Guitar help

-( i )- Wicker

Ive got an Ibanez S470 dx, and I find when i play any single notes, i get a horrible rattley sound and fast decay. Im not sure if this is a new problem or not, but either way I want to get a good lead sound out of it. I also have this problem when its unplugged so its not the pickups that are the problem. I was thinking i might need to raise the action but im really not sure. What do you think is causing it?

Actually I was also thinking of getting new pickups too. What do you think of the pickups on this guitar, and do you think it would be worth my while getting new ones?

Gordon

Sounds like fret zing! It could be down to the neck being too tight or a need for a higher action. I'll let the guitar experts answer this though.

feylya

Well, how high is the action now? It sounds like you have the action too low.

Well, do you like the pickups in it? If not, what sort of sound are you looking to get? What sort of music/musicians do you listen to?

Voodu Child

Youve got fret buzz. Simplest solution is to raise the action, but you should check out the tech section of ibanez rules and give your guitar a full setup.

If you raise the action, you'll need to adjust intonation to compensate. But i'd wager the intonation was never properly adjusted in the first place, so you owe it to yourself to treat yourself to a full setup and get the guitar playing at its best.

dr.bollocko

If you dont play many guitars other than this, simply checking into your local guitar shop and checking the basic setup of some of the guitars on the shelves. Check the action against your guitar to see if its low action thats causing the fret buzz. It could be a warped neck, that would be bad, but its unlikely unless u have been keeping the guitar in a damp room next to the radiator. Most likely that you just need to have the action raised. No matter what you want to do by yourself, if you get the advice of a good guitar tech it should solve your problem easily. Did you change the gauge of your strings recently? Maybe a lighter gauge set would also solve the problem. Gives a sweeter sound playing lead / solo and also easier to bend.

Voodu Child

dr.bollocko wrote:

? Maybe a lighter gauge set would also solve the problem. Gives a sweeter sound playing lead / solo and also easier to bend.

Lighter gauge will make the fret buzz worse. Wont give a sweeter sound either.

Doctor J

If anything a lighter gauge would make it worse (ie less forward tension on the neck, possibly trem pulling back further too).

First things first, hold down the low E string on the first fret and hold it down on the last fret. Look along the neck and see is there any space between the bottom of the strings and the top of the frets around the 8th ot 9th fret. If so, how much? Is the neck bowed back so that the strings are touchng the 8th or 9th fret before you fully press the strings against the last fret?

Ideally, you're looking to have the width of a credit card, maybe slightly less, between the bottom of the string and the top of the fret.

Tell us what the situation is there and then we can tell you if you need to higher your strings or adjust the neck. It's best to get the neck right first before you adjust anything else.

dr.bollocko

Fair enough my bad. Im always advocating Lighter gauge strings. Just prefer the tone and the bend on them. Though there is nothing like heavily distorted heavy gauge strings for a beautiful heavy tone.

-( i )- Wicker

Thanks for all the responses. I'll have a close look at the guitar later, see how high the action is, check for warping etc. I havent had any modifications made to the guitar since i bought it, so maybe i'll just bring it somewhere to get fixed up.
As regards new pickups, I listen to power/prog metal mostly, so I was hoping to get a sound like Kiko Loureiro from Angra, or Luca Turilli from Rhapsody, maybe a bit of a heavier sound.

vengeance52

voodoo_child wrote:

Youve got fret buzz. Simplest solution is to raise the action, but you should check out the tech section of ibanez rules and give your guitar a full setup.

If you raise the action, you'll need to adjust intonation to compensate. But i'd wager the intonation was never properly adjusted in the first place, so you owe it to yourself to treat yourself to a full setup and get the guitar playing at its best.

Thats a dang handy site voodoo, some great points in the tech section so im off to give my RG a good service.

Kenny_D

EMG 81/85 set is prob close to the sound you'd be looking for if you wanted to change pickups. I'd prob leave the middle pickup out but that's a personal thing as I never use the middle position

TelePaul

you could try something from bareknuckle pickups...dunno if they'll fit your ibanez, they mostly cater for Gibsons and Fenders but their stuff is highly recommended.

Voodu Child

vengeance52 wrote:

Thats a dang handy site voodoo, some great points in the tech section so im off to give my RG a good service.

No problem. While I dont like him, that guy has seen more Ibanez guitars than just about anyone else, so most of what he says is bang on.

A lot of lads know most of that stuff already, but if youre new to Ibanez guitars, or new to setups in general, its well worth sitting down with a cup of coffee and spending a good while reading that tech section.