Pickups For A Neck-thru Ibanez, Please help me choosing
Gus
Aug 5 2009, 06:32 PM
GMC:er
Posts: 999
Joined: 21-January 08
From: Brazil/Denmark
Hey, guys.
I finally decided to change the stock pickups of my Ibanez RGT 320q. I hope at least some people can read the full post biggrin.gif

Current situation
The pickups are OEM DiMarzio/IBZ. According to DiMarzio FAQ, the closest models are Super 2 (neck) and a mix of Steve's Morse bridge + Super Distortion.
First, what I like wub.gif and I don't like mad.gif about them, since I want something different from them.
Neck is really nice for cleans but I don't like the way it distorts. I use it only for cleans or slightly overdrived.
I think it is a bit too hot (too much volume compared to bridge). Bridge pickup is awesome for metal power chords and riffing. but this is not my main style of playing. I actually cannot make it sound like rhythm guitar in classic rock (think of Led Zeppelin rock'n'roll) which would be much more my style. In several GMC collabs, the comment was that I was lacking low end on my lead sound... I think it is in general a little thin and dry. I can make my lead sound more thick by using 7-8 bass on EQing, but then I don't feel it singing anymore.

What I want
First the 3 guitarists which I like the tone the most: Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi), Slash( guns n roses) and David Gilmour (pink floyd).
In neck I would go with something more or less similar to the stock, but that can sing better when overdriven in humbucker mode. A good split for single coil would be a great plus!
Bridge: I want to achieve the classic led rhythm sound, at least to some extent. For lead the main sound I want it is to sing but with fullness and smoothness. One good example is the solo of "Is This Love", Whitesnake.
One more thing: I am the kind of guy who likes all the flexibility in the world. So I was thinking of adding push/pull pots and different configurations. cool.gif
I even thought of trying a pair of P-rails, but I give up because they don't have an F-spaced version.

What I was thinking so far
I made a lot of research but I still can not make up my mind. My main considerations so far are:
1) "APH-1(N) + JB (Bridge)" - cause I love Slash's neck soloing and JB seems a solid choice for bridge.
2) "Air Norton (N)/Tone Zone(Bridge)" - Mainly cause it's a so widely used combo, taken as versatile, but also because I hope ToneZone would solve the lack of low end.
I read in several places that Tone zone is no good for mahogany body guitars, but maybe this is not true for this one since it has a neck-thru design (maple/wenge neck)?
Actually choosing pickups solely based on the wood of this guitar probably would be too tricky, as it has 4 woods: mahogany (body), maple (top and neck), wenge (neck) and rosewood (fingerboard). wacko.gif
One more crazy idea: I thought of exchanging the positions of the stock pickups as I always find myself adding bass to bridge EQ and removing a bit from neck tongue.gif

P.S. I definitely hope ZakkWylde gives his opinion in this thread biggrin.gif

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This post has been edited by Gus: Aug 5 2009, 06:35 PM


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Gear : Ibanez RGT320q (I just love the neck-thru sustain), Washburn EA-20SDL (acoustic 6 string), Standard strat (Mexico), POD X3 Live

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