Indoor, re-string

Had been an uneventful Sunday. Was mostly indoors save for a quick trip to the provision store for a pack of milk. Had a strong urge to play my SZR today. Gave it a re-string before playing; D'Addario 9.5s. This SZR520 is one of the few Ibanez I own that is totally unmodified. There was a strong urge to replace those default NDR pickups but after dialling up the right amount of distortion / EQ & some adventures with pickup height, I have to say those became likeable.

If the PRS Silver Sky (R) had a more refined finish in terms of the headstock outline, it might end up looking like the SZR (L) after all. Uncanny resemblance as it is.

Pics: Worth Point / Slap Store

Re-string: Ibanez SZR520

So I had some playing time last weekend despite being busy. No point dwelling into something that doesn't have a definite end, engage in your indulgences instead, it helps to keep you sane. I simply love this one, more than the standard SZ models. The SZR, folks, were the final iteration of the SZ series before Ibanez killed everything off. A little sad considering the SZ model was the stronghold when it comes to sales. They decided to get a little quirky before ending things & you have the SZR here which looks like a botched design of the SZ. Actually, Ibanez already have a similar design in its archives; the Ghost Rider but this one is not one of those. 

The headstock design was the major departure from the SZ & it closely resembles the aforementioned Ghost Rider. If they expand the width of this outline, you'd get a PRS Silver Sky headstock 😆

These are my absolute favourite when it comes to in-house Ibanez pickups. Only for this year of manufacture, the SZR was equipped with the NDR-1 humbuckers. The magnets used are neodymium & showcase some OTT drive reaction. I have to say it's one of the meanest I've come across before we enter into active territory. Come to think of it, a speaker magnet was used instead of the ceramic & alnico selections preferred by countless manufacturers. Now you understand why I keep them in tact. 

I have a set of 9.5s in there as it sports a 25.1" scale length. Please do not believe whatever Ibanez encyclopaedia out there stating a 24.75" scale length as I've measured this one personally. 

Ibanez: SZR520 (owner's take Part 2)

Here's Jensen's Neodymium driver; Neodymium is a high powered magnet (stronger than ceramic) which is light hence its preference for driver applications. What has this got to do with the SZR520?

In lieu of the Duncan Ibanez pickups, the SZR520 features a pair of Neodymium humbuckers which are very high output but the nature of these pickups are that they produce a sweet driven crunch, primarily. These pickups however, does very well with a high dose of distortion so you get the best of both worlds; blues rockers as well as the metal heads would feel at home with them.