Monday, March 8, 2021

Still Duncan-ing

I've been playing slimmer necks lately, I think it helps keep my fretting hand more at ease due to its preferred profile. More importantly, it addresses my needs. The whole of last week, I've been with the RG550DX mostly.

I gave it a Duncan makeover with whatever pickups I have lying around here. So here's the lineup:

  • Neck: Jazz
  • Middle: Hot Strat (RWRP)
  • Bridge: JB
Very happy with this trio. Many players would have second thoughts about the JB being in a guitar with locking, double action whammy bridge. To many, it sounds next to shrill due to the excessive midrange / top end.

Even the manufacturer's EQ representation of the pickup's performance suggests it is unsuitable for such a guitar. But I guess it all boils down to the real time tone one hears & for me, I've been hearing the JB in action in many guitars so despite the documented suggestion, I know if it's gonna be a make-or-break investment. Yes, we generally need a good bottom end push for guitars with such a bridge but it doesn't exclude other pickups that manifest a different tonal range than the traditional expectations. The other two pickups in this likeness are Duncan's Custom Custom (TB-11) & DiMarzio's D'Activator. 

Wishing you a good Monday & a good week ahead - take care. ✌🏽

Pic: Seymour Duncan

3 comments:

Ijau D. Koceng said...

just JBed my SDX last week 👌

ohmytian said...

How do you feel about the upper fret access for this guitar? I realise that this guitar joins at a slightly lower fret (around fret 16) than other ibanez models

subversion.sg said...

No access issues once you are accustomed to it. I started out with this type of block-joint (early 90s Ibanez RG560), along the way, Fender & Gibson both offer 'horrible' upper fret access & made me adapt accordingly 😅