Monoprice Indio Classic V2 Pickup Swap - GFS Mean 90s

I jumped on a Monoprice Indio Classic V2 guitar on sale for $84 before sales tax. I’ve been on the lookout for an inexpensive HH guitar to stick my unused GFS Mean 90 humbucker-sized P90 pickup set into for a while now. I previously had these pickups in my Ibanez SZ520QM and enjoyed the tones from all positions.

Monoprice Indio Classic V2 prior to pickup swap.

I wasn’t particularly inspired by the sound when I initially played through my HX Stomp. I am hoping that the pickup swap will change that. The nut is a bit sloppily cut, and I may address it in the distant future. The frets are a bit rough when bending strings, so a good polish is in order.

Stock control cavity.

I quickly took a peek inside the control cavity to see what I would be dealing with. The pots were measured to be under 500kohm, at approximately 440kohm. I may reuse the pots, pickup switch, and jack. The tone cap is a 0.047uF, which I plan on swapping out for an Orange Drop 0.022uF cap that I have as a spare part. I will shield the control cavity with copper tape.

Edit - 10/25/21 - I took out the stock pickups in the guitar. The stock bridge and neck humbucker DC resistances measured 15.42kohm and 8.14kohm respectively. The bridge humbucker was fairly hot and strident for my tastes. The neck pickup wasn't too muddy for such a cheap guitar.

GFS Mean 90 wiring splices insulated with electrical tape.

I cut the stock pickup leads about 1.5" away from the pickup switch, and spliced with the leads of the Mean 90s. I didn't have all of the materials (heat shrink, copper tape) to fully complete the installation. I insulated the hot conductor splices with 3M Super 88 tape, then wrapped the overall splice.

Mean 90 wiring, excerpted from this TalkBass post.

The bridge Mean 90 (8.76kohm DCR) is much lower output than the stock bridge humbucker, and much more suited to my tastes. The bridge position is more low mid heavy and not as aggressive as the Wolfetone Meaner P90 in my SX Hawk guitar. The neck Mean 90 (7.95kohm DCR) provides an open, uncompressed sound in comparison to a typical neck humbucker. The tone of a P90 neck pickup with higher gain is much preferable to me than a humbucker.

The only downside to these P90 pickups is the hum. The middle position is hum cancelling; when switched back to a single pickup, the noise is quite noticeable. I am hoping that shielding the control cavity will lower the buzz that I get when facing a particular direction.

GFS Mean 90 pickup set mounted into Monoprice Indio Classic V2.

Full body shot of guitar with Mean 90 pickups.

Clips to come eventually.