Awesome AX40!!

[Eric O'Reilly]

Ive been looking for the right pickups for this ax40 since Ive owned it. I tried the AT1 didnt care for it particularly, tried some others, but thanks to a fellow forumite from down under, i was able to purchase the genuine article, ebmm axis pickups. And thanks to Brian at Sterling for sending me a chrome toggle switch, i have modded this ax40 to the limit, last summer i refinished the neck in the proper oil wax finish, which is awesome! ( did a whole lot of research on the neck finish!) and a separate thread i did on that. But i wired up the pups and switch and, wow, simply amazing, great clarity, and pro sounding, the best bridge pup ive ever played. As for the guitar itself I bought it used last summer, and found out its birthdate when replacing the neck pup, July 15 2009, as there is a round sticker under the stock neck pup stating the date. This guitar is so close in feel to real ball, and tone! It is my everyday workhorse guitar. The neck is so nice, and broken in its simply amazing what can be done with these imports with the real pups and some mods. Here are some pics! I love this guitar!

 

[mystixboi1]

Wow. Congrats!!!

 

[threeminutesboy]

looks nice!

 

[edhalen]

Very nice! Congrats! I know you spent a while getting that thing the way you like it. I saw those Pups for sale. Nice score!

 

[Tollywood]

Nicely done, Eric.

 

[Stevie]

Good to see it all worked out Eric.

 

[SBMM]

...and remember, the genuine DiMarzio AXIS pickups come stock on all the SBMM AX40D and AX30D.

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

Thanks Brian for the toggle switch too, great customer service! And what a great guitar you guys are making! Such a neck, the best neck i have ( at the moment, someday ill have a real ball). Once I did the neck refinish it was pure awesome, the stock light poly finish is not bad either, but I wanted to customize this guitar to the max, making it as close to the ebmm specs as possible, and at this point ive done the neck refinish on my friends ax40, cause he loved mine so much, now this neck is so perfect, and with these pups it is a true winner, super close to the feel of the real axis! Truly a great import well worth the money, the only thing left to replace would be the bridge, and the stock one is so good i might leave it. I would go with a gotoh 1996, maybe just as a hobby ill replace a little more each time i can , shaller tuners? Or I could put that money towards the real ball, or a used peavey 5150.

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

I have a question, would this technically make my guitar an ax40d model? They're the same exact guitar except for the pickups right, and the pickup routing on the ax40d model is accurate to the ebmm, wish it was on the earlier models like my 2009, another question is that the first year of the ax40, (2009)?