Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

S

Scapin

New member
Hello everyone,

I own an ibanez rg721rw and would like to upgrade the pickups. Here are the specs of the guitar
It's a Rosewood top/American Basswood body with a Bound rosewood fretboard. I mostly play in standard tuning.

I mostly play metal but I incorporate a lot of different elements in my music, like slaps and funk-style playing. The five way switch is great to get different tones.
I checked out a few videos and really like the distortion bridge pickup. I want to have an aggressive and tight rythm tone with a defined pick attack. I also play a lot of full chords and want those to be very clear with distorsion and sound full. So tight and aggressive for rhythm stuff but nice, full and clear on full chords. I like the keith merrow tone on his signature guitar so I guess I'm looking for a six string Nazgul bridge.
As for the neck, I really don't know where to look. I use my neck pickup for leads and clean parts as well as some funky rythm stuff from time to time. I'm really into singing, shreddy, warm leads if that makes sense. I want to be able to hear a clear difference between tapping, sweeping, alternate picking etc. So not to harsh but clean even with a decent amount of gain. I like the tone from this amaizing song .

I'm open to suggestions and I'm not set on the distortion bridge yet.
Thank you very much !
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

IMO, articulation & funky rhythm = Jazz neck with coil splitting capabilities.
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

Thanks for the quick reply :) . I'll look into the jazz.
I should have mentioned I usually funk in a metal context. And not that much in the end. So I'm more looking for a neck pickup with soloing qualities.
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

Depends on what kind of soloing. I have the Jazz in my RG920. It sounds almost like a bridge pickup with all the articulation and attack it has, but it also has the creamy sound associated with neck pickups. Mind you, it's quite bright.


I haven't really tried it for metal rhythm, though. I normally use the bridge pickup for that.

Sent from my RM-915_apac_thailand_213 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

After doing some researches, I think the full shred neck might work better.
I also looked at the black winter set, they sound awesome ! But I'm afraid they're not as versatile as other pickups. And would they work in a basswood body/rosewood fret board guitar ?
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

Well, the world is oyster... however, I just can't put "Full Shred" and "Warm" together, but that's me.
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

Screamin' Demon? Just saying.. There are folks that have tried it in neck position and seem really happy with it.
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

I think I'm going to go with the black winter set as I have a black metal project on the go. They seem well suited for this kind of music. And it will be original to use those pups for other metal genres in the future I guess.
So I have some final questions :
-Would they work well in an ibanez rg721rw (specs in my first post) or would the distortion be safer ?
-Are they compatible with a five way switch ? It's a newbie question and I'm guessing the answer is yes but I prefer to be sure. The same question goes for the distorsion pickup.
-The black winter set is "calibrated". What does it mean ?
EDIT : Well I just found the answer for this one. It's pretty much just a packaging label. But if I'm not mistaking, there are two types of pickups : the standard and the tremolo. Is the set meant for standard bridges ?
-That's it :)

Thank you for your time :) .
 
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Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

Hi, owner of a RG721RW w/ a Jazz/JB combo here. Couple points:

- the OEM 5-way switch isn't a standard 5-way switch, so standard wiring diagrams won't work. The OEM switch is also of very low quality; I fried mine when soldering the new pickups.

- you want the "trembucker" version of whatever SD bridge pickup you decide to buy. The 721 has a fixed bridge, but the strings are spaced like a floyd.



PS: extremely good-looking, easy-playing and well-made guitar (apart from the OEM electronics). Definitely a keeper.
 
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Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

mamm said:
Hi, owner of a RG721RW w/ a Jazz/JB combo here. Couple points:

- the OEM 5-way switch isn't a standard 5-way switch, so standard wiring diagrams won't work. The OEM switch is also of very low quality; I fried mine when soldering the new pickups.

- you want the "trembucker" version of whatever SD bridge pickup you decide to buy. The 721 has a fixed bridge, but the strings are spaced like a floyd.



PS: extremely good-looking, easy-playing and well-made guitar (apart from the OEM electronics). Definitely a keeper.
Click to expand...

Thanks' for the reply !
How do you like your Jazz/JB combo ?

Does it mean I also have to replace the 5-way switch ? What should I get then ?
And out of curiosity, how did you know you had to take trembucker ? I can't find any information about that.

Cheers !
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

Scapin, I love the Jazz/JB combo. For me, the Jazz is "the" definitive clear, refined-sounding neck humbucker. Very hifi-sounding. The JB in this guitar is, surprisingly, also very refined sounding; maybe the basswood tames the high-mid spike, who knows? I also have a JB in the bridge of a mahogany guitar, where it sounds very different: much more raw and aggressive.

