Upgrading My Jackson JS22-7

In this video I'll show off the upgrades I made to my budget 7-string guitar.
The nice thing about upgrading a cheap guitar is that if you hold onto the stock hardware, you can easily move the upgraded hardware to a newer guitar should you decide you want to get a nicer one. That being said I am quite happy with my Jackson for the time being, as it's a nice looking guitar that's not very heavy and plays well.
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Disclaimer: I'm not an affiliate with either of these companies and I will not receive any compensation for linking their products here; I've been a fan of Seymour Duncan pickups since I put a set in my first guitar, and Graph Tech is a local Vancouver company that I'm happy to recommend.
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Graph Tech 3+4 Ratio Locking Tuners: graphtech.com/products/ratio-...
Seymour Duncan Black Winter 7 String Pickups: www.amazon.ca/Seymour-Duncan-...
[I recommend you buy your pickups from a local dealer instead of Amazon.]
Neural DSP Archetype: Gojira: neuraldsp.com/plugins/archety...
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Audio Demo Timestamps:
Stock Bridge (Heavy) - 2:46
Black Winter Bridge (Heavy) - 3:15
Stock Bridge + Neck (Heavy) - 3:46
Black Winter Bridge + Neck (Heavy) - 4:17
Stock Neck (Clean) - 4:46
Black Winter Neck (Clean) - 5:20
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Songs played (in order):
"Mercyful Fate" - Metallica (A version of the riff from "Satan's Fall" - Mercyful Fate)
"Metamortality" - The Evan Williams Project
"The Invisible Hand" - Rattōmancer

[@jamesprisciandaro3144]

Wow, those stock Jackson pickups sound so similar to the black winters (imo)!

[@MelloState]

LOL I was just thinking the same thing. Was expecting a slight shift but.... nope

[@georgecortes6139]

I'm buying one of these 7 strings with a cool design on the back. Definitely gotta upgrade it.

[@TheLowest]

I really like thay you also showed the DI sound so that it isn't hidden by the effects you put on it. Also means if you want to sample that part of the video (with youtube to mp3 for example) you can run it through your own amp set up and get a feel for the sound

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Thanks! Yeah, I wanted to get an accurate representation of how much the pickups actually affected the sound.

[@ayoh4864]

Thats a damn good idea my friend, gonna run the di through my current 7 string preset

[@jovanradojkovic4248]

Stock pickups are rly good. For me and my taste, they are great, and there is no no need for changing them 🤘👍

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

More power to you! Saves you some money :)

[@DeityDestroyer]

@@theevanwilliamsproject I did not hear a $400 difference...

[@necroticpoison]

Sick vid

[@jackbootshamangaming4541]

Sweet. I got a Demon 7 and I'm gonna upgrade to graphtech locking tuners as well. Probably gonna switch the pickups too.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Nice! I love a good Schecter. There's an 8 string Demon on Reverb right now that I've been tempted to pick up, but I haven't got the money for it (or the space)

[@luketanner7638]

I went with ToneNinja Locking tuners, Graphtech but, hipshot bridge & Lundgren M7C on my js22-7. I also stained my neck dark brown and dyed the fretboard ebony🤘🏻

[@nijo5427]

That was his mistake imo. Upgrade the nut. It's cheap and worthwhile.

[@riassslave558]

i'd like to see a pic of that neck re-staining 'cause i couldn't pass up a decent 7string at that crazy-ass price either but am lookin to re-mod & tweak it a lil'bit as well...any tips?

[@daveshredder6783]

I recently bought this same Jackson and had to do A LOT of work on it just to make it playable. With that said, I also decided to upgrade hardware, as well. The same Graph Tech tuners. They went on extremely easy. I went and EMG 81-7.... Word of caution, EMG's WILL NOIT fit, and wood will have to be removed. Since this has become a project guitar for me, that's not an issue. Overall, the guitar has a good foundation and if you're willing to work on it and do it right, it will be a really cool guitar. Stock, it pretty much sucks. If you're not willing to upgrade it including removing wood, just opt for a better guitar.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

