Replacement pickups for Ibanez RGMS7 Multiscale?

[hand amputation]

Just picked up an Ibanez RGMS7 Multiscale. It's a really great guitar (nice neck, solid hardware, great fit & finish) but the pickups are a bit... lacking. I'm wanting to replace the pickups, and I am wondering if there's any options out there that won't break the bank. I did a search on Google as well as SSO and came up short, so I wanted to ask here.

Thanks in advance for any guidance or suggestions!

 

[Hendog]

I went through a phase where I swapped out pickups constantly. I ended up putting the stock pickups back in 90% of the time. I realized that pickup height can be very important so now days I just adjust the height and stick with the stock pups.

That being said, I have been really wanting to try the Fishman Fluence pickups in a 7 string.

 

[hand amputation]

I went through a phase where I swapped out pickups constantly. I ended up putting the stock pickups back in 90% of the time. I realized that pickup height can be very important so now days I just adjust the height and stick with the stock pups.

That being said, I have been really wanting to try the Fishman Fluence pickups in a 7 string.

I did the same with a 6 string guitar not long ago. Ordered pickups, swapped them out, then reswapped them for the originals. Sounded better that way.

I guess my main concern is that the pickups in the RGMS7 are tilted, so I'm gonna need special pickups.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

your options are more limited, as you either need to rip the current pickups off their baseplates and swap something else on em, or get a custom slanted set from a boutique company. Elysian/Instrumental both do custom slants if need be. BKP/Guitarmory only go up to 15 degree slants iirc. There's other small companies that could prob do it as well but I can't personally recommend any of them.

 

[odibrom]

^^ All this

Going boutique could be interesting 'cause you may "design" the sound you're after...

I experimented this boutique pickup thing with a local builder about a year and a half ago for a pair of 7 string pickups. One year later I got 3 pairs from him and these cost me less than the equivalent DiMarzios or Duncans, so you may have some nice surprises, obviously get some quotes first... The only bad thing in my case was that he couldn't do all i asked due to lack of means, but the essence have been accomplished extraordinarily well. Just to point out, he couldn't do covers on 7 strings nor go crazy with colors, then white they ended and they look gorgeous and sound perrrrfect to my ears, which is what is needed.

As for specs, well, that's up to you...

 

[movingpictures]

Try Adam at Elysian. We spoke about the same guitar.

 

[penguin_316]

All I can offer up is I did a baseplate swap for a BKP aftermath I had lying around and it was much wider than a standard 7 pickup. Possibly a Floyd spaced BKP could work. Over all, the pole pieces don’t line up exactly. However, still sounds miles better than it did...so maybe try some Floyd spaced 7 string pickups and swap the base plates.

It’s very simple, don’t let it intimidate you. Unscrew this baseplate from each pickup and swap them.

 

[penguin_316]

same guitar^^^

 

[hand amputation]

All I can offer up is I did a baseplate swap for a BKP aftermath I had lying around and it was much wider than a standard 7 pickup. Possibly a Floyd spaced BKP could work. Over all, the pole pieces don’t line up exactly. However, still sounds miles better than it did...so maybe try some Floyd spaced 7 string pickups and swap the base plates.

It’s very simple, don’t let it intimidate you. Unscrew this baseplate from each pickup and swap them.

Interesting. Never given much thought to modifying a pickup to work. I’m very interested in a couple of the BKP offerings from their site. I’m going to shoot them an email and see what’s up.

Related - Does anyone know the angle of the pickups in the RGMS7? I swore I saw the info floating around on this site, but now I am unable to track it down.

Thanks for the helpful reply, Penguin!

 

[hand amputation]

Try Adam at Elysian. We spoke about the same guitar.

Thanks! I’ll give them a shout and see if they can help me out.

 

[penguin_316]

It’s not just the angle that’s the problem, it has wide ass string spacing at the bridge. Make sure to discuss that with a builder if you’re having a pickup made.

 

[odibrom]

Since it is a 7 stringer, you can measure the angle with the D string, since it is at the neck's axis...

 

[KnightBrolaire]

they're a direct drop in according to adam

 

[hand amputation]

they're a direct drop in according to adam

DAMN. Now that's IT. How much they run you? And do you like them? Which ones, etc??

 

[KnightBrolaire]

DAMN. Now that's IT. How much they run you? And do you like them? Which ones, etc??

i don't own them, adam just wanted me to post em here, you'd have to ask him for details.

 

[hand amputation]

i don't own them, adam just wanted me to post em here, you'd have to ask him for details.

Sorry for being naive, but Adam?

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Sorry for being naive, but Adam?

the owner of elysian pickups.

 

[hand amputation]

the owner of elysian pickups.

Thank you for clarifying. I will definitely shoot him a message. Appreciate it!

 

[Marv Attaxx]

Option 1: go custom
Option 2: re-wind the stock pickups according to specs of another pickup. Severel pickup manufacturers offer this, can get quite expensve tho
Option 3: Seymour Duncan offers a Blackout pre-amp which turns your stock pickups into (about 70-80%) active Blackouts. Might be the easiest and least expensive option to kick it up a notch

 

[movingpictures]

they're a direct drop in according to adam

Are these the OEM pups? Look like it with the flat pole pieces. Adam did say he would rewind the original pups to whatever you preferred for $100 each.