Hey guys,

Recently I decided that instead of buying a new guitar, that I would like to upgrade my very first guitar into an awesome metal machine.

My first guitar was an Ibanez GRX20
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Iba...itar?sku=519417

This is a really low end guitar, but it would really mean a lot to me if I made it a great guitar. Essentially I'm willing to get rid of everything but the body itself.

I would like to replace the neck with a better one, maybe with custom inlays
I would also replace the pups, maybe throw in some Warpigs

My main question is about the bridge. Would I have to replace that as well? If yes, is that hard to do?

I'm also curious about the color, is there a way to strip the paint off without damaging the body?

do you guys have any ideas/advice?

thanks

sell it, buy a new one.

I already own a few guitars, the whole point of upgrading it is to extend the life of the guitar I learned to play on. I will never sell my first guitar

Since it's low end to begin with I don't think it ever will become a "great guitar"
One essential part of the guitar with big impact on the sound is the body so spending money on different parts while keeping a bad piece of adler body may be biting ones own tail There are some rocknroll pu combinations that goes with adler, I don't know the particulars of the BN warpig so I couldn't say.

However, as a project to have some fun it's a cool idea. Instead of adressing the bridge as "what could I put there" you could turn it the other way around and find the bridge you want to have there and then start finding the solution to get there. By the looks of it that bridge you have today is a fender type which means:
- a new fender type would be easy
- a floyd rose would need a lot of work
- a kahler trem fairly easy
- a tune-o-matic very difficult since your guitar has a flat top and no neck angle (i guess it doesn't)

You can strip the old paint off with lots of hard work and a sanding machine. Just mind the binding of there are any.

Have fun!

I partly agree with mickem i would leave it as is though it would cost lots of dough to do what you say and would still not sound that great. Getting a new neck with inlays would proberly cost more that the guitar itself the pu couple of hundred quid decent bridge 50 to 60 quid tuners another 5o.I would say cherish as is your first guitar

If you don't wanna sell it because is your first guitar, I think you have to change only the pickups to improve the sound. But don't change the color...remember, is your firs guitar!

i would say that's a bad idea m8. I understand you don't have anywhere else to spend the money but that money is down the drain. Have you ever wondered what you gonna do with that guitar when you finish all that? You'll end up with a guitar that doesn't even resembles to your "first" guitar, so what's the point? Also for the money you spend for the whole thing you can buy a guitar that has a much better sound AND feel! I don't know if this has any sense to you...

yeah that makes a lot of sense
I'm kind of disappointed... I'm getting bored of store bought guitars and want something unique

I think I'll start looking at old guitar from second hands store and make a Frankenstein guitar.

Thanks guys

If you got the money for it you could also buy some custom guitar!

Hi,

I'm in the same postiion as you. I have an old Les Paul copy that was my first guitar. It's actually my only Electric as I just love the feel of it.

I've been posting quite a bit on here and I've had some great help.

I decided to change the Pups and bought these yesterday
Seymour Duncans

I'm a little worried that the wires have been extended. Is that bad????

However I'll press on.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Cheers
Mike

Buy a 5pc wizard neck some dimarzio pickups and an edge zero tremolo and it'll be sweet....

its enough to change the pickups i think so

I started doing the exact same thing with my very first guitar, and after a new neck, new pickups, and a new bridge, I ended up buying a whole new body anyway, since I didn't want to put all these expensive parts into an old cheap body. My "new" guitar is almost done, and the only thing that is left from my original is the knobs (volume & tone), and the strap holders

I would also suggest you only get better pickups and keep the rest as it is, and completely changing everything would be the same as getting a new one, wouldn't it?