This is pretty much my opinion, as well. Doing the math, assuming I were to buy all these pieces new today it would run me about $850 CAD without tax - Long & McQuade in Canada, just on a cursory search, has one guitar close to that price range with locking tuners and half decent pickups, being the Sterling JP70 at $1050. I'm sure someone could find something else for around the same price if they looked hard enough or bought second hand. The main benefit for me with this guitar is that it allowed me to get familiar with playing a 7 string guitar without too heavy of a financial commitment, and being able to make changes to it in piecemeal to bring it up to a higher standard of playability over time rather than a large investment up front was perfect for where I was financially. I could have also, maybe, rented one; I did that with an 8 string before figuring out I didn't like the size of the neck. I also genuinely love the look and feel of the guitar! I've played a number of shows with it and it's a great weight, good size for my hands, and I'm not terribly worried about something happening to it since if the worst happens and, say, the neck gets snapped -- I can just take the tuners and pups out and put them in another body. Having put a bit of my own elbow grease into it also gives me an extra little personal connection to it as an instrument. But no, I don't think I'd recommend this to someone who has more money to spare, is familiar with playing a 7 string, and is looking for a good instrument right out of the box. Personally I'll be using this one until it either dies horribly or I save up enough to get a Solar with an Evertune.

[@jonorbury3763]

I prefer the stock pups. I have this guitar and will not be changing out the pups but i may go for some gold tuners to match my gold bridge

[@Kevin-nr9lj]

Ah. Nice job man, I want to upgrade my JS22-7 soon. What gauge strings are you using here?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

It's a great little guitar for the price. I'm using 11-64 gauge.

[@John-nz7hw]

@@theevanwilliamsproject does the guitar come with 9 or 10g string setup? I think it's 10g

[@msi1985]

Late to the party , tasteful upgrades and I can hear a difference in clarity on the a/b although the tone itself doesn't seem to have changed drastically. It is clearly sounding better. How are you enjoying these mods a year later ?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Definitely worth the effort. One of my issues with the stock pickups was how hot they were -- the SDs are still high gain but it's less ear piercing. And the locking tuners are the best money I've spent.

[@jondoe9655]

cool vid! 👍🏼 I got a question, now that you've jade this for awhile, does the guitar stay in tune better now? how often do you find yourself putting it back in tune while your playing. 🤘

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

It's certainly better than before. A lot of tuning issues with cheaper guitars (and often expensive guitars) can come from friction in the nut and I haven't done anything to that part of the guitar yet. But just by switching to locking tuners I've gone from having to tune a few times during a set to just once - with the exception being the higher strings which tend to flatten a dozen cents every once in a while. And I slam the strings pretty hard when we're performing -- our first couple shows before I did these upgrades I knocked things out of tune a whole two steps pretty reliably when we got to a breakdown. Doesn't happen anymore 💀

[@jondoe9655]

thanks for the info! keep shredding!

[@archerdoubleO]

Thanks for the upgrades-demo. I'm looking into buying a 7 string to go with an F# tuning (so 8-string tuning minus the top E-string) and was looking at this budget guitar to try it. Do you happen to know if it'll fit a .070 for that F#? There's less choice in 7-strings for this because I really want that 26.5" neck for this tuning, so I'm wondering if this guitar worth it to try that. And possibly do some upgrading like you did in the future.

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

You'll probably have to file the nut a bit to accommodate the thicker strings and I'm not 100% certain that the stock tuning heads will be able to accept that gauge. The Graph Tech tuners are rated for up to 72 gauge though so that's one solution. I'd say that if you're looking at doing nonstandard tuning that requires some semi-permanent modifications for setup, like what you're describing, that I would *only* try that out on a guitar that I'm not terribly invested in. Budget guitars are great for that kind of messing around, because if something goes wrong or you don't end up liking what you've done you haven't sunk a thousand bucks into it.

[@TheLowest]

There are 8 strings like the jackson js32-8 which have a 26.5 inch scale so I don't see why f# standard wouldn't work.

[@Grugslybugg666]

I have this guitar and use a 0.72 gauge on my 7th, no filing or drilling out needed

[@CanceriousIG]

I want to upgrade my JS22-8

[@jeffhirshberg5171]

What exact model of tuners did you select? Graphtech has several 7 string options. I'm new at upgrading/modding and don't wish to make the wrong purchase (I just bought this same guitar).

