offshore upgrades

[wrench45us]

I have a Zon RTK in at a local tech to replace the pre amp and pickups with Aguilar components.

When this Zon Korean model first came out it had EMG pickups like the US model. The later offshore models had no name knockoffs based on the original EMGs.

That's the context.
I was hoping everything would just fit, since it was originally based on those EMG components, but my tech said he's been through this before.
Every offshore jazz he's upgraded needs routing to get the pickup mounting ears to fit and the holes for the pot shafts drilled out a little for beefier diameter pot shafts.

He made it sound like he was anticipating these conditions.

Is this common in other people's experience?
Is this metric vs English measures or just cost saving global conventions?

 

[SnL]

I have a Zon RTK in at a local tech to replace the pre amp and pickups with Aguilar components.

When this Zon Korean model first came out it had EMG pickups like the US model. The later offshore models had no name knockoffs based on the original EMGs.

That's the context.
I was hoping everything would just fit, since it was originally based on those EMG components, but my tech said he's been through this before.
Every offshore jazz he's upgraded needs routing to get the pickup mounting ears to fit and the holes for the pot shafts drilled out a little for beefier diameter pot shafts.

He made it sound like he was anticipating these conditions.

Is this common in other people's experience?
Is this metric vs English measures or just cost saving global conventions?

Hey I've been doing a ton of research onto doing just what you were doing. Did you ever complete the project? How did it sound?
My tech says the preamp in the stock EMG has crapped out. I'm a new Aguilar devotee and was wondering how the rtk sounds with thier guts in it.

 

[wrench45us]

The Aguilar pickups are kind of beefy and mellow, one might even say dull.
All the power is in the OPB-3 to drive and modify the tone.

May still not get to a Jaco like buzz tone, but I'm ok with that.
I do like the responsiveness to more subtle playing that I can get with this combination.

but other combinations may suit your taste. It's a live and learn, trial and error situation, and others, like Chef have tried a lot more combinations and have more refined taste than I do. I would suggest long discussions with the knowledgeable folks at BestBassGear for any sort of electronics mod.