kleinenenten
SS.org Regular
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2019
- Messages
- 146
- Reaction score
- 65
So, for the past few months I've had my eye on an old Ibanez RG7321 at my local Music Go Round. It was in great shape, and had the Gibraltar bridge I preferred. It was more than I wanted to spend, so I just kept waiting as I didn't NEED it. The price kept slowly lowering as well, so that was nice! Anyway, after selling some gear locally, I decided that yesterday was the day, so I jumped at it. It sounded a little different at the store, but I attributed that to the amp, as they didn't have anything close to my rig. I got it home, and this thing screams! As I inspected it closer, I thought it may have been upgraded, as I thought the pickups are different than the other (older) 7321s I've seen. But the pictures of the stock pickups look identical to what I have. Are the Axis pickups really this good? I was going to upgrade the stock ones, assuming they were terrible, but I'm loving this tone. Some of the strings are a bit duller than I'd prefer when playing clean, but it's only the colored ones, so I'm assuming that's the reason. The Low B sounds great. And everything sounds excellent when run through my dirt pedals. I've attached a picture of the neck pickup for comparison, but the bridge is identical. Tonally, these pickups seem to be between my RG7321 with a Black Winter set and my ARZ307 with a Nazgul/Sentient set, which is exactly what I was going to do pickup-wise to upgrade this guitar. It's got a full enough bass response (more than the N/S, less than the BW) without getting muddy or sounding thin, and also has enough high end treble to cut without being harsh.
I DO know it's been wired differently, seemingly as independent volume knobs, as minimizing either knob completely mutes the guitar. I'm no electronics wizard, but that doesn't seem like Master Volume/Master Tone to me, but it also seems odd that minimizing one would mute the guitar entirely. Is that supposed to be how it works? So that's been changed, as well as a pretty solid setup since there are springs keeping the pickups nice and close to the strings. I tried to compare to my other RG7321 which is a similar year, but I bought that used with a Black Winter set in it, so I have no real comparison. The other RG7321s I've played all had stock pickups, but it's been nearly a decade since I've played them, so it's not exactly fresh in my mind. My other RG7321 definitely has the Master Volume/Master Tone setup.
Would it be worth it to add any other features to this guitar, or to revert it back to stock wiring? I'm not sure why I'd need dual volume (if it's currently functioning as intended, at least!), and if I change the wiring, I may as well think about adding a coil tap or something. Or do Axis pickups not do that? Really, I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to upgrading guitars as I'm definitely more a bassist. But I'm loving this thing and had plans for it. Since I love it so much as is, those plans may be put on hold except to maybe re-wire it to stock, if that's worth it. I've got a buddy that can solder and do it quickly, though I'd need to know which pots to buy etc.
Thanks for any info, everyone!
I DO know it's been wired differently, seemingly as independent volume knobs, as minimizing either knob completely mutes the guitar. I'm no electronics wizard, but that doesn't seem like Master Volume/Master Tone to me, but it also seems odd that minimizing one would mute the guitar entirely. Is that supposed to be how it works? So that's been changed, as well as a pretty solid setup since there are springs keeping the pickups nice and close to the strings. I tried to compare to my other RG7321 which is a similar year, but I bought that used with a Black Winter set in it, so I have no real comparison. The other RG7321s I've played all had stock pickups, but it's been nearly a decade since I've played them, so it's not exactly fresh in my mind. My other RG7321 definitely has the Master Volume/Master Tone setup.
Would it be worth it to add any other features to this guitar, or to revert it back to stock wiring? I'm not sure why I'd need dual volume (if it's currently functioning as intended, at least!), and if I change the wiring, I may as well think about adding a coil tap or something. Or do Axis pickups not do that? Really, I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to upgrading guitars as I'm definitely more a bassist. But I'm loving this thing and had plans for it. Since I love it so much as is, those plans may be put on hold except to maybe re-wire it to stock, if that's worth it. I've got a buddy that can solder and do it quickly, though I'd need to know which pots to buy etc.
Thanks for any info, everyone!
