AJ220VS Upgrades

[Monkey Lord]

So some of you may or may not know that I'm a fan of the very affordable AJ-220S. Its a great guitar by any standard and I have really enjoyed playing it the last few years. So when I saw one for $99.00 in vintage sunburst on the guitar center website I thought, you know I could use that as a project guitar and if I mess it up I'm not out much money at all. So when it got here I kinda felt like a teenager with his first car; getting ready to "trick it out". At first I was thinking small. Replace the plastic saddle, nut and the bridge pins with bone. A cheap start for a first step. Its starting to snowball a little however. While looking for the saddle and what not I came across some vintage looking Grover tuning machines, so I had to have those, then I thought I would replace the pick guard as the old one looked a little nasty; the Epiphone "E" having fallen off a while back or the previous owner removed it. When the bridge pins got here I found out that they were a tad to large at the top of the pin so I needed a bridge pin auger; thats now on the way. I'm thinking about electronics now, and I'm considering the shadow system in my FT-79. It looks like it would be easy to install. I kinda like it but its maybe a little too polished, I don't know? Any suggestions out there?

[Mickthemiller]

Sounds like fun. I bought an AJ220 a while back. I don't like the Epi headstock so I reshaped it to look more Gibson like. Much better and it helps it fit cases.

[Monkey Lord]

Sounds like fun. I bought an AJ220 a while back. I don't like the Epi headstock so I reshaped it to look more Gibson like. Much better and it helps it fit cases.

 

It is a lot of fun. I replaced the pick guard last night and it was even easier than I thought it would be. I was afraid of messing up the finish but I didnt even scratched it. It looks a lot better now. I'll have to post some pics later.