Ibanez RG 270 Electronics Upgrade
Вставка
- Опубліковано 24 лют 2015
- At last, the second installment of Project RG270!! In this episode, we tear out all the factory low-end Ibanez electronics. They are replaced with a set of DiMarzios, CTS pots, a 5-way super switch and Switchcraft output jack. Totally overkill for this guitar, but hey - THAT'S THE POINT!
Tip: stagger the splices so the joins don't bunch up in one spot
__----____------_____
and use locktite on the output jack because they ALWAYS come loose
I was just about to do a similar operation for the first time and this seems to be the most comprehensive, to the point, no nonsense vid on the subject.
Good job and thanks a lot!
Thanks so much for the kind words! So good to hear when these videos really help people out with their own projects.
This video is an excellent exhibition on how to properly wire a guitar, it is not a very good exhibition on the kind of tone you should be looking for.
Wow, your old Ibanez pups sounded close enough to the DiMarzios to surprise me! Maybe it was all that saturated gain?
this has been great dude .... i picked up a RG270b at a music go round for $99 bucks and im doing almost the same ...... minus the pickguard im doing the steve vai set .......... this saved me about 2 hours of head ache
+Josh Hayes Thanks man! Happy to help!
Really looking forward to your axe hack on re-threading pickup tabs! :-) This is an issue probably everyone has been struggling with at some point... great vids, keep it up!
I had the same RG-270. Great guitar for beginner modifications. I put a black floyd rose special and black tuners and red DiMarzio Evos on mine. I thought the red would be cool but now it kinda looks like a christmas tree. Whatever, I love that guitar. Had it for over 10 years now.
IMO they sounded really similar.
I was admittedly pretty surprised by the sound of these stock pickups. For whatever reason, these "bottom of the barrel" Ibby pickups sound better than most of their mid-range stuff. The Dimarzios do feel much nicer response-wise, however, which is impossible to convey with a video.
+Axe Hacks I thought there was a bit more clarity with the Dimarzios.
+3terminatorgr When you use so much gain, the pickups are bound to sound similar. I'm sure that a clean test could've highlighted the differences more.
should've used Seymour Duncan.
Sorry, but that comment doesn't really mean anything. DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, Bare Knuckle, etc. all make a huge variety of products, all appropriate for different applications.
Cream on green looks sick. Cream binding too would look sweet.
I have an exactly the same guitar and the same colour. My volume and tone knobs make a lot of noises when operated. Thinking of re-doing the electronics. Good video, very articulate and helpful. However, at the end, I couldn't tell the tonal difference between stock and the DiMz to be honest.
Great video! Now I know what I'm in for with my old 270, lol. Basically planning to do the exact same thing to it. I'm a little iffy about my frets. They're not too bad, but whatever the case, they can wait. I just wanna start with new electronics.
270s are superb guitars. I have a GRG270. I put in Bill Lawrence L500s in them from WildeUSA. They're killer. I wasnt unhapy with the guitar to start with. Just wanted to try something different.
So what was your solution video for mounting the pickup rings going to be? I had to solder the nut to the tab and it made my pickup sit crooked in the ring.
Awesome channel! Waiting for more :)
Great videos, I think there is a lot of budget guitars that can slightly be upgraded. I plan to get a Charvel DST 3 and upgrade it piece by piece, I'm sure it can sound fabulous since it is not bad at all unplugged.
Subtle difference in tone with the pickups but you can definitely hear one, new ones sound slightly compressed and more sustained
another great video man
love the color of your ibby..
We are still waiting for the next part !
With this being an import guitar, what pots did you use to fit the pre-drilled holes? I'm doing a similar project on an Ibanez GART series.
I picked up a 1996 rg270dx off of ebay. It has Seymour dunks with coil split and an original Floyd Rose. I like the fact that the previous owner kept the original middle single coil pup intact. The guitar itself is like new. Same forest green. Paid 300 beans for it. The funny thing is it plays as nice as my 04' vintage modded Gibson SG Standard (my go to and fav guitar of 3 that I own) I was so close minded when it came to guitars. It had to be Gibson or Fender. Boy was I wrong! I really dig halen so I started looking for a guitar with a Floyd rose bridge. First brand name that came to mind obviously, was Ibanez. I was so surprised at how well this guitar was made for a cheapy.I guess over 20 yrs ago quality control was a bit better. I weighs almost 8 lbs. Stays in perfect tune. Fun guitar to play. Rock on!!
+Mistergibsonsg1 Right on man! It's funny to see how many people absolutely love this green but it's only on their budget models haha
Fkn great Video dude, thanks for sharing ur knowledge.
I like your soldering station. What is the name brand? Found some similar ones on Amazon but not exact.
Im currently planning to put Seymour Duncan Invaders on my Ibanez, with thr RG 550 pick guard, i wanna change the pick up switch but i wanna use one like on a Fender Stratocaster since the middle pick-up will be gone and i have no use for 5 clicks, would you recommend something different or would that end up working?
+Jordan Vaughan Tele switch (make sure to get the pointed tip not normal Tele switch tip)
How does the neck feel in comparison to your higher end Ibanez's in terms of playability and feel? Was thinking of taking on this project with the same guitar or a similar lower end model with a maple fingerboard.
