Hi Gmcers! Looking for some advice/feedback on this one! Here's the story...

I am looking for a guitar with floyd rose for some rock/heavy songs i cannot do with my fixed bridge guitar (like the vanhalen class with dive bombs and vibrating harmonics ) I'll prefer a diy project where i will upgrade little by little the hardware, including the paint (ive designed a lightning strike finish that ill do on the guitar!). Expected mods will be: change the pickups for custom ones, change the floyd for a schaller one (supposed better and cheaper than originals), redo all the cabling, change the pots, change the tuners for schaller or gotoh, level the frets if necesary...but step by step!
So i am looking for a second hand superstrat style, 200€ range max, where i dont really care about the hardware but with acceptable woods and neck... In this quest ive found a few cort x6 and x11 that are around this price range, as well as some ibanez but with slightly lower specs for similar price, so i am not sure about the wood quality. What do you think about the x6 and x11? Or do you think other guitars could do the job? Do you think the project is crazy and useless or can be interesting?

Thanks for your advices!

As far as I know various floyd type bridges have different lengths from one side to another, that might be a big problem when changing the bridge. Another negative thing is parts of guitars are more expensive compared to buying them on a new guitar.

A slight customization is always ok but trying to turn a guitar to something completely different is another story, at least financially doesn't have any advantage.

If you don't want to wait to save cash, why not buy a used guitar thats rather easy to sell again? if you can buy one for a decent price, you won't be losing much when selling it again.

Hi Mertay, thanks for your reply!

Thing is, if i can find let's say the X6 for 150€, let's do the count (i checked price at Thomann)

Pickups: lets take something that can be compared to ibanez models: Air Norton (66€) + Tone Zone (75€) + True Velvet (58€)
Floyd Rose: Schaller FR (151€)
Tuner: Schaller F series locking (86€)
Switch/pots/Jack: megaswitch + pots + jack + cable ... should be around 40/50€ max.
The paint job: that more a matter of time than cost but let's say around 30€ for sand paper, paint and varnish.

If I sum up: 150+66+75+58+151+86+50+30=666€ (wow, the number of the beast came out! )

So for 666€ that's a custom guitar with pretty nice specs that you could only find in more expensive models.

That should compare to an Ibanez Prestige, like the RG655 (same pickups configuration), which sales for 1200$ new, so i guess it should be possible to find secondhand ones for 700/800$, no? At the end you are right, the financial advantage is not very significant (i'll save a hundred bucks maybe) and i might struggle to sell it second hand... but that will be a really exclusive guitar that should play extremely well

Now the question is... wood quality in this type of guitars? For example, is the wood quality of the japanese Ibanez wayyyy superior than the korean/indonesian of the cort? Is it noticeable for this kind of guitar?...

For the trem. there might be more luck with a jackson to fit an original floydrose later on but if you like schaller probably a web search would be best. Changing the 2 studs holding the bridge isn't impossible but not health either imho.

I wouldn't worry much for the body wood but neck is more important to me. Recently I saw a cort x-custom neck and the finish was identical to ibanez or godin finishes, since thats where we touch and feel the guitar most maybe based on the neck feel choosing would be more logical?

But play ability is of most importance and the build quality on the cort , can get sketchy. If it is , all your upgrades will be a waste of money.
Try the guitar first. Don't buy hopping it will work out- it rarely does

So you think the x11 or x6 are not worth the effort of the upgrade? Will it be better with an Ibi rg (270/340)? Or other models...

Could you check how much a used rg1570 costs where you live? here its a little more than a quarter of what a new X-6 is sold for. They are perfect for modding and I dought you'll need to change the trem.

I'll check that! Tx Mertay!

I am left handed and some of my best guitars are not what you would call " name brands"( leftys are extremely limited in any brand), they were inexpensive but played great so I just put good pups in them. It is okay to do as long as the guitar fits you, if it doesn't, no matter what brand , Run

Guys, looking on the web i just found a nice second hand guitar, its a Jackson Dinky style but nothing is written except the serial number. After looking for hours on the net based on the picture and the serial number, i found that:

Its a DX10DFX, build in 2002/2003 at the Japanese factory of Jackson.

Its similar to this one:


With duncan designed humbuckers and the seymour duncan firestorm boost (hence the micro switch and extra volume pot). No idea what this boost is worth...
Alder Body, Maple neck, rosewood fingerboard,
Same FloydRose as the pro series, looks like its not too bad (higher spec than the Jackson JS series...). Only the US models have the original FR.
Switch of 3 positions, 1 tone, 1 volume, 1 boost volume, 1 microswitch and a 9v battery...

The guy is asking for 150€ (=170$).

What do you think?

I played 1-2 of these Japanese Jackson's, unlike today as always high quality stuff comes out of Japan these were low-to-mid. budget guitars. But imho they are worth modding, played 1-2 some time ago and were not bad at all.

I know there is a market for these where I live but its all about getting them for a good price and decent shape (some paint cracks are always ok but don't buy it if something like a neck crack is there).

Price seems ok to me if nothings broken, but send a message to Todd too as he know the market better.

Tx for the answer Mertay, lets see if Todd pass by the thread and comments it!