got a new axe, what do you suggest now?

P

postalblue

New member
ok, so all of you guys have been real nice and helpful, and following your advice i got myself a gorgeous transparent red ibanez artcore afs75t for pretty cheap. it's a semi with a bigsby and two humbucker pickups.
now my gear is:
crate vintage club 25w tube amp
ampeg reverbrocket 50w tube amp
rickenbacker fireglo 360 (stock pickups, of course)
g & l tele asat tribute (korean made, i think, with stock pu's too)
ibanez artcore afs75t (stock pickups)

ok, as i mentioned in my other thread a couple of weeks ago, i want to cover a lot of ground with this setup. i play mostly jangle stuff, so i don't need distortion.

so what i'd like to know is what should i upgrade in my import ibanez? new pickups, of course, but which ones? i'm split between hb's and p-90's. maybe i should go hb because it will be farther in the color spectrum from the other single coil guitars i have. but p-90's are a very different beast to rick and tele single coils, right?

as far as the rest of the guitar's hardware, i'm thinking of replacing everything; pots, switch, jack, but should i replace the tuners too? also what brand of pots, switch and jack do you recommend? for switches, i've heard good things about switchcraft, but for the rest, i want to make sure i'm upgrading to something that WILL really make a difference.

well, that should keep y'all busy for a while.;)
 
Personally, I'd go with the P-90's if the stock pickups weren't cutting it for me. Otherwise, I'd leave the guitar as it is and not replace anything still something becomes a problem.

However, like most of us you probably want to do some modding so I'll do my part by recommending the P-90's to ya. =P


I'll let the others hop in and make other suggestions for the pots, keys, etc. =)



ps- Post some pics of your new guitar!
 
Man, I gotta tell ya. I like the Artcore setup and the stock pickups. I'm wanting the AF85VLS:

AF85VLS.jpg


But, I promised my wife no more guitars, for awhile at least. I've played it through about every amp I can find in a boutique store here in Houston. Never had a bad sound. Beautiful guitar. I believe each of the Artcores are equipped with the same setup.

The only thing I would do, and i'm not sure I would actually do it, is move the switch from below the bridge to the typical LP position above and forward of the neck pickup. However, then i'd have to find something to patch the hole. As for the tuners, the shop says it keeps a tight tuning, and they haven't had any issues with the guitar line at all. Damned good product.
 
the af85 looks sweet.

i don't think i'll change the tuners, but i'm seriously considering upgrading the electronics. this is the first time i hear a compliment on the stock pickups. everywhere i go i keep hearing about how bad they are, so i just assumed they had to be changed. of course this is somewhat stupid, but i take you guys' recommendations very seriously as i have had great results in the past from heeding you all.

so i still haven't got it. it's in the mail. but i have pictures of it from the store.
 

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Could be bad pickups. Could be the one i'm playing in the store is just freaky good. If that's the case, I should probably run down and buy it...
 
For jangly humbuckers, look into the old DeArmond Goldtones (I think) I used to like them. Or something they use in nice Gretch's.

H2H
 
I like the old saying, "if it aint broke, don't fix it." I apply this to changing anything on a guitar. If you can get the sound you like, why change anything? I've been playing an Artcore for a couple of years and so far haven't had any problems of any kind, it has been one of the most dependable guitars I have ever owned, (well there's my review) as well as being a very comfortable guitar to play. If you feel like you have to change something, yeah go for the P90s (if you want a little more brightness in your sound) otherwise the rest of the parts should serve you well and give you years of playing pleasure.
 
i think i'll go the p-90 route. i sometimes can't get enough treble with my rick let alone a humbucker equiped guitar.
i wonder what it would do to the sound if i changed the ibanez' pots from 500k to 1meg?
 
My friend has one...

postalblue said:
so what i'd like to know is what should i upgrade in my import ibanez? new pickups, of course, but which ones?
Click to expand...

It is sitting gutted like a fish in a corner of his house.

Why? Because every PU we installed would give nasty feedback. Why is that? Because the Ibanez Artcores have no center blocking. We tried all manner of humbuckers, including Gibson burstbuckers and they all sounded like ass..

Good luck w/ yours, perhaps you will have better luck....
 
The oldest adage in the book- "a shit amp will make a good guitar sound bad but a good amp makes a bad guitar sound OK and a good guitar sound fantastic."

So before you go ripping things out and then regretting it, try it thru a really good amp (read Fender Twin, not that I'm biased or anything), what you can achieve with a graphic equaliser is really impressive, you should be able to find your desired tone and not compromise the value of the guitar.

Just a thought.
 
Having given a scathing review...

Although I stated above we never found PU's that sounded good, I should have said we never found any that were better than the stock ones. It's just that they are dull and kinda lifeless, but they probably are the best choice for the Artcore...
 
Retard??

lanterns said:
why would you put humbuckers on a hollowbody, retard? as for all those guitars, sell em and feed the homeless.
Click to expand...

How about Gibson ES335's & 137's??

Tell Ted Nugent he is retarded as well...

Loser...
 
i was totally wrong on the hb's on a hollowbody. my bad!

not to detract from the man's early to mid 70's output, the man is a tard, and that's a fact!

c'mon! DAMN YANKEES?
 
so i ended up getting the artcore, and since i didn't really like the stock pu's, i ordered a couple of gfs retrotons.

here are some pics of my babies:
 
I warned you..

postalblue said:
i'm seriously considering upgrading the electronics. this is the first time i hear a compliment on the stock pickups.
Click to expand...

My friend bought one of these and it sits gutted like a fish in the corner. Why? Because we tried all manner of pickups, including a new set of Gibson burstbuckers and they all sounded like crap. Terrible feedback etc. There is no center blocking on the guitar and I think that is the problem..

That said, we never found any that sounded better than the stock Ibanez PU's.. If I were you I would leave the PU's alone and upgrade your amp or something.
 
wtf happened to my pics?
let me try again:

it's not working. file is under 64k, jpg format, but i get an upload error??!
 
Filename

postalblue said:
wtf happened to my pics?
let me try again:

it's not working. file is under 64k, jpg format, but i get an upload error??!
Click to expand...

If it is the same name as what you already uploaded it will block you..
 
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