Pickups For Classic Rock For Ibanez SZ720

[smarty]

I have recently bought an Ibanzez SZ720FM for a good price. The guitar is very well built and I love the feel of it. I would just like to upgrade the pickups from the Duncan/Ibanez ones then, I have a feeling it may be a great guitar for the money. I am not to clued up on pickups and the tone to expect as I have not been playing that long. The main tunes that I try to play are mainly AC/DC, some Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Scorpions. The AC/DC sound is my favourite. I would also like the guitar to sound pretty good clean for the stuff my tutor shows me. I was wondering has anybody got any advice on what pickups to go for please?

[nebucanazza]

I think a Dimarzio VHPAF in the bridge would serve you well for your needs, especially AC/DC ..it has great cleans too and splits quite well.
For the neck if you want a hpt single-coilish sound you can try the Bluesbucker.
Of course my signature is a dead giveaway as to why I am recommending these

[britishgeetah]

Duncan Custom

[heymcz]

Yes, yes, yes on the Custom! I spent MONTHS trying out bridge pickups for my SZ520 (same as yours, less inlays) and that's the one I'm finally happy with. And use a '59 in the neck!

[smarty]

Yes, yes, yes on the Custom! I spent MONTHS trying out bridge pickups for my SZ520 (same as yours, less inlays) and that's the one I'm finally happy with. And use a '59 in the neck!

Sounds like great advice more so as you have the same guitar Is there anything else worth doing to the guitar whilst I am replacing the pickups? Maybe like changing the tone pot and putting some shielding in, or is there no point really?

Also is that Seymor Duncan Custom known as a SH-11 ?

[heymcz]

Sounds like great advice more so as you have the same guitar Is there anything else worth doing to the guitar whilst I am replacing the pickups? Maybe like changing the tone pot and putting some shielding in, or is there no point really?

Also is that Seymor Duncan Custom known as a SH-11 ?

Nope, you'll need TB-5 Custom and SH-1n '59 neck. The bridge on the SZs is wide so you'll need a "tremspaced" pickup, which are "TB" as opposed to "SH". The SH/TB-11 is the Custom Custom, a totally different thing altogether. Some folks swear by it, it just wasn't my cup of tea. Check out my thread "Review of the Duncan Custom" in this forum for more details about the TB-5.

Not sure on other mods, I humbly defer to others with more experience. Once I put the Custom in, I felt I had nothing else to change about the guitar!

[bloodswords]

i have Duncan's Alnico II Pro in the neck of my SZ320- very good for restrined drive settings, handles high gain very well too.

currently having Duncan's CC in the bridge but planning to switch to C5 soon, the C5 is a superb blues/ rock pickup- currently in my Gibson SG.

[smarty]

Thanks for the replies, especially heymcz. As I had not a clue that the bridge pickup on the SZ was a tremspaced one. I nearly bought an SH type one off Egay, which would of been a disaster Also I would of bought the wrong type of custom pickup too.