Advice please

[Jferr0001]

Hey everyone….hope you all enjoyed the holidays. I have an Ibanez RG570 (HSH configuration) from back in ‘92 and was wanting to trade out the old stock Ibanez pickups for some new ones. I predominantly play 80s hair band tunes ( Dokken, Ratt, whitesnake etc) through an EVH 5150iii 50w and EVH 4x12 cab and was scouring other sites’ forums and saw that many players recommended the SD JB in the bridge, and a ‘’59 in the neck to get that 80s tone. However, I couldn’t find any that referenced a 3 pickup configuration. All of my other guitars have stock pickups except my Les which I swapped out for active EMGs. Since that is my only experience with changing pickups, my questions are:

1) will those pickups get me close to that tone?

2) would a vintage hot stack plus strat for the single be a good accompanying pickup?

3) should I also change out the pots if I’m doing the pickups? The EMGs I bought came with everything (jack, pots, switch)

thanks for any help you all can provide…. \m/

 

[jeremy]

welcome to the forum!

1 - the jb and 59 are fine choices for 80s hair band stuff

2 - the vintage hot stack is a good choice for a single coil tone with a little more meat to it, which will work well with the 500k pots

3 - theres no reason to swap the pots unless you really want to. emgs need radically different values than passive pups which is why they come with them

 

[Jferr0001]

Hi Jeremy. Thanks for the reply. Now I guess it’s time to just bite the bullet and bag ‘em. I considered getting another guitar like an earlier Charvel San dimas but I really love the way the RG plays. Thanks again!

 

[Masta' C]

Does your RG have the V1/V2 pickups or the V7/V8?

 

[ehdwuld]

The JB wants to be 1/8 of an inch beneath the strings to sound good
too high its spikey highs
Too low its muddy
In that sweet spot its hair metal heaven

Some players like me prefer th Jazz in the neck
Its splits better for a single coil sound
In my opinion

 

[Aceman]

1) will those pickups get me close to that tone?

2) would a vintage hot stack plus strat for the single be a good accompanying pickup?

3) should I also change out the pots if I’m doing the pickups? The EMGs I bought came with everything (jack, pots, switch)

thanks for any help you all can provide…. \m/

1. The JB IS That tone

2. No one in the 80's used a middle pickup for anything, and rarely the neck.

3. No, Ibanez pots are fine (Assuming 500k)

I might be very familiar with those sounds. Would I lie to you?

 

[Mincer]

I agree with Jeremy here...I'd go with that Stack in the middle to keep it all hum-cancelling. But the 59 & JB are about the best choices for 80s stuff. If you want less bass in the neck, look at the Jazz.

 

[Jferr0001]

Does your RG have the V1/V2 pickups or the V7/V8?

Masta C, it has the V7, V8, and an S1 in the mid

 

[Jferr0001]

The JB wants to be 1/8 of an inch beneath the strings to sound good
too high its spikey highs
Too low its muddy
In that sweet spot its hair metal heaven

Some players like me prefer th Jazz in the neck
Its splits better for a single coil sound
In my opinion

EHDWULD, thanks for the info. That’ll give me a good place to start with the height instead of doing a lot of chasing. I’ll have to research the Jazz as well. Would that height apply to the neck as well? Thanks!

 

[Supernautilus]

The JB wants to be 1/8 of an inch beneath the strings to sound good
too high its spikey highs
Too low its muddy
In that sweet spot its hair metal heaven

Some players like me prefer th Jazz in the neck
Its splits better for a single coil sound
In my opinion

I would add that the JB also works well with a 250K volume pot. This allows you to move the pup further toward the strings for a fuller sound without those spiky highs.

 

[Jferr0001]

1. The JB IS That tone

2. No one in the 80's used a middle pickup for anything, and rarely the neck.

3. No, Ibanez pots are fine (Assuming 500k)

I might be very familiar with those sounds. Would I lie to you?

Aceman, thanks for the reply. I’m not sure what the stock pots are. I believe they’re 500k, but honestly not sure. Everything is still stock right now. I agree with the not using the mid pickup, I almost never do. That being said, could I just cut the wires and make it just a fixture (or remove and put a cover there) and change out the selector from a 5 position to a 3 position? That would save about $100. Thanks again

 

[Supernautilus]

Aceman, thanks for the reply. I’m not sure what the stock pots are. I believe they’re 500k, but honestly not sure. Everything is still stock right now. I agree with the not using the mid pickup, I almost never do. That being said, could I just cut the wires and make it just a fixture (or remove and put a cover there) and change out the selector from a 5 position to a 3 position? That would save about $100. Thanks again

I'm personally not a fan of 3 pickup guitars myself, so that's probably what I would do. In fact, if it was my guitar, I would get a mounting ring and a flat pickup cover. Then would mount them so the cover was flush with the ring, just for decoration. That way, someone could add a pickup later if they wanted. That's my 2 cents.

 

[ehdwuld]

EHDWULD, thanks for the info. That’ll give me a good place to start with the height instead of doing a lot of chasing. I’ll have to research the Jazz as well. Would that height apply to the neck as well? Thanks!

Once the JB is set
adjust the neck pickup up and down to match the volume of the bridge
I have measurements for my Ibanez with the JB/JAZZ set

The neck is more sensitive to action setup

When i set up my neck pickups

Fret at the last fret and begin with it about 1/8 inch
under the string there
Test to see if the volume drops off as you play back around the nut

usually the neck is a bit lower than the bridge
As you get more movement mid string
Most folks that complain about woofy neck pickups
Have them too high

 

[beaubrummels]

I'd check the route on the single. The Stacks didn't fit in the route on my Jackson (even though it came with Duncan Designed rails) and I had to go DiMarzio for the direct mount single, and had to flip the DiMarzio hot/ground to work with the Duncans. I don't know if the Ibanez route is fine with a Stack or not. You'll have to check.

 

[Jferr0001]

Once the JB is set
adjust the neck pickup up and down to match the volume of the bridge
I have measurements for my Ibanez with the JB/JAZZ set

The neck is more sensitive to action setup

When i set up my neck pickups

Fret at the last fret and begin with it about 1/8 inch
under the string there
Test to see if the volume drops off as you play back around the nut

usually the neck is a bit lower than the bridge
As you get more movement mid string
Most folks that complain about woofy neck pickups
Have them too high

wow…thanks for all that! Like I said in original post, I don’t really have any experience with setting pickups so that really helps out a lot. Thanks