ibzrg1570
Well-Known Member
Ok, so I ordered a Zakk Wylde pickup set last December for my RG1570. This the epic tale of an uphill struggle to get them in.
Basically I put up with the stock pups for 3 years and couldn't take it anymore. So out they go.
How'd I get them out while keeping the strings on? That's the beauty of an Edge Pro trem (or any Floyd-type trem for that matter).
The strings are a bitch to tune without pickups but the acoustic tone is noticeably better.
Stock Ibby pickups<*
I throw the screws and other random shit in an Eclipse mint box, which lies above my...
Spanish-English dictionary!
That thing's saved my ass in Spanish class for 6 years.
I rip out the guts.
At this point the guitar remains in the same state for a good 2 months. Why? Well I don't have a soldering iron and I'm a lazy bastard. But it's okay because I have my 7 to play on and it's not like the pickups are going anywhere so I'm not losing anything but putting it off. Finally in February I start asking around for a soldering iron and my friend Ryan (former guitarist for the band Shai Halud) helps me out. I go to his place and spend a few hours trying to solder. Neither of us has any idea how to do it. This is what results:
What a mess. And the worst part...the actual pickups themselves don't fit in the cavities! But I'm a resourceful guy. I go to the Ibanez forum and ask around, and a guy tells me to sand around the pickup housing through a little of the plastic. After verifying with the guys at EMG that this is safe, I get to it. (No pics here, it was way too messy.)
Of course there was another 3 month break in-between too. I guess after being on SS.org for almost a year, Drew's starting to rub off on me! And the strings stay on.
As you can see, I clearly have no idea what I’m doing.
Anyways, after a good 12 hours of sanding (give or take, lots of breaks in between) they are ready to be dropped in!
But wait...
Damn you Ibanez for not routing out those random chunks of wood!
The pickups are too high. If I play past the 14th fret the strings actually touch the neck pickup. I ask my dad for his Dremel, but some guy at work stole it from him. So I'll have to do it manually.
Gaps are taped off.
Sanding block: Energizer 9V.
The problem: I only have sandpaper in 200 and 600 grit. So after an hour of sanding I have a shiny block of wood still covered in shielding paint.
Guess I'll have to go old-school on it.
(I lost the pic of the actual one I use, as well as the actual thing.:/ This pic will have to do.)
I use this to cut my strings. A few cuts here and there and voila!
Wood bumps = cancelled
In they go!
I plug in and... disaster. The volume pot doesn’t work when turned past a certain point and the 3 way switch I bought off eBay doesn’t do anything. Basically I can manually take out either pickup and it’ll work in any switch position. So I let the thing sit for most of the summer. Finally about three weeks before I leave for college I decide enough is enough. I send the guitar in to a real tech to get it settled once and for all. Lame, yes, but I frankly don’t have the time (or skill either, apparently) to do it myself. I guess we’re not all cut out for that kind of work.
The beast unleashed
:
Showing off the metallic blue finish.
A few notes. I had the tech follow this wiring diagram:
I planned on keeping the tone knob for aesthetic reasons and I told the guy and he’s just like “yea, I get it” but then he wires it up. Oh well, not the end of the world. He’s not in when I go to pick it up so I get a free guitar cable for my troubles.
As for the single coil: It remains disconnected. I actually took it apart and ripped out the magnets and bought a cover without holes to keep the EMG look consistant.
And finally, I learned how to string my guitar!
Strings coming out the right side of the tuning pegs FTW!
EDIT: I forgot another thing, I had to change the output jack because the tech told me the original was broken somehow. So that was another $8 right there.
Oh well.
Fin.
Basically I put up with the stock pups for 3 years and couldn't take it anymore. So out they go.
How'd I get them out while keeping the strings on? That's the beauty of an Edge Pro trem (or any Floyd-type trem for that matter).
The strings are a bitch to tune without pickups but the acoustic tone is noticeably better.
Stock Ibby pickups<*
I throw the screws and other random shit in an Eclipse mint box, which lies above my...
Spanish-English dictionary!
That thing's saved my ass in Spanish class for 6 years.I rip out the guts.
At this point the guitar remains in the same state for a good 2 months. Why? Well I don't have a soldering iron and I'm a lazy bastard. But it's okay because I have my 7 to play on and it's not like the pickups are going anywhere so I'm not losing anything but putting it off.
Finally in February I start asking around for a soldering iron and my friend Ryan (former guitarist for the band Shai Halud) helps me out. I go to his place and spend a few hours trying to solder. Neither of us has any idea how to do it. This is what results:
What a mess. And the worst part...the actual pickups themselves don't fit in the cavities! But I'm a resourceful guy. I go to the Ibanez forum and ask around, and a guy tells me to sand around the pickup housing through a little of the plastic. After verifying with the guys at EMG that this is safe, I get to it. (No pics here, it was way too messy.) Of course there was another 3 month break in-between too. I guess after being on SS.org for almost a year, Drew's starting to rub off on me!
And the strings stay on.
As you can see, I clearly have no idea what I’m doing.
Anyways, after a good 12 hours of sanding (give or take, lots of breaks in between) they are ready to be dropped in!
But wait...
Damn you Ibanez for not routing out those random chunks of wood!
The pickups are too high. If I play past the 14th fret the strings actually touch the neck pickup. I ask my dad for his Dremel, but some guy at work stole it from him. So I'll have to do it manually.Gaps are taped off.
Sanding block: Energizer 9V.
The problem: I only have sandpaper in 200 and 600 grit. So after an hour of sanding I have a shiny block of wood still covered in shielding paint.
Guess I'll have to go old-school on it.
(I lost the pic of the actual one I use, as well as the actual thing.:/ This pic will have to do.)
I use this to cut my strings. A few cuts here and there and voila!
Wood bumps = cancelled
In they go!
I plug in and... disaster. The volume pot doesn’t work when turned past a certain point and the 3 way switch I bought off eBay doesn’t do anything. Basically I can manually take out either pickup and it’ll work in any switch position. So I let the thing sit for most of the summer. Finally about three weeks before I leave for college I decide enough is enough. I send the guitar in to a real tech to get it settled once and for all. Lame, yes, but I frankly don’t have the time (or skill either, apparently) to do it myself. I guess we’re not all cut out for that kind of work.
The beast unleashed
:
Showing off the metallic blue finish.
A few notes. I had the tech follow this wiring diagram:
I planned on keeping the tone knob for aesthetic reasons and I told the guy and he’s just like “yea, I get it” but then he wires it up.
Oh well, not the end of the world. He’s not in when I go to pick it up so I get a free guitar cable for my troubles. As for the single coil: It remains disconnected. I actually took it apart and ripped out the magnets and bought a cover without holes to keep the EMG look consistant.
And finally, I learned how to string my guitar!
Strings coming out the right side of the tuning pegs FTW!
EDIT: I forgot another thing, I had to change the output jack because the tech told me the original was broken somehow. So that was another $8 right there.
Oh well.Fin.
