Which Hex screws to take out

TeleJr24

TeleJr24

New member
I want to replace one, some, maybe all of the regular screws in my JB and replace them with hex screws. Everyone seems to agree that if I at least change the low E screw for a hex screw that it will tighten up the bottom end.

I have hex screws from an Ibanez pickup that was originally from the bridge of my Ibanez 540s. There are two rows of them. But I also have a Fred pickup that is currently in this Ibanez and it also has two rows of hex screws.

My first question is... would these hex screws be the same or would the ones from the Fred pickup somehow be better quality?

If the Fred pickup has better quality hex screws I'd like to use them, but which row do I take them from to have the least effect on the Fred pickup that will still be in my Ibanez? Do I take them from the row that would normally be the screw row or the row that would normally be a stud row?
 
Re: Which Hex screws to take out

If I were you, I would leave the FRED alone. I would use the HEX from the IBANEZ 540S . I would also give it a shot only for the low E and A strings probably the D too but thats it.
 
Re: Which Hex screws to take out

that'd be pretty cool. 3 hex screws and 3 regular pole pieces or screws. it would look awesome, a frankenstein pickup. cool
 
Re: Which Hex screws to take out

Okay, so you think that the Ibanez pickup's hex screws would do the trick and not any worse than the Fred ones?
 
Re: Which Hex screws to take out

I just switched the low E screw for the hex. the hex head is smaller and the length is shorter, but does sound better. Maybe a little less power, but I can always unscrew it a little so it is higher - maybe I screwed it in too far. but so far I like it. It mixes well with the other strings too so I might not change the other two although that would look better.
 
Re: Which Hex screws to take out

I did this on my lil 59

SD1B.jpg


BTW where was the link in the Q&A page that showed the pickup codes for the stickers?

I noticed there is over 800 questions and going through them all would be time consuming. The search function didn't seem to work for the Q&A section.
 
Re: Which Hex screws to take out

I just had a thought. I changed just the screw that was under the low E string. That changes the magenetic field under the low E and I'm guessing probably a little under the A also. So what if I mixed it up and did a hex, screw, hex, screw, hex, screw type combination. Wouldn't that change the overall magnetic field to be somewhere in between an all screw type magnetic filed and an all hex screw magnetic field? Then maybe we would get some more tighness and definition overall but still have the sound qualities of the screw magnetic field?

It's probably a stupid question, but what he heck.
 
Re: Which Hex screws to take out

Great idea - give it a shot and report. We are all interested. Maybe we can start a hex mod craze!!
 
Re: Which Hex screws to take out

You could also just file down the fillisters in the stock pickup to taste. Check out this thread where BTR discusses it and Doc Barlo points over to a Zhang post on the LPF alluding to the same thing.

Some pickups already have screws which only to to the baseplate or thereabouts, like the Full Shred, Invader, and a number of DiMarzios, the Super D among them. I suspect shorter screws focus the sound in the mids and may even brighten the pickup somewhat. (The Invader is an exception because it has the huge heads on the polepieces)
 
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