scooteraz
05-30-2009, 05:09 PM
I have had for years an Ibanez 12-string strat style guitar. It only comes out about 4 or 5 times a year, usually for a song at church that I just think would sound great with some 12-string. However, I have never been totally happy with the sound. So, rather than sell, I decided to try the mod route.
I just replaced the old, nondescript pickups in an old Ibanez 12 string solid body with Lace Alumitone pickups. H-S-H was the original setup, and I duplicated that. Left the 500K pots in place as well; but I replaced the original 5 way superswitch with a standard 5 way (switch needed replacing anyway).
Played for first time yesterday. First impressions. Boy are those things loud and clean! I mean really loud and clean. The previous muddiness is gone, and I get the full spectrum from all the strings pretty evenly. Without the muddiness, there is not much of anywhere to hide mistakes.
They really drive the front end of my amplifiers hard. I may have to start using the lower gain inputs. I also may try putting in a 250 K volume pot, and using a .047 tone cap to tame some of the extra high end that I have now at full throttle.
I find the single coil sized package gives me a slightly more "bell- like" tone than the humbucker sized package. It would seem to me that if you like a lot of effects, these will drive them. Because of the design, like bladed pickups, there are no dropouts or hot spots.
Overall, like them a bunch better than before, but I want a bit of further experimentation before I make a final decision.
Also posted at TDPRI.
I just replaced the old, nondescript pickups in an old Ibanez 12 string solid body with Lace Alumitone pickups. H-S-H was the original setup, and I duplicated that. Left the 500K pots in place as well; but I replaced the original 5 way superswitch with a standard 5 way (switch needed replacing anyway).
Played for first time yesterday. First impressions. Boy are those things loud and clean! I mean really loud and clean. The previous muddiness is gone, and I get the full spectrum from all the strings pretty evenly. Without the muddiness, there is not much of anywhere to hide mistakes.
They really drive the front end of my amplifiers hard. I may have to start using the lower gain inputs. I also may try putting in a 250 K volume pot, and using a .047 tone cap to tame some of the extra high end that I have now at full throttle.
I find the single coil sized package gives me a slightly more "bell- like" tone than the humbucker sized package. It would seem to me that if you like a lot of effects, these will drive them. Because of the design, like bladed pickups, there are no dropouts or hot spots.
Overall, like them a bunch better than before, but I want a bit of further experimentation before I make a final decision.
Also posted at TDPRI.