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Hey guys,
Wondering if someone here can help me. I have this lovely old Ibanez which I bought off this old rocker who unfortunately had sacked off the original pups (super 58s) and replaced them with these completely shite ones made by 'Gotah'. After several years of watching Ebay listings I have only managed to find one 80s Ibanez Super 58 bridge pickup and am still stuck with the Gotah neck pickup.
Basically the pickup thats currently in there sounds good if playing more chamber style music where you need to blend with other instruments. For all other purposes I find the sound just gets completely lost when using this guitar.
I'm fed up of waiting for someone to put a vintage super 58 neck pup on Ebay so would like suggestions as to what I can get that will be a similar vibe. I've read a bunch of things but I have no idea what any of these actually sound like so I'm asking you guys!
Cheers
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02-06-2019 08:12 AM
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Seth Lovers are close to the older super 58's in my experience.
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Humbucking pickups in that configuration are perhaps the most common, well studied and marketed guitar pickup in the history of the world. You should be able to find hundreds or thousands of suitable replacements.
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Were those Ibanez 58's actually manufactured by Maxxon?
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My teacher has Antiquities in his Ibanez IIRC, and that sounds absolutely stellar. Some of it is probably his unfathomable musicianship, but still a great sound.
E: it was lollar imperials, low woundLast edited by mr quick; 03-23-2019 at 03:34 PM.
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SD Seth Lovers or '59s, Lollar Imperials if you have the scratch, Stewmac Parsons Street alnico 2 for the budget minded.
I put a pair of used SD Seth Lovers into an Epiphone ES-339 and its almost embarrassing how good that $300 guitar sounds.
FWIW, its way harder wiring a semi than finding pickups.
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There's a raft full of great PAF style pickups on the market. I've upgraded a couple of the fancier AS103's with Seth Lovers and side by side comparisons with the AS200 from '82 I had they sounded pretty much alike. Guys have all kinds of preferences here too so their opinions will vary with mine. But the Seth Lovers are easy to find on eBay for about $100.00 to $110.00 with gold covers - another $10 or so and you can get the 4 Wire versions for that fancy push pull switchero kind of action.
Antiquites are nice, so are the vanilla Gibson Classic '57's - you can't go wrong. You gotta think if this previous owner hosed any of the wiring and if it would be worth the small about of extra money to go with a new harness and pots/caps. Get in there and replace it all. Fresh start.
Those are great guitars for the money - just the plainer version of the AS200...
As for did Maxxon make the Super 58's well check over on the ICW forum, it's probably been hashed about there by more knowledgeable guys... Always a good thing to do some studying there.
the story I remember hearing was Ibanez got ahold of a late 50s LP and they disassembled the guitar anded the pickups with a mind to reverse engineer it. Ibanez doesn’t “make” anything except prototypes, they give the prototypes to someone like FujiGen and say make THIS for us. Same goes these days with the stuff the Chinese are making for them, follow the spec, or lose the contract.
BigLast edited by BigMikeinNJ; 02-06-2019 at 07:24 PM.
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I owned my AS100 for a decade and at some point had the pickups swapped for Bare Knuckle Stormy Mondays. Even more clarity and detail than the original Super 58s.
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An AS-103 that equaled (or nearly so) an AS-200? If anyone else had said that I'd have poo poohed it!
Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
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Where are you? I've got a drawer full of them. I don't like them. I've always replaced them with Duncans. If you're CONUS I'll send you one. PM me if you want.
David
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There was a special run of AS103's that Ibanez commissioned the chinese factories to make - all flame maple binding everywhere, wooden pickup rings, wooden pick guard, wooden knobs - and especially nice spalted maple or burl maple laminates. They only made 240 in total. 60 blonde spalties, 60 burls, 60 dark stain spalties and 60 dark stain burls. They were made for the Japanese market but a handful made it to Alaska and a store in Montana.
Being we're talking replacing pickups - I've owned a couple of these specials that had been gutted and rewired with top flight CTS parts and in one case Classic 57's and in another Seth Lovers. It's remarkable what that $300.00 upgrade (with labor factored in) did to these guitars. I still kick myself that I sold the blonde spaltie - but one of the cats needed an operation. I know she's waiting for me on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge....
I still have ONE, a honey blond burl model. I'm gonna upgrade the innards because it's a great guitar and deserves to shine. Like all the AS103's these babies have remarkable fretwork and all pass thru Chesbro's tech shop, of which our esteemed member Truth Hertz was a member. You wanna know the skinny on Ibanez Truth Hertz will give it to you straight, no chaser....
Enjoy
Originally Posted by GNAPPI
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Toneriders.
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How about the current MIJ Super 58's used on the AS200? I think you can order them from the Ibanez parts catalogue. They may not be exactly what they had in the early 80's, but they will be very good.
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I've got the original Super '58s in my '81 AS-200, and quite frankly I hate them. They sound weak and thin to me. I'm sure I'll replace them with something, though I'm not really fan of Duncans either. I might go with Wolfetones, Fralins or Dimarzio PAFs. I won't sell them though, because there are definitely people out there who expect to see the '58s in an old Ibby and my kids will need to sell it some day. But if you haven't heard the Super '58s, just heard of them, there are better options out there, just sayin'.
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