Belated NGD: 1983 Ibanez RS405

Funkfingers

From the warehouse of HarrySeven. Now, modified.
https://i.imgur.com/D2BFx7d.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/q4wK8GJ.jpg?1

Lace Sensor Light Blue, Silver and Burgundy pickups in an unholy alliance with the stock Ibanez wiring harness.

I like four of the sounds on the selector switch. Probably going to rejig the wiring to get neck + bridge in parallel. Tempted to add a *lead* switch to bypass the selector switch and link two pickups in series.

Original Duncan Quarter Pound lookalike pickups. 
https://i.imgur.com/zIxYwZy.jpg?1
7.5k Ohms, dual underslung ceramic bar magnets, oversized coils and covers, curious three screw mounting arrangement.

HarrySeven

mar10

Sweet guitar, does he charge extra for the control knobs?  

Funkfingers

mar10 said:

Sweet guitar

It's getting there. The aim is a giggable beater that does a bit of everything.

mar10 said:

does he charge extra for the control knobs?  

Those are off because I am probably going to change to American pots in the near future.

As usual in my H7 transactions, the missing part is the vibrato arm - not that I had any intention of using it. The Hard Rocker is clamped firmly down onto the top of the guitar.

lasermonkey

Nice! I've always liked those and the Blazers.

shrinkwrap

A bit like my Blazer but obvs better pickups!
I did neck and bridge option but it doesn't do anything I like - keep meaning to get the soldering iron out to change it back - I also have the phase reverse switch which doesn't do anything I like either.

Funkfingers

lasermonkey said:

Nice! I've always liked those and the Blazers.

The 1983/4 RS reminds me of a modified Roland G505 that I should never have let go.

shrinkwrap said:

A bit like my Blazer but obvs better pickups!

My opinion of Lace Sensors fluctuates wildly. They are better than either the Super 6 single coils of the Roadster or those covered/sealed units seen on lower priced variants of the Blazer.

The only obvious downside of my modification is that the over-sized pickup cut-outs in the Ibanez pickguard leave a gap around any conventional replacement pickup for Stratocaster. The elevator screw holes needed some work too.

shrinkwrap said:

I did neck and bridge option but it doesn't do anything I like

The signals from two sh*t pickups combined often add up to another sh*t sound.

shrinkwrap said:

I also have the phase reverse switch which doesn't do anything I like either.

How could it, unless the stock pickups were interconnected in series à la Brian May Red Special?

For what it is worth, there was a British guy on the Seymour Duncan User Group forum who had fitted a Blazer with SD Custom Shop StraBro90 pickups. The coil tap on each of these offered a choice of P90 or Strat sounds. The affordable UK equivalent solution would be the Alegree Sub-Zero or the Creamery Strat-90. As far as I can tell, neither Mojo nor Oil City offers a production line pickup of this type. (An OCP Kayman on Stratocaster-sized fibreboard bobbin plates might do the job.)

Funkfingers

UPDATE: After much pickup height screw adjustment, I have concluded that this particular Lace Sensor set sounds fine through overdriven amplification but unconvincing clean. 

The frets need minor attention.

I am still mulling over the *lead* mode switch idea.

Funkfingers

ZOMBIE THREAD RESUSCITATION

After months of faffing about with trios of Seymour Duncan and Oil City single coil pickups, the RS405 has come good with DiMarzio pickups.

N - DP181 Fast Track, courtesy of @rockmonster ;
C - DP186 Cruiser N, courtesy of @Descalona ;
B - DP184 Chopper, courtesy of @Mattayus ;

Thank you, gentlemen.

This pickup combination is heavily plugged in the DiMarzio website Tech Talk sub-pages. Turns out that they were right. It helps to use a DiMarzio Pro Parts 250k pot for volume. IMO, it detracts to use a Fender No-Load™ pot as a tone control.

The Cruiser N sounds brittle without the loading influence of the tone pot. I found it similarly brittle through a 500k volume in a different guitar. 

The only pickup selection with which I am remotely dissatisfied is the centre pickup by itself. (It is fine in positions 2 and 4.) Might be worth rewiring to have N + B instead.

CoffeeAndTV

@Funkfingers has the image been removed? I wanted a look but the link doesn’t seem to work anymore. 

Funkfingers

Correct. The images from my opening post have long since been deleted - both from Imgur and my own computer. 

FWIIW, they illustrated the guitar with a trio of Lace Sensors that I no longer possess. 

You can see what the stock Ibanez Super 6 pickups look like by searching on Google.

I shall upload images of the guitar as it looks now when I finish tinkering with minor details.

CoffeeAndTV

Funkfingers said:

Correct. The images from my opening post have long since been deleted - both from Imgur and my own computer. 

FWIIW, they illustrated the guitar with a trio of Lace Sensors that I no longer possess. 

You can see what the stock Ibanez Super 6 pickups look like by searching on Google.

I shall upload images of the guitar as it looks now when I finish tinkering with minor details.

Brill thanks.  Love the older Ibanez guitars