Juggs in ESP LTD M-100FM

[Jackalicious]

Hey guys,

      So I posted a project back in January for my Gibson Les Paul Studio asking what pickups I should get. Well after much debate and me learning from veteran forum members I just kept the stock pickups for that guitar and have a new plan.

I have a ESP LTD M-100FM with a Floyd Rose. What are your opinions on loading it up with a set of Juggernauts? I know it is a low end ESP but dude, I gotta be honest and say the guitar shreds. Its very comfortable to play & I am going to be using it to play/write Monuments style music. A lot of heavy stuff with some melodic clean stuff just with a bit more harmonies. I'll be tuning it to drop-B to get close to the 7-8 String sound without having to buy one.

I know I will only have 1 tone knob with the 3 channel selector but I don't find that too big of a deal because I'll mainly be recording the music. I don't plan on playing live shows with it lol. Has anyone here ever beefed up one of these guitars? Or does anyone object to this plan?

[Dave Sloven]

Not a bad idea but make sure you take all of the wiring and pickups out and place them in a box to reinstall in case you ever want to sell it.  Get a nice custom made harness with all the good stuff (maybe stick with metric pots like Alphas so that you don't need to drill anything) and enjoy it.  If you decide to go for a more high end version later just move the good stuff over, reinstall the stock stuff and sell it for the going rate.  What I can tell you is that adding pickups etc doesn't increase the resale value, especially in a low-end guitar.  But if you dig it go ahead, just keep in mind what I said about the stock parts.

[Jackalicious]

Well, not increasing the sell value doesn't hurt my feelings. I have only sold one of my guitars before & I have always regretted that so for the most part they are all keepers now haha. As for the pots, is an upgrade necessary? Forgive me because I don't know much about guitar anatomy so do I need to swap them as well? Is that just for the tone knob or the volume as well? I hate to sound like a noob after playing guitar for so long but I just never cared about the insides and just played them. Due to this I was planning on buying the pickups & getting them installed by a local guitar shop. Is it easy to DIY? If there is some sort of diagram or 'how to' for replacing the pups & pots I would love to check it out but would hate to mess something up.

[Dave Sloven]

The pickups are easy DIY if you have a soldering iron (e.g., 40W) and some 60/40 solder.

If you have passive wiring now (which I suspect is the case with this model, I have fixed up a friend's pickups in a Viper-50) you can retain that.  I guess what I am advising against is piecemeal upgrades of the harness.  I would get a whole new harness made rather than upgrade the original one bit-by-bit, and just keep the original one in case you ever want to revert.  But if the pots are 500K pots then you should be able to get a decent sound out of it.  The issue is more with Gibsons and Epiphones with their 300K pots and odd PCB wiring set-ups, or higher-end LTDs with EMGs etc.

Personally I would just do the pickup change myself and then take it to a tech to do a standard setup, check everything over, setup the tremelo, etc.  It will save you a few bucks and you'll learn something.  Just keep an eye out for the pickup springs, don't lose them!  You unsolder the pickup wires from the harness in the control cavity and then take out the pickups with the pickup rings.  There are wiring diagrams on the BKP site.  I'd have a look at the pickups first but I'm guessing you want 53mm short leg 4-conductor.

Have a look at this video for some idea of how pickups come out etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9iyaf46r5A

In terms of the choice of Juggernauts that would depend on your guitar's woods, construction, the style you want to play, etc.  Without knowing more I wouldn't say much but Juggs could be a safe bet

[Jackalicious]

Yeah, from what I have seen the Juggs seem to be the default/go-to for the lower tuned heavy stuff.

As far as woods & construction it has a basswood body (flamed maple top that looks sexy), 25.5" maple neck (bolt on) with rosewood fingerboard. Not the top of the line woods but it plays very smooth. I don't know if that helps.

[Dave Sloven]

Juggs were pretty much intended for basswood bodies and bolt-on maple necks.  That's what Misha Mansoor usually uses.  If you like his sound that should suit you

[Yellowjacket]

The Juggernauts are really quite fantastic pickups;  I'm sure you'll be plenty happy with them.

[Jackalicious]

Well, I do like Misha's sound and what a coincidence that his woods are like my mine. Anyway, sounds good. I plan to purchase these within the next few weeks, I cant wait. I figure I might as well upgrade the pots too no cheaper than they are, I just don't want to do anything that's unnecessary but I guess there is a good reason for it.

[Jackalicious]

In a new light of events, I've discovered the Jackson JS22-7 Dinky. Literally 30 minutes ago at a guitar shop. Has anyone here played one? They were closing so I only played it acoustic but it felt just as smooth as the ltd m-100fm which makes sense because it turns out it's the same wood all around. It only has the volume & 1 tone knob as well just like the ESP. It's only $200 so I could swing that & throw the juggernauts in it & it might turn into a beast of a guitar. What are your thoughts?

I liked the way it played compared to the ibanez 7 they had which seemed to be set up exactly the same except for the switch was a 5 way not a 3. I know it sounds silly to get such a cheap guitar for some metal recording but I'm on a budget so why not go cheap if I can make it sound good anyway right?

Sorry for the double post.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I generally like playing Jacksons but if you like the ESP already, what's the point in shelling out more money for another cheap guitar if it offers you no obvious advantage over what you already have?

[Jackalicious]

Well mainly because there are advantages to the Jackson. Not having the Floyd makes tuning changes easy which I feel is good because slot of this modern stuff I am inspired by (monuments) utilizes different turnings I want to experiment with. Also I feel a lot better tuning a low B string down to drop A rather than an E string down 2 1/2 steps.

I can keep the ESP in standard tuning just for regular stuff & mess around with divebombs & stuff.

[Slartibartfarst42]

For either guitar the Juggs could be a great option. There's a lot of love for them on here even though they were never quite right for me. Having said that, my PRS ustilises a bridge pickup that is alnico 8 flanked by two alnico 5 magnets and it's sublime so a very similar concept to the Juggs and on that basis I'd say you might really like the Juggs.

[Dave Sloven]

I'd probably go for different pickups in each guitar.  Maybe Juggs in one and Miracle Man in the other?

[Jackalicious]

That is not something I would be opposed to. If I get the Jackson it will definitely get the juggs to be my modern metal (cough djent cough) guitar so I would be open to other suggestions in the ESP now.

[oceansandatlantic]

I had juggs in a ec 1000. Sounded super good. I never tuned lower than c though.