KawlumPlaysGuitar I actually really like the neck profile on these guitars. It's slightly more C-shaped than the Wizard necks, but by no means bulky.
Dude!!! I really wanna see the next upgrade or the end result to this piece!! Pls!!!
***** So sorry for the ridiculously long delay on this project, expect new video uploads fairly soon!
were any capacitors used for this?
Are you thinking of refinishing the body at all? I'm considering redoing my rg550 at some point but could do with some pointers :)
Lallen785 Nah, I already did a body refinish on my RG570 & while it turned out great, I'm not so sure what the wood would look like on this low-end of a guitar. Plus, I actually really like the emerald green color!
Really an awesome work.Will u upgrade the floyd rose in the future??? I don't know which floyd rose is the most suitable for rg270
That upgrade is indeed coming soon! And probably not with the bridge you would expect!
yp c
I've got a Floyd Rose 1000 (Korean-made Original Floyd; made from the same materials and to the same standards as the German ones, just made in Korea) in mine, and it dropped straight in.
What are your thoughts on shielding the internal cavities? I know there's some debate on the subject.
It's certainly more necessary for guitars with single coil pickups but is really never a bad idea so long as your grounding is done properly. I didn't do it on this guitar just yet but maybe in a future episode once all of its other glaring shortcomings have been addressed! haha
Nice job ! Just a question, are those pickups DiMarzio DP151CR ?
Not sure about the model number, it is a DActivator in the bridge & Liquifire in the neck.
Cool, thank you !
Again. Very good video. I am just surprised you used stock wires? Are they good quality. I know that the quality of the wires also matters a lot.
I think the original knobs look way better than the ones you put on. What is the name/model of that switch?
+Grzegorz Witkowski The quality of the wires actually makes a lot less of a difference than certain manufacturers would lead you to believe. If the wiring is partially broken, oxidized or otherwise worn, replace it for sure. The gauge of the leads coming from the actual pickup coils are so small that any upgrades done to the wiring in the cavity are pretty undetectable. Now, the long run of cable between your guitar & amp is a different story, though those differences are still very subtle.
doing a tone test like per like on super distortion sound I don't think it was a great idea
Hey Ax, Would you know if any RG270's where made in Japan? Thanks .
I don't believe so. Mine was made in Korea, I believe all 270's were since it was a lower-end model.
Should i buy this guitar for 100$ (wiring problems, doesn't sound
would this upgrade work on a gio Im new to all this
Yep! The Gio series is the definitive cheap Ibanez. Everything I'm doing on the RG270 would benefit a Gio.
cool thanks
Axe Hacks I own a gio, cheap, but one of the best!
They sound exactly the same to my ears. But you had fun doing it right?
+Minh Pham Absolutely! Those stock "garbage" Ibanez pickups sounded surprisingly good but didn't -feel- as nice to play as the Dimarzios.
Sounds awfully similar, I hate to say! Probably very different in the room but not so much in this video. Doubt you hear much discrepancy at all in a mix :( awesome work, fascinating to watch :)
I can appreciate that. I just re-listened on a set of EarPods on 1080 quality & the neck sounds virtually identical. The Dimarzio bridge has a noticeable amount of added grit and balls IMO. What's interesting is that these "awful / cheap" low-end Ibanez pickups sounded worlds better than most mid-range Ibby pickups (V7/V8, etc.). This demo also could have been done with less gain listening back to it haha
youtube videos use audio compression
4:20 song ???
your name bruh
Dude, I should just warn you about the pickup magnets. Don't let a alnico 5(liquifire) touch a strong ceramic magnet(d activator), it makes the alnico magnetic field weaker. Good video though!
Another thing: the 5-way switch makes too much differente in tone? I'm planning on replacing the pickups on my RG350 and all its electronics...
+Pedro Iago Hey man! Good call on the magnets, I had honestly never thought of that before! However, looking into the topic more, it looks like it requires something much stronger than a typical pickup-strength ceramic magnet to alter the pull of an Alnico. Something like a neodymium magnet would do the trick for sure, but having an alnico & ceramic pickup touching for a short period of time shouldn't have any effect at all. Thanks again for bringing that up though!
Axe Hacks I've seen a video of a Brazilian pickup maker where he shows the interaction of an alnico 5 bar with a regular ceramic bar and he used some device that showed the magnetic field. The alnico 5 lost almost half of its strength after directly touching the ceramic for 4 secs. But it is reversible. It's not like you lost your magnet forever. But it's just one of those 'better safe than sorry' that you wouldn't need to bothered in the long run.
That Polyphia T-Shirt ^^ .... good musical tastes
How did you learn to do all this stuff? LOL!
+Mistergibsonsg1 Years & years of having fun, learning bits here & there :-)
+Axe Hacks Cool. Quick question. I own a 1996 RG270DX made in korea. There's a comment left by a cat saying that it has to a GEO RG. Because there is no RG270DX. Could this be true?
Your RG270DX is probably very similar to mine. Doing a quick search, I actually didn't have any Gio models pop up when searching for 270DX.
+Axe Hacks There's a clown that stated at the Ibanez forum that there is no such model rg270dx only a Geo model. Obviously, he's moron. Thanks for the info man.
at least dimarzios look nicer
is the black blacker or the white whiter???
another stupid,meaningless comment?????????????
i think this music is chaotic and thereby distracting, makes me wanting to mute the video