Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

[StrykeBack]

Hey guys, some people from harmony central sent me here saying you were pickup experts so here goes.

I've got an Ibanez SZ that I would like to upgrade the pickups. problem is that I'm still fairly new to guitar and would admit I don't know much about pups. That and I want a mix of tones so perhaps i'm looking for somethign versatile.

I want something warm and yet something good for chunking palm mutes. Tight bass for sure but great singing leads. Main influences being U2, RHCP, nickelback, and now favorite band Pillar, the guitarist uses Air Zones?

I've seen some questions about other pickups so hopefully this isn't just a "pure SD" forum. Thanks for any help you could give.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

Hey, welcome to the Forum!

For a warm , versatile, but still cutting tone in a SZ, I would put a Pearly Gates at the neck and a C5 at the bridge. Install a pair of push/pull pots for coil splitting (to get the U2 and RHCP tones), and you should be set.

[bloodswords]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

Hi there SZ player- welcome!

i have the following Duncans in my SZ320MH:

Neck: Alnico II Pro, vintage by attributes but able to handle lots of drive well. one of the best clean tones from this brand name too. no, i'm not a Slash fan...

Bridge: Custom Custom. very warm & tight in the midrange but other players deem the mids a little excessive but i believe it's the right pickup for my SZ.

if you want bottom end chunk, the Distortion/ Custom are very suitable for the job but keep in mind that these are high output units which need a similar neck sparring partner to avoid volume differences if you switch units during play. good luck!

[StrykeBack]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

Thanks guys for the replys. Anybody with the SZ thought about changing the coil split feature to a dual humbucker mode...or is there a way to do this? different switch perhaps?

I could barely tell a difference between the custom and custom custom even on my studio monitors. But I've heard from some people that the custom in the bridge and the jazz in the neck is a good combo. I guess for now I'd like to be able to get that tight chunking palm muting (i do have some pedals to help me get the rest of the way there like my rocktron metal planet) but also get some nice warm cleans i guess is what it would still be called. Perhaps I'm just wanting a second guitar for different tones...I know i'm gonna end up with a strat or tele eventually with watching rhcp or coldplay or u2.

What kinda tones are you getting with your setups. or more importantly what kinda music or bands for reference? One of my favorite tones is from U2's Until the end of the world or The Fly. I believe both of those are played with a gibson though.

Is there anything tight and punchy worth looking into in the dimarzio line? the annoying thing is that they dont' have audio samples of half their pups.

[bloodswords]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

it's a tried & tested formula- the Jazz necks pairs up well with the JB bridge. the Custom is an overall balanced unit, the JB professes in midrange.

i toggle between metal & other genres, i don't rely on only 1 guitar to cut the tone i want, it's good to own more than 1...

[StrykeBack]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

Someone in another thread mentioned something about f-spacing? being the newbie I am, I think that stands for "fender spacing" but someone said that the SZ has 1 pickup that has to be f spacing and the other is not. Anyone know if this is true and if it is....which one is the normal spacing and which one is the f?

[dani]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

i like a custom/jazz combo. chunky palm mutes and nice lead tone from the custom. jazz in the neck has a acoustic quality to it and it matches the custom really well output wise. the middle position has heavenly tone, esp when split. both pickups are very clear under gain. very versatile set imo.

[bloodswords]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

F-spacing refers to the Dimarzio's slightly wider spacing for locking vibrato equipped guitars. in Duncan terms, it's referred to as a 'Trembucker' model. if your bridge is a fixed unit/ non-locking, then this concern is irrelevant.

my CC in the bridge is the normal-spacing version, the Trembucker isn't necessary. take a look:

[StrykeBack]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

thanks for all your replys guys about my pickups. After a lot of listening and researching I decided to go with an Air norton in the neck and Air zone in the bridge. Got them off of ebay but they are regular spacing. Now some of you said it was regular spacing since there isn't a trem. But getting an e-mail back from dimarzio, they are pretty adamant about it needing an f spacing.
Hmmm

[Fusion1]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

For a Dimarzio you would probably find you are better off with an F-Spaced bridge on some guitars with fixed bridges. It's important to measure high to low "E" spacing a little above the bridge.

On my Jackson DR6 fixed bridge, the F-Spaced Megadrive was exactly the spacing I needed. The normal spaced Dimarzio would work ok, but the poles would be askew enough for it to bother me.

Last thing to note is Dimarzio's F-spacing and Duncans Tremspacing isn;t exactly the same either, which I assumed it would. Dimarzio F-spacing is closer to 2" whereas Duncan Trem spaced are closer to 2 1/16".

Didn't you wish there was standardized spacing as well as a "standardized" F-spacing/tremspacing, that was agreed upon by all guitar and pickup manufacturers?

[log]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

Hi there,

I have a SZ320 (great guitar by the way) and want to upgrade it with SH2 and SH4. My question: I want to install push/pull potis for coil splitting >> do I then need special versions of the pickups regarding the 4 cable wiring?

Thank you in advance.

[StrykeBack]

Re: Find me some pups for my Ibanez SZ

hmm, someone else with more experience might be of some help....however, i took my guitar to be setup and my tech replaced the tone nob thatwas really dirty with a new push/pull nob that now does all the coil splitting.. So 6 positions instead of the standard 3 on yours. Should be able to wire in the pickups just as before but check duncans different wiring diagrams..I know that dimarzio sent me a wiring diagram for doing my coil tapping a few different ways.