1

The Pickup Place / Re: Bridge HB to go with Chopper in the neck

« on: October 06, 2018, 02:16:30 PM »

Dimarzio recommend F spacing if the bridge saddles are 53mm apart, E to E. Your bridge sounds so close to that measurement that I would say use F spaced. Normal spaced pickups are usually for Gibson style bridges.

2

The Pickup Place / Re: Modification of mounting tabs

« on: September 12, 2018, 05:48:20 AM »

If it was me I would try and find a really cheap, nasty, old pickup with square tabs to practice on first.

3

Guitar Lounge / Re: So….what would you put in this?

« on: August 30, 2018, 05:27:31 AM »

Duncans that were available in the 80's:
JB
'59
Pearly Gates
Custom
Duncan Distortion
Invader
Alnico 2 Pro
Live Wires

4

Guitar Lounge / Re: So….what would you put in this?

« on: August 30, 2018, 05:13:30 AM »

Dimarzios that were available in the 80's:
PAF Pro
Dual Sound
Super Distortion
Super 2
X2N

5

The Pickup Place / Re: Guitar pick ups

« on: August 24, 2018, 12:45:56 PM »

The other posters are probably right that the definitive pickup for the sound you are after is an EMG set. Probably 81/81. If your body cavity can accommodate the space needed for the 9V battery needed, they are reportedly very easy to install using the quick connect wiring and pots that come with each pickup. You will need to solder the pickups to the selector switch.

If you are unwilling to go active then I can recommend the Dimarzio X2N (DP102) in the bridge paired with a D Activator-X neck (DP221).

These will certainly look the part in a C-1 SGR.
Sound wise, the X2N is the most powerful Dimarzio humbucker available (Output 510) with a fairly flat EQ rating (T:6.5, M:6.5, B:5.5). This may be brighter than you are looking for, but the lower powered D Activator-X neck (Output 300) is EQ'd a bit darker (T:4.5, M:5.5, B:6.5).
I have used this set in a guitar I made, based on a Charvel Model 4, for a number of years and is my go to guitar for the thrash sound you appear to be after.
They are not for the faint hearted but I do think they can clean up OK with a bit of tweeking.
I have them setup with push pulls for coil splits and series/parallel, which works very well with low gain and clean for bluesy sounds. Not so noticeable with higher gain.
This set will help push a valve amp when using the high gain channel, but I cannot vouch for the results for solid state amps. When played through my Focusrite Saffire interface this guitar has to be adjusted down at the input by 2 notches on the dial to avoid clipping, when compared to my Ibanez (Dimarzio/IBZ's).

6

The Pickup Place / Re: Any chance of a stickied DiMarzio Mods post?

« on: August 10, 2018, 05:03:57 PM »

Non-invasive mud mod put forward by Lone Phantom. Place a capacitor inline (i.e. series) with the hot out from a pickup to remove some of the bass frequencies (i.e. mud). Lower capacitor values are supposed to have greater effect. Staring point of 0.047μ, and experiment from there.

7

The Pickup Place / Re: RGA321F pickup replacement set

« on: August 10, 2018, 02:19:43 PM »

Cheers DarthPhineas.

Looked at some reviews on YouTube (not the best place sometimes) and would lean toward the Illuminators for cleaning up.
I am looking at Tone Zone/Air Norton (maybe too dark), or Mo' Joe/PAF Joe as options too.

8

The Pickup Place / RGA321F pickup replacement set

« on: August 10, 2018, 08:26:54 AM »

Hi Guys

This is my first post on this forum.

I have an Ibanez RGA321F I bought from new and have been mostly satisfied with the stock Dimarzio/IBZ pickups it came with, but for several years I have hankered after replacing them with a set of proper Dimarzios and am looking for some advice from anyone who has made the change in this guitar or a similar one.

The RGA321F construction is mahogany body with a flamed maple cap arched cap (about 16mm at thickest point). The neck is the 2005 Wizard Prestige maple/rosewood (18mm@1st/20mm@12th).
Everything on the guitar is still stock and I use 9-42 gauge Elixir Nanowebs at concert pitch.

I play through a Marshall DSL401 with a 1912 extension cab (matched speaker to DSL), with a Boss GT-10 (4 cable).

I have another guitar with X2N/D activator X setup and so have a high powered set pretty much nailed.
I am looking for something a little more scaled back for clean and crunch tones.
I also have a spare F-spaced Tone Zone knocking around that could be paired up.

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated