Never one to leave well enough alone, I did some surgery and put a 1/4" rough A5 into my second favorite Dimarzio, the Imperium. It's not that I didn't like the sonic qualities of the pickup with the stock thick ceramic, but it was more aggressive than I need most of the time. The largest change is the attack. It's less cutting now and has a more rounded punch. Everything growls and (using a modern sonic reference) purrs more than before. Cleans are more bubbly and less glassy, driven tones have a bit of cream to them and the pickup feels a bit less compressed. In the context of its new home (my wife's guitar, which is very les-paul-esque) it sounds huge and hasn't shown any drawbacks in the modification yet (more to follow if it does though). I hope the day finds you all well and happy modifications to all!
