ibanez too thin

[koko276]

I have an Ibanez road star from the early eighties that has been sitting in my closet for about twenty years. I recently got it out and started noodling on it, and remembered how nice it played, but when I plugged it in I also remember how thin it sounded. Any Ideas what I can replace it with? It has two singles that sound OK, can I put any hum in it without messing up the others?

[Ripper]

Koko...
Welcome my friend!

I, more or less had the same scenario years back. I had a Strat plus that sounded a little weak.
It came with lace sensors * YUCK*...I grew tired of them quickly.

I replaced them with Duncans Texas Antiquities....for middle & neck. The bridge I used a Hot Rail. Great!...loved the sound...but...
The hotrail had much higher output then the Tex-Ans. So when id be playing and select another pickup on the fly, there would be a huge volume dip or swell depending on which pup I was switching to.

I guess my point is ( I do have one )

Theres alot of great pickups out there. Dimarzios web site even has a selector chart. Describe your guitar, the sound youre looking for, and it will suggest the right pup for you.

Just try and balance the sound...I like all of my Pickups to be on the same page within reason.
I know as a rule bridge pups are the wildman of the group, but IMHO it should still be in the same league as the others...maybe just a tad crazier!

[JohnH]

koko276 said:

I have an Ibanez road star from the early eighties that has been sitting in my closet for about twenty years. I recently got it out and started noodling on it, and remembered how nice it played, but when I plugged it in I also remember how thin it sounded. Any Ideas what I can replace it with? It has two singles that sound OK, can I put any hum in it without messing up the others?

koko - that is the exact guitar that I have recently done this to:

guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=1169252165

see pix at end of that post

I think it is a very nicely made ax, and although they were 'starter' guitars, well above the norm in general quality. My one was donated to me by a friend who decided to take it to bits - which was a one-way journey, and so it came as a collection of 'body parts'.

I like the basic sound of the pickups, but it had an unusual phase switch on the mid that made positions 2 and 4 very thin. My version retains standard Strat settings, but also adds a range of much more powerful and deeper sounding series options.

John

[mlrpa]

Just a suggestion here, but there is a store on eBay, dezbez, with some inexpensive single coil sized hums that really sound great! Add a few coil taps, and a 7 way option, and have a blast!