how to pick new pickups

fguihen

I have an Ibanez RG that has a terriffic neck but the pickups are a little lacking in the sound quality dept.

I want to update these pickups to something that will complement the guitar, and also give me a very versatile pickup that can let me play blues or rock.

I have a strat for blues already so they dont have to be as good as that for blues, but somehting in a humbucker that can give me clean tones and nice distortion would be cool.

the guitar body is basswood, if that makes any difference and its a thru neck, which is made of maple i think.

Doctor J

For a great all round blues-rock-metal pickup, like you're suggesting, the Seymour Duncan JB or SH-4 as it's called now is a good candidate.

Voodu Child

Dimarzio ToneZone (bridge) and AirNorton (neck) are also a good combo. They are a classic humbucking sound (nothing too extreme), but with a little more oomph and aggression.

fguihen

Doctor J wrote: »

For a great all round blues-rock-metal pickup, like you're suggesting, the Seymour Duncan JB or SH-4 as it's called now is a good candidate.

regarding the SH-4, would you get two identical ones and put one in the bridge and one in the neck, or would you need a different one for each position?

Doctor J

That would work, other alternatives might be the '59 or the Jazz in the neck - I think they're SH1 and SH2, not 100% on that.

There's a shop on ebay called sigler music center who sell sets of SD humbuckers quite cheap and low cost shipping too. I've used them a few times, they're bang on. They do DiMarzios too but it looks like they're not allowed ship DiMarzio's or EMG's outside US anymore.

Kenny_D

BareKnuckle Pickups if they're within budget

fguihen

budget is pretty tight im afriad. I just want to sort the guitar out so i might pick it up occasionally, rather than just playing the strat all the time and leaving the ibanez in a case at the bottom of my room. not going nuts spending money on it though.

Don1

I have the '59 and JB, or SH something-or-others in my Les Paul and they are great pickups. Can do great rock/metal. I do however find the clean sounds a little muddier than I would like.
On my RG I have Duncan Screamin Demon and Jazz. They are absolutely class imo. The Demon is a little harsher than the JB but I use it more for metal so I like it, and the jazz is a lovely pickup either clean or with a nice creamy warm overdrive.

So, I reckon, JB and Jazz as was suggested.

darrenw5094

Pair over from USA for about €100. Seymours or Dimarzio.
Seymour SH-4 for the bridge and either a SH-1 or SH-2 for the neck.
Or Dimarzio which are the most popular choice for Ibanez.
Tone Zone, Fred and Paf Pro are the 3 main choices....you can't go wrong with any of those 3.

fguihen

Cheers Doctor J. Found that store on eBay and went for a set of SH-4b and SH-2n.

Now il be a totally awesome player!

Don1

Hit the nail on the head there!

Doctor J

fguihen wrote: »

Cheers Doctor J. Found that store on eBay and went for a set of SH-4b and SH-2n.

Now il be a totally awesome player!

No problem, good luck with them

Ancient1

fguihen wrote: »

regarding the SH-4, would you get two identical ones and put one in the bridge and one in the neck, or would you need a different one for each position?

Are you leaving the middle stock or is it an HH RG?

Mine's HSH and I still haven't decided what to lash in the middle even though I don't think it'll matter much.

fguihen

there is no middle pickup, it has just two humbuckers, so replacing both of em.

brendansmith

Just a quick note,

If you are looking for high gain pickups at any stage you should deffo check out Bill Lawrence XL 500 L's,

There are 2 companies making them, both claiming to be the original Bill lawrence pickup maker that the dimebag used.

These guys: http://www.wildepickups.com/Wilde_Bill_s_Twin_Blades.html

Or these guys: http://www.billlawrenceusa.com/ - These are the ones i had and my god they were hot as fu(k, as dimebag said you get pick-squeal without even looking for it.

Well worth a look imho and cheaper than your dimarzios etc


EDIT* just noticed there that on the second website halfway down the page where digemag is wearing those rediculour glasses it says '*Bill Lawrence active pickup', just to confirm these are actually passive pickups despite what is said on there. A bit misleading and especially for a company website.

fguihen

I havnt recieved my pickups yet,but i opened the electronics cavity on my RG to have a look at whats in store for me.

One thing i noticed is that i have a 5 way switch. never really noticed/realized that before ( i know, i know, dont say it), but why have a 5 way switch with jst two humbuckers?

what do positions 2 and 4 do? Do they select the pickups in paralell?

is there a chance that the pickups that im getting will only work in a 3 way configuration? I suddenly think im out of my depth!

Doctor J

Those sets are 4 conducter, provided you can find out which wires correspond to which - chances are they're going to use different colours, SD have their own wiring colour scheme, DiMarzio their own different scheme and, depending on what's in your guitar it could be something different again.

Do a search for your guitar model wiring schematic/diagram, it will tell you which wire is connected to what lug. You then just translate that to the SD colours and off you go.

mcginle2

So I have a Strat, looking to change to humbucker in the bridge only, and get a couple of single coils.