You don't HAVE to replace the original switch, but if you don't you'll be stuck with the original weird switching options and poor tactile feedback (the detents aren't very pronounced). I replaced it with a standard 3-way Switchcraft plus a switch for coil splitting of both pickups (I highly recommend that, both the Jazz and the JB split great). That way, I have 6 options that cover a lot of ground:

- full Jazz neck;
- full Jazz/JB combined;
- full JB bridge;
- split Jazz neck;
- Jazz/JB split and combined;
- split JB bridge.

The "trembucker" is SD's terminology for humbuckers that are a little wider to accommodate guitars with wider bridges - namely, strat and floyd bridges. DMZ calls their wide humbuckers "F-spaced".

If you use a regular, non-wide humbucker with a wide bridge, both E strings won't align with the respective polepieces of the pickup - it's more of an aesthetical thing. Since the TightEnd bridge of the 721 is basically the top part of a floyd screwed directly into the wood, trembucker/F-spaced is the preferred choice.
 
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Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

mamm said:
Scapin, I love the Jazz/JB combo. For me, the Jazz is "the" definitive clear, refined-sounding neck humbucker. Very hifi-sounding. The JB in this guitar is, surprisingly, also very refined sounding; maybe the basswood tames the high-mid spike, who knows? I also have a JB in the bridge of a mahogany guitar, where it sounds very different: much more raw and aggressive.

You don't HAVE to replace the original switch, but if you don't you'll be stuck with the original weird switching options and poor tactile feedback (the detents aren't very pronounced). I replaced it with a standard 3-way Switchcraft plus a switch for coil splitting of both pickups (I highly recommend that, both the Jazz and the JB split great). That way, I have 6 options that cover a lot of ground:

- full Jazz neck;
- full Jazz/JB combined;
- full JB bridge;
- split Jazz neck;
- Jazz/JB split and combined;
- split JB bridge.

The "trembucker" is SD's terminology for humbuckers that are a little wider to accommodate guitars with wider bridges - namely, strat and floyd bridges. DMZ calls their wide humbuckers "F-spaced".

If you use a regular, non-wide humbucker with a wide bridge, both E strings won't align with the respective polepieces of the pickup - it's more of an aesthetical thing. Since the TightEnd bridge of the 721 is basically the top part of a floyd screwed directly into the wood, trembucker/F-spaced is the preferred choice.
Click to expand...

Thank very much Mamm. Do you happen to have a soundclip for educational purposes ? I'm very curios to hear how it may sound.

Your pickup set up looks very interesting. Is it something I can easily set up myself ? The current five way switch doesn't bother me for the moment, but I still want to be able to coil split after switching pickups.

Thanks' again !
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

Have you seen this?


PS: for my tastes, IN THE CONTEXT OF THE FULL MIX, the JB kicks ass in this comparo. No scooped, muddy or shrill BS; just pure, defined, in-your-face heavy guitar tone.
 
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Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

I did ! Keith Merrow is awesome. I admit the JB sounds pretty awesome in his guitar. It's the most natural sounding pickup IMO.
But I was wondering if you had anything recorded with your rg721 just to hear how it sounds in this (awesome) guitar. Nonetheless, I found this video of Pete using a JB/Jazz. Sounds very nice but it's not really my style.

I also saw this video though :

I just love those head splitting high chords, those attacks and even the cleans sound ... clean.

Also, I think I'll just see a technician to set up the pickups for me and change the electronic so I can have 6 different positions.
From what I read, the black winter is actually versatile which is exactly what I seek. Not many people have reviewed it so far so I don't know what to expect with an american basswood guitar/ rosewood fingerboard.
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

Scapin said:
But I was wondering if you had anything recorded with your rg721 just to hear how it sounds in this (awesome) guitar
Click to expand...

I do have. Probably not your style, but here's a rough mix of my cover band playing an Outfield song, recorded last week at my home studio:

https://soundcloud.com/mamm777/your-love-demo-cover

All the guitar sounds in this demo were DI'ed using the JB in the bridge of the RG. Here's a segment of the guitar bus, totally stripped down (just JB -> preamp -> ADC, no processing at all):

https://soundcloud.com/mamm777/your-love-demo-cover-just-guitars





Scapin said:
I also saw this video though :

<snip>Keith Merrow playing Black Winters video</snip>

I just love those head splitting high chords, those attacks and even the cleans sound ... clean.
Click to expand...
Seems like you're set on Black Winters. Follow your heart!
 
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Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

Thanks' a ton Mamm. You've been super helpful.
You are right, it is not my style but I always enjoy a good song and your work is of quality.


Seems like you're set on Black Winters. Follow your heart!
Click to expand...

I think I'll do just that.
I'll eventually do a demo once everything is good and running. The BW are still pretty new.
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

The BW will do stuff you wouldn't expect, like good cleans and low-mid gain as well. Beware, black winters sound better than pickups that cost twice as much. They are awesome. Don't pigeon-hole them and they won't pigeon-hole you.
 
Re: Neck and bridge for an ibanez rg721rw

DiMarzio AirNorton/ToneZone. Well balanced, powerfull and with great notes separation
 
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