Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

M

MalcolmSex

New member
Hi,

I'm new to the forum, but have been scouring it almost not stop for the last 3 days looking for the best pickups for my new purchase. I managed to get a 1998 Japanese Ibanez S540FM in Transparent Turquoise for £450 (roughly $630 for the non Brits). Steal. The guitar looks and plays beautifully, however it has a set of Dimarzio Evolutions in it (all 3 from a JEM). So it sounds too bassy whilst being shrill at the same time. It gives a horrible "chirping" noise as the pick attack under gain. I'm therefore looking for advice...

Pickups
Anyway, I've bought a Jazz Neck and I have a Custom Custom on the way, but before I fit them I thought I get some second opinions...

So, what do I want? Of all the guitars I own, my favourite bridge tone is from my 2009 Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro with a Burstbucker 3 in the bridge. Quite mid heavy but just the right amount of bass and treble. It sounds good for clean right through to heavy distortion. However the neck pickup is 57 Classic and is pretty muddy and unusable for anything other than smooth lead.

My favourite neck tone is from my American Strat (both position 4 and 5).

Based on this, I purchased the pickups above. The Jazz Neck should give me a nice clear tone and the Custom Custom is quite mid heavy, so my logic was that I would be somewhere in-between my Strat Neck and Les Paul bridge. For info the guitar has a locking trem, thin mahogany body with maple cap (front and back), maple neck and rosewood finger board. What do you think?

Lastly what middle pickup would you recommend to compliment the other two, I imagine the answer to next question will inform this...

Wiring
I've looked in the guitar and it's set up like this. The combination of pickups it gives in the 5 positions is 1=B, 2=B(split)+M, 3=M, 4=M+N(split), 5= N. Is there a more useful way of setting this up? Do the Jazz and CC split well? Does the treble bleed cap on the volume affect the tone of the picks at full volume as the Dimarzios are very bright at the minute?

Thanks is advance for any help and hello!

Cheers.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

Anybody?

The Custom Custom should be with me this evening so I'm ready to fit the bridge and neck.

I also ordered a set of magnets last night. An A2, A3, A4, A5 and a UOA5. Should let me tweak the sound.

I don't want to start soldering if they're a bad choice.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

I think you can’t go wrong with that combination of pickups.
I very curious to hear your thoughts once you get them installed. I’m contemplating a Charvel type build and wanted to go with those pickups too. I was also considering the neck Sentinent pickup.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

Good to know and I've always got the magnet swap option if they don't quite work. I'll let you know how I get on.

Do you have any advice on the middle pickup? And the wiring setup?
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

I'd say put an A4 or A5 in the CC and keep the Jazz stock, then put a STK-S4m in the middle.

An A3 in the Jazz and a UOA5 in the Custom Custom could have potential.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

Thanks for the advice. If I end up settling on the standard magnets in the pickups, will the STK-S4m still blend well?
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

If you plan on keeping the stock switching, I'd keep a real single coil in there. Personally, I'd go with either an APS-2 or a 5/2 flat in the middle.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

Yeah, STK-S4 is a noiseless SSL-1. But if you go true single coil, the 5-2 is a good pickup.

I recommended the noiseless middle because I hate how position 3 is the only one with hum.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

Some people find the custom custom to be a bit thick and mid heavy. that's why its common to swap the magnet to a A5 or unoriented A5 magnet to restore some brightness. I can see you being in a similar situation if you are trying to get a tonal match with the jazz neck. The other alternative would be to exchange it for a custom hybrid or a possibly a JB.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

MalcolmSex said:
Lastly what middle pickup would you recommend to compliment the other two, I imagine the answer to next question will inform this...

Wiring
I've looked in the guitar and it's set up like this. The combination of pickups it gives in the 5 positions is 1=B, 2=B(split)+M, 3=M, 4=M+N(split), 5= N. Is there a more useful way of setting this up? Do the Jazz and CC split well? Does the treble bleed cap on the volume affect the tone of the picks at full volume as the Dimarzios are very bright at the minute?

Thanks is advance for any help and hello!

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Its hard to recommend a middle pickup until you decided on the bridge pickup and suitable wiring scheme. I found the Custom Custom wasn't very useful in the split or notch tones as it was still too warm and thick. However with A5 magnet, then it is very good split. In that case a standard SD SSL-2 will make a good middle pickup, but it needs an extra 500k load resistor to perform at its best. If want something that works with the stock wiring scheme you should either keep the stock Ibanez middle P/U or otherwise try one of the rails type pickups such as Dimarzio DP187 cruiser bridge or something like that. SD cool rails may be an option but I never used it.

