Ibanez Custom Soapbar

humbucking pickup wired passive
it is a bridge pickup in the neck position

custom hand made guitar

neck position

replacing sa-2 lord humbucker

bridge pickup is a emg 85 and mid pickup single coil over wound strat pickup

change pickup for more low tone like a les paul sound in neck

medium out put level not like the emg high active output in bridge obviously since it is a passive but together it gives me the widest range possible leaving the low tones and mid range intact very bluesy low end and very clear for each note without dropping the top end out smooth crisp just ant the very lowest range of muddy great for blues and grunge but also metal ballad

i use many effects and amps this works well for all

i play a melodic grunge metal and this is great for the slower stuff and ballads

this is not a great bridge pickup i had it in a Ibanez a while back but put a 81/85 in that this does make a good neck pickup though it would be a great mix with a sustainer

if I could find another i would get it i don't care if its stolen i want another for my other guitar
i have been playing for 12 years and own an plethora of gear
i love the tone the tone is the very best of anything i have ever played but i do hate the... the ... the ... wel i cant think of anything i hate about it so i love it
i compare it to custom Gibson neck pickup in a Les Paul not the same but what can you get that sounds like a Gibson
i have been looking for the right sound and i finally found it

Pickup features: Single coil, passive
Impedence or other specs: ???

Model of guitar or bass: Home made (Neck thru body, 25 inch scale, brazilain mahogony body, ebony frettboard)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: don't know
You musical style(s): Various: Including Jazz, grunge, funk, ordinary rock
Reason for pickup change: Reason for pick up installation: My home built guitar is based on the hamer special and these pick ups were in that guitar

Perceived output level: A high output, the highest I have heard for a passive single coil.
Tone: Neck: warm (only just muddy in a nice kind of way). Neck and bridge: Amazing! such a damn good in between sound (the dream strat in between sound?) great for jazzy or funky stuff. Neck: A well balanced tone especially for lead work. sometimes a bit on the thin side for rythm
Sonic evaluation: I'd really like to hear these pick up's in some one else's hands as I think I have a tendancy to make any pick up sound a bit thin.
These pick ups sound great to me because they never sound too thin. They really ballsy bass tone with out being over powering and each pick up postion sounds completly different to the others.
To eq my quitar sound I often just have to change pick up positions and that's it, the range between the positions is fantastic. None of the positions are weaker than others.
Still the best sounding single coil pick ups I have ever heard.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This pick up will go anywhere you would normally find a standard single coil but, don't try to put it in humbucker territory eg: Heavy metal/ thrash territory

Comments: I would most certainly buy these pick ups again. If I was a famous rich rock star I'd buy a spare set just incase my guitar got stolen.
I love the fact that all three pick up positions sound so very different. The father of the drummer in my band commented that I got a lot of different sounds out of my guitar and I am sure this is 80% due to the pick ups
The only thing I found annoying was that one pick up was not reverse wound (is there an easy do it yourself way of doing this?) if it was I would love to run the pick ups in series to get a humbucker.