Ibanez JEM Forum banner
3K views 16 replies 11 participants last post by  pseudomarine 
#1 ·
Hi all -

I bought a JEM 7DBK last month - i'm *very happy* with it.

The guy I bought it from said that he had put Evolutions in it to replace the original Breed pickups. I have no reason to distrust him, but my question is:

are there any visible differences between the Evolution pickups and the Breed pickups? Should I just unscrew the pickups and check the model numbers? According to Jemsite, the HB model numbers are DP158 and DP159... it's a little awkward to remove the pickups with the strings still in place.

Only the middle, single coil has the Dimarzio logo on it.

The only other problem I'm having is with a slightly 'clunky' and squeeky tremelo bar - I might try to tighten up the tremelo holder block.

Thanks for any help you might be able to give me

Cheers
 
#7 ·
In my experience, it seems that the majority of OEM DiMarzios, such as those supplied as "stock" pickups for Ibanez, etc. do not have the DiMarzio stamp on them. I've had some guitars, such as my RGT3120s, where the PAF PROs did say DiMarzio, however none of my JS models' or JEMs pickups are stamped.
 
#8 ·
Most stock breeds in the dbk have chrome pole pieces,after market evolutions usually have black pole pieces.I have a 2001 vwh,the stock evo pickups don't have the usual dimarzio model no# on back,instead they have v-2,v-3 stamped on back.They sound like evo's,perhaps ibz has decided to have dimarzio code things differently for assembly reasons? or just to confuse us.
 
#11 ·
Breeds and Evo's have entirely different pole pieces. I tried switching them out. The Breeds have allen head screws that go into a counterbore in the bobbin of the pup. EVO's have allen head SET screws.

Tighten the Trem Arm Holder Nut and possibly new nylon washers for that clunky trem arm ;-)
 
#13 ·
As Eddie said: the Breed has the same poles as the PAF Pro, Fred, Steve's Special... (and some others... =])
Those are the hex bolt ones, easily identifiable by the larger diameter of pole showing.

The others are straight set-screws; they have no 'heads' on them, and hence present a visibly smaller diameter pole.
 
#15 ·
No problem, Eddie.
I educated myself about this difference in '88, when I got my 77FP - I like a very hot bridge pickup, as I'd been using DiMarzio Dual Sounds (which are Super Distortions, but with 4-conductor wiring for coil splitting, etc - these days, the ONLY difference between the SuperD and Dual Sound is the mini toggle switch they've always included with the Dual; they added 4-conductor wiring to the SuperD years ago =]).
Anyway, I wanted to replace the bridge pickup with a pink Dual Sound - I did. As is almost always the case, after-market DiMarzios come with silver poles. I figured, OK, I'll just swap the poles.
In case you hadn't guessed (=]) the Dual Sound uses the smaller set-screw poles. PAF Pros, of course, use the hex bolt ones...
=]
(That same pink Dual Sound now lives in that LNG that I bought and made the replacement handrest for - I have since been able to put black poles in there, too... =])
 
#16 ·
All -

thanks for all of your replies and general information-sharing!

I was home pretty late last night, and was only able to take a quick look at the Jem (I like to think of it as fondly putting it to bed).

If I look at the gallery photos for the 7DBK, all of the pickups have steel-coloured pole pieces. The bridge and neck HBs on my Jem have fairly small-diameter, all-black pole pieces. I suppose that that's a good indication that the pick-ups are Evolutions.

Hopefully I'll get the chance this weekend to remove the pickups and check for a model number...

...and also fix that clunky, scrapey trem!

thanks again - it's nice to be part of this 'community', even if my guitar playing doesn't justify owning a Jem!

cheers!
 
#17 ·
Just thought I'd follow-up my own post...

well, i was able to verify that my pickups are indeed Evolutions - the model numbers were shown as DP 158 & DP 159 for the 2 humbuckers.

I also tightened the trem arm holder a little bit, and put a little 3-in-1 on the tip of the bar. This seems to have got rid of the 'clunkiness'. There is still a tiny bit of play in the trem arm (when the bar is depressed or pulled back, not when the bar is spun). I need to re-tighten using the correct spanner - a wrench is not a great idea as it can deface the arm holder bolt. Also, I might try the nail varnish trick to tighten the bar.

I was completely *stunned* that I could remove the trem with the strings on, and then replace it to find that the strings were still in tune. Shocking.

thanks to everyone for their advice.

Cheers
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top