Nailbomb for christmas!

[nick_24589]

hey guys, just want a quick sum up from anyone if anyone fancies giving me a hand! iv been playing guitar about 8 years now  and have never been too fussed on upgrading equipment, but with christmas coming up i thought id ask for one treat, a new pick up! i currently play a yamaha rgx420, not the best but never lets me down! im thinking of getting a nailbomb in the bridge position. the style of music i like to play./compose is paul gilbertish, satch, van halen then to muse and rage so quite varried. would this pick up do the job for me as iv read plently on its good for satch and alternative picking, and matt bellamy uses it also.

most importantly if i were to go for it, what options do i choose? im guessing open poled or covered is totally my choice, but what about conductor 4 or braided 2, leg - long or short and im not 100% on the spacing part either. i did read the click here for help part, but i couldnt get too much out of it. unfortunately i need to learn more about how the guitar functions and its parts. any help would be much appreciated because iv been putting this off for quite some time now! i guess im scared il loose a sound i already like?

Thanks very much
bruce

[Antag]

Short leg will fit almost any guitar, even if the pickup sits VERY proud of the pickguard/mounting ring.

4-conductor gives you the option of wiring the pickup for coil splitting or parallel (note that it's an option, you don't have to use it & can wire the pickup for series operation only).  Get that & you're covered for either.  Does your guitar have a 5-way lever pickup selector, a push/pull pot or an additional mini-switch?  If so, then there's more than likely a 4-con pickup already in there (or you could just take the backplate off & look at the wiring).

Yes, open poled or covered is almost entirely an aesthetic choice & both will fit a standard humbucker rout.

If your guitar has a Floyd-style trem (just looked up the RGX420 & the ones I found did), then 53mm spacing is more likely the best.  The bridge pickup spacing is not the great big deal it's made out to be - as long as some of the string lines up with some of the pole piece (which it almost certainly will), you're fine.  To be certain, get a ruler & measure the distance between your top & bottom strings over the existing bridge pickup.  Make an educated guess which one out of 49mm or 53mm will line up.

Hope this helps.

[nick_24589]

thanks for going out of your way to help, its actually made me smile after a stressful day at work! i measured the distance of the strings and its pretty much bang on 53mm. i have a five way pickup selector switch, and also a sepearate little switch which i dont know what it exactly does but gives it more umph on distortion haha. and you sound sure with the 4 conductor selector option. so im gonna go for it! thank you so much :)

[nick_24589]

http://www.yamaha-europe.com/picture_archiv/products/10_Musical_instruments/guitars_basses_amps/electric_guitars/rgx420sd6mgr_high_jpg.jpg

if it helps anymore then this is a picture of my exact guitar, just to make sure the pick up will fit etc. did'nt know if the mounted bit around the pick up would affect it fitting? and i was going to replace the bridge pick up? think these are the correct options to go for?

Thanks once again. i will post a pic up of my guitar after its installed!

[Antag]

Yep, no changes to what I said earlier.

The mounting rings are pretty much a standard part that every manufacturer uses so covered or uncovered will fit.

Definitely go for 4-con, like I said earlier even if the pickup isn't wired in for any splitting/parallel etc you can still use it in plain old series mode (i.e. you don't lose anything from not getting 2-con).

As you've already measured, 53mm will line up best & short leg is the safest bet.