Pickup Placement on Ibanez RGD's?

[broj15]

So I am currently in the market for a new 7 string (currently trying to sell my c-7 hellraiser as it's just not as comfortable to play as my rg7620).
I like extended scale lengths and flat, thin, wide necks so immediatly started doing research on the RGD series.

I'm more of a fan of fixed bridge guitars (but i'll block the trem if i like all the other specs) so i started checking out the RGD7321. This is when i started to get a little worried.

Anyone who looks at the RGD7321 can plainly see that the bridge pickups is much closer to the neck than most bridge pickups. The RGD7320z has the same problem but not nearly as bad while the pickup placement of the RGD2127z looks to be about right.

So my question is will the pickup placement of the RGD7321/7320z have any noticable effect on the over all sound of the guitar? One would think that the farther away a pickup is from the bridge the less "crunch" or "chunky" quality there will be in the tone, as well as less definition and tightness. If this is true would i just be better of getting the RGD2127z?

As i said, i don't mind blocking the trem if i have to and tax time is coming up so with a bit of saving and depending on how much i get for my c7 Hellraiser i should be able to afford it.

I'm mainly looking for the personal opinions of people who owne an RGD series guitar, though everyone who has an opinion on the matter is welcome to chime in. As always I look forward to hearing your replies

 

[Quitty]

Never had an RGD, but i can tell you that pickup placement is one of the most drastic influences on the sound of a guitar, and arguably the most important one in the case of a bridge pickup.
The reason you won't find this topic discussed very often, IMO, is that there's not much to do about it once you have your guitar, and that there's a lot of math (or luck) involved in actually determining the 'correct' placement for a certain sound.

Now, when you say 'chunk' i'm assuming you mean something in the lower frequencies -
in which case you'll get the opposite from bringing your pickup closer to the bridge -
it'll be tighter and more articulate, not really brighter but more high-mid focused, and lower in volume.
Moving the bridge pup further away from the bridge will increase bass and treble response, reduce 'stiffness' and cut some of the 'grain'-iness of high gain, increase volume and dynamic range.

You can get a feel for it by tilting your pickup - it's not quite the same, but tilted forward or tilted backwards should give you a good intuition - just don't compare any of them with the non-tilted pickup, that's not a fair comparison.

For me, I liked the 'feel' a bridge-close pup gives with high gain and the articulation is great - but found it a bit too 'grainy' for rhythm work. I also found the lack of dynamics a major bummer - i use a lot of variations of pick attack and volume with my picking hand, and i felt very limited in that respect.

Over all of that, there's harmonic content that's centered around various points on the string - a strat's neck pickup is placed almost directly under the point where the fifth harmonic node is (good chance my semantics are off on this one, feel free to tell me i'm stupid), meaning it's not reading almost any of the fifth order harmonic -
That's part of the signature strat-neck sound.
My point here is that a relocated cavity might affect your tone in more ways than you thought. To feel the full effect you'd have to hear the guitar in action.

 

[Hankey]

FYI: The upcoming RGD 7421 has the bridge pickup closer to the bridge:

RGD 7321:

vs.

RGD 7421:

 

[djinn314]

at drumcity they have a bunch of pick ups for sale

 

[GSingleton]

I own it, and it sounds amazing imo. It isnt all treble sounding like on my other guitars who basically have the pickups up the tremolos/tailpiece's ass. I love it and can get the crunch I want. Dropping a LF/CL combo in it next week. It is my fav guitar I own.

As stated earlier, it definitely adds a more warmth and full feel to the guitar. It doesn't have the grainy sound.

 

[broj15]

I had already seen pictures of the new RGD7421 but was a little worried wheni didn't see the tone know. The pick up placement does look a little "better" imo on the RGD7421 but it's not nearly as close as the bridge pickup od the RGD2127z.
Does anyone have any idea of when the RGD7421 will be available?

 

[Sepultorture]

I had already seen pictures of the new RGD7421 but was a little worried wheni didn't see the tone know. The pick up placement does look a little "better" imo on the RGD7421 but it's not nearly as close as the bridge pickup od the RGD2127z.
Does anyone have any idea of when the RGD7421 will be available?

Most likely late may you will start seeing the new 2012 ibanez guitars.

tone knobs don't really mean all that much if you ask me, if it's killing you that much you can drill it and add a tone knob very easy. i also like the switch placement, makes a tonne of sense

 

[The Norsemen]

I would think that with the right pickups you could turn the sound in your favor?

Say you have it farther away. You get the warmth and lose the grain but also some of the tightness. Why not just get a set of articulate pickups?
Essentially like how people choose pickups based on tonewoods to accentuate some qualities and detract from others?

 

[Sepultorture]

I would think that with the right pickups you could turn the sound in your favor?

Say you have it farther away. You get the warmth and lose the grain but also some of the tightness. Why not just get a set of articulate pickups?
Essentially like how people choose pickups based on tonewoods to accentuate some qualities and detract from others?

although i find with production guitars, the wood makes for less tonality than your pickup choice does, i've had a couple ibanez guitars, two basswood and one mahogany, and the warpig i had in the basswood didn't sound much different when i put it in the mahogany.

 

[LaPerraLoca]

im on the same boat here. im looking so much for this guitar, but i havent seen any reviews at all. ( besides stupid kids reviewing theyre new toys )

I want this guitar, but besides the scale, i think its pretty much, the same as the RG7321 and RGA7321.