So a couple of questions.

Is it a good idea to mix single coil and humbuckers?

For the bridge, I'm thinking SHR-1. I've read reviews and it seems like this is the one I want, but I notice on the forum that people recommend higher numbered SHRs for bridge positions. Why is that?

Also I don't really know what single coils I want at all!! Basically I want classic single coil sound, with clear treble is all in particular.

I know I'm demanding, but my mum says it's endearing. (Or annoying, she's often drunk when we chat, slurs her words.)

Thanks.

OK-Cancel-Apply

mcginle2 wrote: »

So I have a Strat, looking to change to humbucker in the bridge only, and get a couple of single coils.

So a couple of questions.

Is it a good idea to mix single coil and humbuckers?

For the bridge, I'm thinking SHR-1. I've read reviews and it seems like this is the one I want, but I notice on the forum that people recommend higher numbered SHRs for bridge positions. Why is that?

Also I don't really know what single coils I want at all!! Basically I want classic single coil sound, with clear treble is all in particular.

I know I'm demanding, but my mum says it's endearing. (Or annoying, she's often drunk when we chat, slurs her words.)

Thanks.

It depends on the body and the neck - I find that high output humbuckers, or pickups with certain characteristics don't sound right with Alder bodies. I think models like Seymour Duncan JB SH-4's work best with big hard mahogany bodies like LP's. I had one in an Alder-bodied strat and it sounded quite harsh and brittle, no matter what adjustments I made.

fguihen

Ive been installing my new pickups for the last few hours and everything is not as it should be.

I found a wiring diagram for my ibanez here:
http://www.gearpedia.net/index.php?topic=2268.0

I found someone who converted the ibanez wire colors to the SD colors.

SD - Ibanez
red = white
white = black
black = red
green = blue
bare = bare


I took note of where all the wires went for the old pickups, wrote it down, removed the old pickups, installed the new ones and started soldering.

All switch positions work now, except the 4th. i have checked and rechecked my work about 4 times now and cant see where i went wrong.

anyone with expirience at upgrading pickups wana earn 50 quid and help a guy out?

Doctor J

What's happening on the 4th position?

fguihen

I think its a coil tap on both pickups, going from the ibanez wiring diagram.

But ive wired it up exactly as it was before, ensuring the correct color conversion between ibanez and SD and still nada.

fguihen

Success!! I had indeed made a mistake and noticed it when i re-examined my work after i got home. i had wired the two wires backwards on the neck pickup.

Guitar is all restrung and polished shiny again. will set up after the neck has time to settle in but already, even through my dire 10W it sounds quite an a lot better.

The coil split bridge pickup sounds awesome, defo some strat qualities. i have to play with them a bit more to figure them out properly but hopefully they will mean the ibanez is not resigned to a life in its case at the bottom of my bed.

So, things i have learned that, had i known before would have saved me a lot of headaches

1. If your not great at wiring, then for the love of God dont do it at 9pm after a hard days work when your so tired you mix up your primary colors!

2. print out the schematic, dont work from a diagram on your computer. I was working from my laptop screen, and had to keep trying to remember the wire color differences between ibanez and SD. This was my biggest problem and where i got mixed up. Today i printed out the ibanez schematic, and physically wrote in the SD wire colors. within 2 mins of examining the guitar with this diagram i found the problem.

3. practice soldering before doing it for real. my electronics are a little messy now, but not too bad and they work, although im sure i could have done this tidier.

4. get the tools beforehand. dont be wishing you had a wire strippers, while using a stanley knife for the job instead and almost taking your thumb off in the process!

So my old ibanez got a good polishing, bridge oiled and graphite applied to nut and saddles, fretboard treated with fret doctor, new pickups installed and it looks much happier now. much better off with my two customizations, pickups and a blocked off schaller floyd rose.

Now, i just need a good amp to get the best out of her ( and my other guitars). no more purchases until i get an amp.

just waiting for a blues junior on adverts! Thanks for the help all.

Voodu Child

fguihen wrote: »

and a blocked off schaller floyd rose.

Did you replace the Edge-Pro with a Schaller Floyd? And then block it off?

fguihen

voodoo_child wrote: »

Did you replace the Edge-Pro with a Schaller Floyd? And then block it off?

No, would never do such a thing, the edge pro is a good bridge. I replaced a Low TRS II with the schaller. I then started playing more blues than metal( not that i actually played a ton of metal) so blocked off the bridge.

Voodu Child

Ahh, I saw the RGT320 wiring diag and figured that was the axe you put the Schaller FR in.

Doctor J

Good stuff, fguihen, glad it worked out.

fguihen

one more question guys, when i leave the guitar down on the bed theres a slight hiss. this goes when i pick it up ( prob as im touching the strings and grounding it). is this due to bad wiring? im actually not sure if it was there before the pickup change or not. could have been but i just never noticed it.