLAs!!!

MIC: Made In China , MIM: Made In Mexico, MIJ: Made In Japan , etc ?

MikeM

Just about any pup will work. I'd recommend their Alnico 4 for the bridge. Coolest pup they make, works in just about any guitar!! I had a Rocksong and was very disappointed.

MIKA-the-better-one

HEY Jonathan!!!! ?......
I say its worth the upgrade provided you are happy with the guitar and do not want ot sell it....... you can always just put the old ones back in if you dont like the new ones....
Toneriders are cheap and easy to pop in and sound good apparently.......

AlanRatcliffe

Johnny B wrote: Does anyone sell Toneriders in the Joburg area?

Get them direct from www.tonerider.co.za - reliable, overnight delivery and inexpensive.

guitarboy2828

I'm pretty sure someone is selling a tonerider on the forum, a humbucker style'd one. Kalcium I think? CAN NOT go wrong with a tonerider for that price!

I agree with ice-cream man on the city limits though. I'm a full time worship leader who often uses a strat in worship. I have looked to upgrade to toneriders for awhile now, done A LOT of research, listening, etc. The city limits look like the best one's for the wide variety of style one plays in worship.

I will say this, if you have more money, buy a new guitar. The only reason I say that is, you have a great set up, so why not have a great guitar too? However, if you are comfortable with your gio, then get the toneriders!

Johnny-B

I have hard-tailed the GSA60 with a wooden block and I must say it stays in tune pretty well, so I can't see much value in changing the tuners. My pots work and are not noisy so I can't see the value in changing those. There is a lot of hype spoken about tone caps but I believe the reality to be that, provided the cap is not leaky, it depends only on the value of the capacitance and not on the type of cap or dielectric used in the cap. So I might try experimenting with different capacitor values but that's not my primary objective. I already have so many tone controls on pedals and amps that I rarely use the guitar's tone control.

So it looks like I'm headed towards City Limits neck and middle and Alnico IV in the bridge unless anyone has a better alternative.

Johnny-B

Well, I went ahead and bought the Toneriders - City Limits neck and middle and Alnico iV in the bridge - and I'm trilled with the result - great tone and a nice balance between pickups. The service from Andre at The Custom Shop was top-class. I've produced a wiring diagram showing the original pickup connections with wire colours and the equivalent Tonerider connections and wire colours. I'll post it in case anyone else wants to do the same upgrade to a GSA60.