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Heavy guitar mod

  • 16-07-2009 04:50AM
    #1
    fincollins
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 117 ✭✭


    Hey all,

    I have an old Ibanez RG270 that I want to heavily modify (kinda like this guy). The major part obviously being changing the pickups.

    I have done loads of research on this, but I'm a little snowed under with info, and was wondering if anyone here could shine any bit of light on the situation. Its a HSH, so id like to replace them all,budget is pretty good.

    First kinda stupid question is...if you put for instance a strat pickup in, does it resemble a strat in anyway? I'm a real noise freak, and love bands like sonic youth/dinosaur jr/my bloody valentine. so obviously i think im aiming for a jazzmaster type tone.
    I know j mascis replaces all his pickups with Jason Lollar p90s. I like billy corgans squeel too, and he uses lace sensors as far as i know. Thurston moore and lee ronaldo have just got signature jazzmasters,and they use modded tele humbuckers and seymour duncan antiquities.

    I'd like to make it a 'twang-guitar' to counteract the growl of my SG. I love the gibson distorted, but it has a slightly muddy clean tone, in a good way. i'm trying to make the ibanez really bright.

    Does anyone know any combination of pickups that would get me rockin? I like the way neil young has a tone/volume bypass switch, so i think ill throw that in too (i ****in adore his tone)! and finally, does anyone know where i could get all this done? or knows anyone who can mod guitars.

    any help is really appreciated,

    finbarr


Comments

  • #2
    spoonbadger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,367 ✭✭✭spoonbadger


    fincollins wrote: »
    Hey all,

    I have an old Ibanez RG270 that I want to heavily modify (kinda like this guy). The major part obviously being changing the pickups.

    I have done loads of research on this, but I'm a little snowed under with info, and was wondering if anyone here could shine any bit of light on the situation. Its a HSH, so id like to replace them all,budget is pretty good.

    First kinda stupid question is...if you put for instance a strat pickup in, does it resemble a strat in anyway? I'm a real noise freak, and love bands like sonic youth/dinosaur jr/my bloody valentine. so obviously i think im aiming for a jazzmaster type tone.
    I know j mascis replaces all his pickups with Jason Lollar p90s. I like billy corgans squeel too, and he uses lace sensors as far as i know. Thurston moore and lee ronaldo have just got signature jazzmasters,and they use modded tele humbuckers and seymour duncan antiquities.

    I'd like to make it a 'twang-guitar' to counteract the growl of my SG. I love the gibson distorted, but it has a slightly muddy clean tone, in a good way. i'm trying to make the ibanez really bright.

    Does anyone know any combination of pickups that would get me rockin? I like the way neil young has a tone/volume bypass switch, so i think ill throw that in too (i ****in adore his tone)! and finally, does anyone know where i could get all this done? or knows anyone who can mod guitars.

    any help is really appreciated,

    finbarr
    Hmmmm, perhaps you should put a jazzmaster soap-bar in the neck, a hot single in the middle and a lace-sensor dually in the neck. The LS dually pickups have two lace sensors wired together as one pickup. If you paired a red (Hot!!) with a silver (twangy) and put it in the bridge, you could use either individually or both together (frickin' hot!).

    And yup, you could get a bypass switch added, should be a fairly handy mod actually.

    Tbh, if you were handy with a soldering iron you could do this yourself!. It's not exactly the heaviest of modding ;). Any guitar tech/shop should be able to add a bypass and swap the pickups though!.


  • #3
    rcaz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,034 ✭✭✭rcaz


    Don't get a Jazzmaster pickup confused with a "soap bar".

    Lee puts old Fender Wide Range humbuckers in almost ALL of his guitars. But if you buy a Fender re-issue WRHB, it will sound nothing at all like Lee's ones - Fender are putting normal humbuckers into WRHB cases and stealing yr money.

    I guess see if a Jazzmaster pickup will fit in your Ibanez? Duncan make really good ones, and Curtis Novak is really highly-regarded on the Offset Guitars forums for his Jazzmaster pickups - he's even a member there. (If you're looking for a Jazzmaster-ish sound, you should definitely have a look around those forums. The place is full of SY, Dino Jr and MBV fans.)

    I wouldn't hold out too much for Kevin Shields sounds just from a pickup change - you'll be looking for fuzz, reverse reverb and, well, a Jazzmaster/Jaguar :p He's all about the Jazzmaster vibrato system.

    I really don't mean to sound smart here, but have you considered the idea of selling your Ibanez and putting that money, along with your pickup money, toward a Jazzmaster? If you're looking for Jazzmaster tones, you'll get a thousand times closer to the sound you want by actually having the guitar. The Japanese ones don't come with genuine JM pickups - the Fender Japan version is more like a strat pickup in a big empty box - but you could get a second-hand one that's already been upgraded pretty handily. If you're dead set on SY, Dino Jr., and MBV, it'd be well-worth considering...

    And Spoonbadger's right, this is a pretty light mod! DIY :)

    I think it's pretty interesting that you're an Ibanez player looking to sound like Sonic Youth, etc. Keep us posted :)


  • #4
    fincollins
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 117 ✭✭fincollins


    Heh, well I bought the Ibanez when i was a young buck, and my local shop owner was german, so thats all he had really. national pride etc. :rolleyes:

    I love the neck of it though, and I could never sell it. It plays beautifully and feels great, and was my first 'proper' guitar.:cool: Since i got the SG its just been lying there, so i thought id experiment with it.

    I've read about the Curtis Novak pickups alright, meant to name drop in original post. I usually play bridge most, so theoretically, how about:

    Bridge: Lace Dually pair (as suggested)
    Middle: *
    Neck: Curtis Novak/Jason Lollar

    Hmmmm....!? I really don't know. Its hard to know how things will turn out till you play it. The above combination would be pretty powerful yeah!? Grrr...but i suppose I should put the Curtis/Lollar in the bridge if im playing that more...but then again, the Dually is a bridge pickup...arghh...i dunno

    *= any suggestions on a nice fender-y single coil. Prob gonna be used the least.

    Appreciate the info lads...

    PS: anything more than changing the strings is a heavy mod to me! :pac:


  • #5
    rcaz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,034 ✭✭✭rcaz


    Maybe a Jaguar pickup would fit in the middle? They're similar to strat pickups in shape/size. AFAIK, Kevin Shields played mostly Jags.

    As for the Dually being a "bridge pickup", are there rules? Break 'em mother****er :p


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