If I were you, I would first get rid of the Treble bleed cap on the S540 and see if you like the Evolution pickups better than now. Possibly only replace the neck P/U with the SD Jazz in while keeping the Evolution bridge pickup. I think the Evo should be cool in a mahogany body guitar.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

Thanks for the replies.

My Custom Custom didn't arrive yesterday so I'm going to install the JBn tonight, remove the treble bleed cap and see how it sounds. Hopefully the magnets will be delivered at a similar time as the CC so I can work out which Custom variant I like, then I'll work out which middle pickup to get.

Thanks for your help! I'll report back on what I find.

Teleplayer: does the 500K load resistor on the middle pickup go in parallel to the volume pot to make the pickup see 250K to reduce the top end?
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

I installed the JazzN and the CC last night and removed the treble bleed cap. It turns out that the shrillness was probably caused by the treble bleed cap as the middle pickup is actually useable now, however still lacking. It's far weaker than the other 2 pickups and very scooped sounding.

Impressions are that the Jazz is spot on, exactly what I was looking for from a neck HB. Clear, good lead tone, distorts well. Brilliant.

The CC however is nothing like the Burstbucker 3 in my LP. Not enough bass, cleans are thin. I'm not a fan. It sounds ok for crunch type work but still not enough bass. I think the 377 tone chart is probably correct. I also think the thin body and maple neck of the guitar don't help.

The magnets are coming next week so I'll try those. I'm happy with the treble of the pickup, I just want to cut a bit of the mid and increase the bass a tad. So I'll probably start with the UOA5.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

MalcolmSex said:
Teleplayer: does the 500K load resistor on the middle pickup go in parallel to the volume pot to make the pickup see 250K to reduce the top end?
Click to expand...

You can wire the resistor in parallel with the middle pickup. It just takes the edge off the pickups high-frequency resonance, as single coils can be shrill with 500k controls.

A true single coil middle P/U will be really low output when used alone as you found, so its probably more useful when combined with the split humbuckers in pos 2 and pos 4. A rails style single coil sized humbucker will have more output and is more useable by itself in position 3. It really depends how you want to use it. A strat-size humbucker in the middle can make the guitar more versatile as it provides a more like a vintage-like sound from an otherwise high output guitar.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

Physics dictate that your Sabre will never, ever sound just like your LP. Some pickups will get you in the sonic ballpark, but, for better or worse, each guitar will do its own thing.
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

Thanks for the advice guys. You're right about the guitar type.

I've been noodling this afternoon and I was probably a bit rash in my opinion of the CC. It does lack bass and it compresses really quickly which means the cleans are poor, but for lead and rock rhythm it's pretty good. With a tubescreamer it does give a cocked-wah sound which is annoying but a more evenly eq'd boost pedal instead sorts that out.

I can't get enough of the JazzN though. It's really good in that guitar. A tubscreamer really fills out the mids for lead work as well.

Which magnet swap in the CC do you think will get me closer to the Les Paul with a BB3?
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

If you put A5 in the bridge pickup will be a big change in the tone. Brighter and less compressed. Its almost the opposite of what you have now.

If you decide to buy UOA5 magnets, get 2 of them so you can try in the neck as well.

Did you get a chance to try the Evo bridge with the treble bleed removed?
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

I'd try the UOA5 for the Custom. If the Jazzn sounds like what you want, leave it alone.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk
 
Re: Ibanez S540FM Pickup Selection (HSH)

Update!

I've tried the UOA5 in the Custom and it's good. It compresses quite quickly though but I liked the cleans and overdriven sounds were good.

I then tried the A3 in the Custom and it's still in there. It's basically what I thought the Custom Custom would have been like. It's articulate, the highs are good and the bass is slightly more than the CC. It also cleans up well. It sounds quite close to the Burstbucker 3 in my LP. I definitely recommend trying an A3 in the Custom if you haven't. It doesn't seem that popular from my research.

The guitar is pretty flexible now. I'm going to leave the middle pickup for now as it sounds good enough. I probably will end up tinkering at some point though! I was looking at the Quarter Pounder as I have them in a Tele and really like them.

Thanks for your help.
 
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