RG520 pickups? - need opinions

[madmos]

I originally swapped the stock pickups with a tone zone in the bridge and a paf pro in the neck. I wasn't happy with the tone zone, this guitar being mahogany without a real maple cap to brighten the tone a bit sounded way to dark with the tone zone. The tone zone is eq'd strong on the bass side. I am very happy with the pro in the neck, and I know some older JEMS had pro's in the bridge and neck. I was wondering if the pro would be good for the bridge of this guitar, if not what pickup would. I am already stuck with the one pickup that won't be used, I don't want to waste time or money on another one. What do all think.

[kirk]

I have a PAF Pro in two of the guitars I own, one in a USCEW (Mahogany body/lacewood top) and I also put one in my S1520 (Mahogany body/Flame Bubinga top) and it sounds great in both.

I also have another Mahogany bodied guitar with a Tone Zone in the bridge and it sounds fantastic.

I had a RG520, and it had a Tone Zone and a Humbucker from Hell, which was a very nice combination, but it sounded completely different than my current Mahogany bodied guitar with the Tone Zone in the bridge. *In retrospect, I think that "muddy" is kind of a close description, but it was nice that it held that unique property.

Good luck!

[jemsite]

The PAF Pro is my favorite pickup so I would advise you to at least TRY it in the bridge. It's a perfect match for the PAF Pro in the neck also

The FRED is a little hotter than the PAF Pro and makes for a nice match in the bridge.

Thankfully DiMarzio has a 30-day swap policy so you can keep exchanging new pickups until you find one you're happy with. Go with advice you get here and experiment. Good luck... glen

[jeff l]

Madmos,
* * * * * * *Check your messages.

[madmos]

Thanks for the responses guys, I bought another paf pro this morning. I will put it in tonight. It isn't that I thought the tone zone was bad, just not right for this guitar. I have a heritage stat (strat/soloist body) that is mahogany with a super thick maple cap and an ebony fret board that i think will be a perfect fit for the tone zone. Or maybe the ash strat with maple fretboard, both are bright guitars that the tonezone would probably work great in with its strong low mids and bass. I have been having a hard time trying to get the rg520 back into the playing rotation with my other guitars because it was just too dark/muddy. I think the solid mahogany really needs the maple cap to brighten it up a bit. I will post a review on how the paf pro does in the bridge. I am thinking that when I was trying to make up my mind between the 520 and the 570 I should have went with the 570. The funniest part of all this is the only reason I went with the 520 was because I thought the mahogany would do better than the basswood, plus it looks real cool too. Well you live and you learn :-)

[madmos]

OK I put the PAF Pro in and have been giving it the sonic eval. It is great, it sounds exactly the way I thought it would in the bridge position. The Mud is gone, it is bright yet balanced, it has a great feel to it on the pick attack. I kind of knew what to expect based on the one I had in the neck. This thing just made me put my Les Paul DC Standard away. The playability already had the paul beat, now the tone just made the Paul obsolete, at least for now anyway. I seem to go through tone fazes, it seems my tastes change almost on a monthly basis :-) Thank you everyone for the extra push to try the pro.

Now I have another Ibanez related question. Does anyone use 10's on their ibanez's? I was just wondering with the thin wizard neck and floating floyd if 10's would be a good switch from 9's. It made a big difference on my strat but that was such a bright guitar it needed more meat on the strings. I like the feel of 10's and have always felt that they fatten up the tone a bit. So before I go through the hassle of floyd and truss adjustments for the 10's what do you guys think? Does the solid mahogany do better with the thinner strings because of its already dark tone, or would the 10's just fatten the tone with out too much of a bad effect on the thin neck? Thanks for the help, I knew this was the place to go for my Ibanez questions ;^)

[ryan]

I prefer 10's on my guitars, for the most part.

Stryder tunes to D, so for some stuff where we drop the low string, I use a guitar strung with 11's. *Depending on how I feel when I'm restringing it, that guitar may or may not have blocks in the trem cavity.