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

These were the specific ones I ordered: graphtech.com/products/ratio-electric-locking-machine-heads-3-4-please-select-finish-and-button-style Have fun upgrading your guitar!

[@jeffhirshberg5171]

@@theevanwilliamsproject Thank you so much. Most appreciated.

[@riassslave558]

as a fellow Vancouverite out of curiousity are you ordering from the manufacturer or am i missing out on us finally having a (in todays online market-savy society) store with competitive canadian pricing ...comparatively speaking ...that is somewhere between N.Van & the border communities (WhiteRock, Haney, Tsawwassen etc.)?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

The guitar and pickups I bought from Long & McQuade - I got lucky with them having a set of Black Winter 7s in stock that they were able to ship to my local store. The machine heads I ordered direct from Graph Tech's website.

[@riassslave558]

@@theevanwilliamsproject This is what i figured...but with Bonerattle (a little too much with that snob-bery pretension, & unrealistic pricing+ the wholelook down their noses mentality for me personally) i lived on the drive for over 20yrs-Ive not had the chance to check out Rufus Guitar Shop due to moving dwntwn by St.Pauls & laid-up in a wheelchair for 3yrs...thankfully i was able to resume walking against my spinal doctors wishes but i'll walk until i cant anymore although i'm nearly 52 i look 29/30ish i even get I.D.'d at the Cambie Liquor store & for smokes quite frequently-appreciate the quick reply bro L8rsk8r🛹🎸✌

[@PeterVenkman_666]

I have the same guitar, probably will upgrade tuners and nut since it goes stupidly easy out of tune. About pickups i couldn't really notice a big difference between stock and upgrade, at least not something i couldn't eq with a DAW or a multieffects (i have a Line 6 Hx Stomp)

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

The difference in pickups is definitely more noticeable with higher gain -- and the less I have to EQ on the way in, the better 😜

[@ExtremeMetalMike]

@@theevanwilliamsproject I also found that the stock or even Wilkinson pickups are a little shrill and pretty compressed sounding compared to others. Most non-budget options can counter this similar to how the BWs sounded.

[@Crantrex]

My neck broke so I just decided to scrap the guitar for parts, Respray the body with a color shifting paint and just buy brand new parts entirely, It’s gonna have a 3 way switch obv, Brand new pickups, 1 vol only + 1 kill switch

[@Adambobro]

What plugins are you using?

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Archetype Gojira!

[@meanwhileinespoo1265]

Mine has terrible tuning issues with the stock strings .. jusr goes out after a couple strums

[@theevanwilliamsproject]

Yeah, stock tuning stability isn't great. The locking tuners and a proper setup help a lot.

[@diode86]

Hey man, which bridge do you recommend for this guitar? .125 or .175? Dont wanna get the wrong one and im not really tech wise about this. Thanks.

[@doum]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mXjVop1trMtmaq8

[@Alex-cg6ym]

Im 5 months late but also wondering this. have you figured out what works yet?

[@diode86]

@@Alex-cg6ym .175 is the one you need.

[@jimmyjackson3117]

They both sound the same to my ears not much difference and not enough difference to make me want to change pickups...I know emg pickups with guitars made of basswood bodies sound phenomenal so I put a emg 81-7 in mine and know there is a big difference in the sound now it sounds clear tight not muddy and harmonically rich so anyone with a basswood body get an emg in it you won't regret it

[@jackbootshamangaming4541]

Yea I have the Demon 7 which has duncan designed blackouts by schecter, I'm gonna go for EMGs, I was looking at blackouts, but the EMGs just sound much more versatile. I can get that muddy sound from the EMGs if I wanted too.

[@GeoVTuber]

Having done both mod a cheap guitar and buy a more expensive guitar, I can say I definitely prefer the more expensive guitar. I have a Jackson JS32-7Q with Nazgul/Sentient set inside and Hipshot locking tuners. It sounds great but my Solar V1.7FBB 7 String has locking tuners and duncan designed pickups in it stock, as well as an Evertune bridge and is made of mahogany as opposed to basswood. While tonewood is mostly a moot point in heavy music, I prefer the tembre of mahogany over basswood.