Anyone with an Ibanez 'S'/Sabre series guitar? Pickup ideas

[Brow]

Hello.

I have an Ibanez S470 with a very thin Mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, ZR double locking trem and H-S-H pickup config.

I'm looking for bridge and neck humbuckers for this guitar (it'll have a Trilogy in the middle) to do heavier Rock and some Metal.

I've spoken to TO alot about this and he suggested Nailbombs in both positions. I mentioned this to Tim on the phone and he said that 'Nailbombs would work, and give me a very organic heavy tone' but he also mentioned that the sound may be somewhat similar to my Tokai LP with Rebel Yells.

Does anyone have a similar guitar with BKPs? Or could just give me suggestions?

Thanks :)

[Twinfan]

Hoooooooooooooooly Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs........................

[Philly Q]

Hoooooooooooooooly Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs........................

You getting in there quick before the regular Hoooooooooooooooly Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr gang arrives, Dave? :lol:

[prozacbear]

My Ibanez presige S2170FW has a ceramic war pig bridge, alnico war pig neck, and a zinc platted base plate trilogy suite in the middle.








It is a monster for mid scooped metal/ rock type sounds, and is also pretty awesome and tuneful when cleaned up.
Previously I had a Nailbomb bridge and MQ neck. The nailbomb neck was certainly more versatile.
But I must admit I love my war pigs and they go so well with the Trilogy single coil

[Twinfan]

Hoooooooooooooooly Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs........................

You getting in there quick before the regular Hoooooooooooooooly Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr gang arrives, Dave? :lol:

Yep, thought I would do!

Plus it's what I'd put in the guitar  ;)

[Brow]

Cheers for the opinions so far :)

I'm still not definitely against Nailbombs, but don't really want this guitar to be too similar to the LP with RYs (or anything else I have for that matter).

Thanks.

[Philly Q]

Brow, using the LP with RYs as a reference point, do you want to go brighter or darker?  Higher or lower output?

[Brow]

Brow, using the LP with RYs as a reference point, do you want to go brighter or darker?  Higher or lower output?

That's kinda my problem, I'm not really sure  :lol:

Aside from the 2 guitars I'm selling, I pretty much have every base covered that I've needed so far. The highest output/most modern sounding pickup I have would either be the CS which was in my Charvel (saving it for another guitar) or maybe the RYs in the Tokai. Although they don't appear to be overly 'modern' sounding to me so far, but I'm yet to try them at higher volume leves or with my gigging rigs.

I'll post what I have and that may show a gap that I need to fill and may provide more scope for suggestions:

Parts Strat - Mothers Milks
2nd Parts Strat - Apaches (soon)
Gibson Flying V - Riff Raff (bridge) / MQ (neck)
Gibson LP - Mules
Gordon Smith LP Clone - Black Dog (bridge) / Riff Raff (neck)
Tokai LP - Rebel Yells
Fender Strat - Crawler/IT/IT
Fender Music Master - Slow Hands
Fender Strat with Floyd - VHIIs (soon)
Charvel Fusion Special - Cold Sweat (selling this guitar, but saving the CS for future use)
Gould Telecaster - Piledriver

Dunno if this helps or not, but atleast it shows what bases I already have covered, and leaves it open to suggestion of places to go from here :)

[Philly Q]

So most of your stuff, pickups-wise, is very much in the vintage to vintage-hot range.   It's the sort of stuff I like, too, so I'm guessing you don't want anything really high-output.  

That Ibanez is a real rock guitar, though, so maybe it is time to get something a bit more metal without being uber-metal.  It's gotta be HDs or NBs hasn't it?  They seem to be a good choice for superstrats with Floyds.  

But it's really not my territory.  I wonder what Antag would say?  :?

[Brow]

So most of your stuff, pickups-wise, is very much in the vintage to vintage-hot range.   It's the sort of stuff I like, too, so I'm guessing you don't want anything really high-output.  

That Ibanez is a real rock guitar, though, so maybe it is time to get something a bit more metal without being uber-metal.  It's gotta be HDs or NBs hasn't it?  They seem to be a good choice for superstrats with Floyds.  

But it's really not my territory.  I wonder what Antag would say?  :?

Yup, I agree with you 100% I'm not saying I do want anything high output, and I'm not saying I don't. I simply don't know!  :roll:

It mainly comes down to the fact that I've not tried many of the higher output pickups before. I tried the MM bridge in TOs Lynch guitar about 3 years ago, and had a quick play on Daveys Charvel with the WP (if I remember correctly) in the bridge, but other than that, I've not used any of the 'Metal' pickups.

I do agree that the Ibanez should be the Harder Rock/Metal guitar of my collection though.

[Twinfan]

HDs or NBs are the ones to go for I think.  They'd be great in the 'nez for a more metal tone.

I'll say it again.....

Hoooooooooooooooly Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs........................

[prozacbear]

If something bad happened to my Ibanez  :o , and I had to replace I would keep the same C War Pig/ Trilogy suite set up, they are so much eyeball melting fun to play. If you’re someone who already has a selection of other guitars for versatility then you may as well have one that's a war machine. Not so much a pickup as a statement of intent  8)

But that's just me

[Brow]

SO.... it looks like the general consensus is on either Nailbombs or Holy Divers, I had a thought it might be to be honest  :lol:

I know it's probably not what I need, but how would a Miracle Man work out in this guitar?

[Antag]

I wonder what Antag would say?  :?

Antag answers "Holy Diver" to most questions :-)

Joking aside, here's how I see the choices:

Nailbomb - it's not that high output.  OK, my BKP collection is almost the total opposite of Brow's, but I consider it my lowest output bridge model & very versatile.  It has pronounced upper-mids & is quite bright.  From playing one of Feline's guitars, I got the impression that the RY isn't all that far removed from the NB so Tim's comment is interesting.  I'd say it's the safe choice for you... :)

Holy Diver - has slightly more output than the NB, but much fuller in the mids, especially low-mids.  The sound has a lot more "body" & "chunk" than the NB.  It's more of a "grunt" than the NB's scything "cut".  It also has the most beautiful warm clean sound.

Miracle Man would work very well in that guitar.  Tight, powerful, bucket loads of clarity & definition with floor-shaking low end.  You could have a blast pulling screaming pinch harmonics & huge divebombs/squeals in that guitar... :twisted:

Prozacbear's suggestion has a lot of merit, why not make this guitar a total war machine?  However, given your other guitars, Miracle Man would more than enough.   I can't comment on the C-Pig, but I do have an A5 WP & it's ludicrously powerful.

[PoshCollins]

You mentioned about future Cold Sweat use? Why not sell your Charvel (How silly do I sound :lol:) and put the combination you had in the Charvel into the Nez of yours? Or at least I'd consider a Cold Sweat somewhere.