Now, the RGD7320z seems to be better IMO

 

[GSingleton]

All i am saying is...I love the tones and scale of my RGD7321. One of the best guitars I have played. PERIOD.

 

[sirshredsalot]

Yeah, great guitars..Can't go wrong with ibanez.

 

[The Norsemen]

although i find with production guitars, the wood makes for less tonality than your pickup choice does, i've had a couple ibanez guitars, two basswood and one mahogany, and the warpig i had in the basswood didn't sound much different when i put it in the mahogany.

But isn't the change in tone caused by pickup positioning almost irrelevant in this case? Its not like hes looking into an Ltd sc607 and wanting a neck pickup.
The difference between this bridge pickup and that of most guitars is little enough,
that If he's unhappy with the tonal differences theres gotta be a pickup out there that will compensate for the positioning right?

Most people are unhappy with pickups and plan to change them anyways.
I wouldn't think it wouldn't be that big of a deal unless it gets in the way of your picking and even then, I wouldn't think that would be a deal breaker.

I digress

 

[Estilo]

RGD 7421:

Looks good as fuck but something tells me I shouldn't be too excited. It's not a Prestige after all, so that would mean it's MII? Might just be an RGD7321 with different inlays and no neck binding. Like the 7321 it might also be a US-only model anyway (which is retarded to me. Is the demand for fixed bridges that much less outside the US?). Anyone got more info on this?

 

[broj15]

I'm really surprised we didn't see a fixed bridge prestige RGD this year. I mean at the rate that Tesseract (sp?) is gaining popularity i'm sure they would sell.

 

[DraggAmps]

Yes, as others have stated, the placement does effect tone. The further away from the bridge, the more it will sound like a neck pickup. However, it's still much closer to the bridge than a neck pickup, but I mean it will start to get that rounder and fuller tone with less harmonics and attack. Especially with a 7 string, you probably want that attack, articulation and tightness, but with the right pickups, strings, and pickup height, you could make it sound pretty damn good and the position might end up having some benefit with a super bright and tight pickup, balancing things out a little. Still, I'd go for the new RGD based on all the specs, but based on pickup placement alone.

However, to answer your question on whether or not you'd be better off with the RGD Prestige, I can tell you YES, despite the pickup placement issue. You'd absolutely be better off with the Prestige. It's a MUCH better guitar, IMO. Prestige are miles above the lower end Ibanez's, not that they aren't still great guitars. You get a much higher quality guitar with perfect attention to detail, great sounding woods, a nicer neck with a great feel and very nicely dressed frets. It will also feel much sturdier and hold tuning better, etc. There's a lot to be said about the difference between those two levels of craftsmanship and how it feels to hold an upper level quality guitar compared to a more budget oriented guitar. Again, not that lower end Ibanez's aren't great, because they are, and especially for the price, but Prestige will always amaze you and you'll thank yourself for it in the end. I only recently sold my RGD Prestige for a EBMM JPXI-7 and even though the JPXI costs about twice as much, I still wish I didn't have to sell it and consider it a comparable guitar in many ways. Prestige guitars have I very high level of craftsmanship and they're one of the only other production companies aside from EBMM that I hold in high regard for their level of flawlessness and attention to detail.

 

[broj15]

After mulling it over in my mind I'm really starting to like the idea of the RGD prestige. I might have to sell off a little of my gear (maybe my precision bass, my rg7620, and my c7 hellraiser) but i don't want to sell off a good portion of my gear to get money for a guitar that i have never played before. I like the sound of the guitar and the specs (accept the trem, which i will probably just block) and the asthetics but all that really means nothing if it doesn't feel good.

I have called every guitar center with 200 miles and none of them have this guitar in stock... It would be awesome if a member on here that that has an RGD2127z that lives within 200 miles of louisville kentucky would see this and let me come try it out. However the chances of that are slim to none I'm sure lol.

 

[nonr]

The pick up placement does look a little "better" imo on the RGD7421 but it's not nearly as close as the bridge pickup od the RGD2127z.

How's the asperger's?

 

[Necris]

Never had an RGD, but i can tell you that pickup placement is one of the most drastic influences on the sound of a guitar, and arguably the most important one in the case of a bridge pickup.

I own no Ibanezes however nearly all of my tremolo equipped guitars have the bridge pickup positioned similarly to the RDG2127z. I've also played on guitars where the bridge humbucker was angled backwards, angled forwards, and one where the bridge pickup was a bit more towards the center of the neck. They all had slightly different tones, but nothing so different that it would make or break the guitar. More often than not it just isn't that big of a deal.

I had already seen pictures of the new RGD7421 but was a little worried wheni didn't see the tone know.

In a setup without a tone knob just assume you have an invisible tone knob that is always on "10" and adjust your amp settings accordingly if you need to. Most players seem to keep the tone knob dimed anyway so you probably won't need to do anything.

 

[Quitty]

I own no Ibanezes however nearly all of my tremolo equipped guitars have the bridge pickup positioned similarly to the RDG2127z. I've also played on guitars where the bridge humbucker was angled backwards, angled forwards, and one where the bridge pickup was a bit more towards the center of the neck. They all had slightly different tones, but nothing so different that it would make or break the guitar. More often than not it just isn't that big of a deal.

Did you ever have the same pickup in two of these, different cavity guitars?
I think you'll find it makes a huge, huge difference.