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New Guitar + New Pickups: Ibanez RG752FX w/ BKPs

3K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  Naren 
#1 ·
Since my main guitar is a 27" scale 7 string with active pickups and my backup is a baritone 28.65" scale 8 string with active pickups, I'd been thinking for a while that I wanted a 25.5" scale 7 string with passive pickups, but I didn't want to dish out $2000 or $3000 since I've never intended to make this my main guitar. I was looking at used RG1527s (which was my main guitar for a while) and a couple other guitars, but they were usually really beat up, still had the stock crappy pickups (and I changed the pickups in my RG1527 not that long after I got it, though I eventually changed the pickups again), and were in my opinion overpriced and I didn't want to bother with a trem again. All my main guitars for a long time had trems, but I never used them. It just happened to be a fact that most of Ibanez's nicer guitars had trems. Then I found an almost mint condition RG752FX. I'd never heard of the model before, but it looked the exact same as my RG1527. Same Galaxy Black (GK) color, same scale, same woods, made in Japan too, both "Prestige." The only differences were that it was hardtail (an improvement in my opinion), had locking tuners (another improvement), and had DiMarzio PAF7 pickups (another improvement. My J Custom that I used for about 10 years also had DiMarzio PAF7s). And on top of all that, it was the same price as the cheapest RG1527 I could find online, which was beat-up, dented, and had rusty pickups (which were stock). I ended up buying the guitar for about 40% of its MSRP, which is especially great considering it's in close to mint condition.

That said, I used DiMarzio PAF7s for a decade, and as much as I love them, I don't want to just keep playing with the exact same sound as before, so I wanted to try something different, something that would be a better suit for the Fishman Modern Humbuckers in my main guitar, so I installed a Bare Knuckle Ragnarok set (which I got for about half the price they normally go for in Japan, due to a Digimart sale). It's also reminiscent of my old Gibson Les Paul Studio I had, which was ebony with gold hardware.

1 "after photo," then 6 "before" photos (the only difference being the pickups).
 

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#3 ·
It's basically just a hardtail RG1527, which although only being my 5th or 6th most expensive guitar I've ever bought, was the best playing guitar I've ever owned -- and I sold it partially because of the CITES rosewood restrictions, which they undid like 6 months after I moved back to Japan. :lol: Oh well. This guitar doesn't play as well as my RG1527, but it does play really nicely so far.
 
#8 ·
Very nice guitar!

I have a strange love-hate relationship with Ibbys. There are some models and necks I like. But, there are some I struggle. I have a baritone RGIB6 right now. I love the baseball bat neck and simple circuit with just a selector and volume control + kill switch.
 
#9 ·
Very nice guitar!

I have a strange love-hate relationship with Ibbys. There are some models and necks I like. But, there are some I struggle. I have a baritone RGIB6 right now. I love the baseball bat neck and simple circuit with just a selector and volume control + kill switch.
That's exactly why I love Ibanezes. I HATE baseball bat necks, which Ibanezes are as far from as possible (I've never even heard of an Ibanez with a "baseball bat neck" before). They're so flat and thin, they're ridiculously easy to play. I have heard people say that Ibanezes are too thin and that their hands hurt as a result, but I imagine that's probably a person-specific issue since I've never personally experienced that. I've owned guitars with "baseball bat necks," and I can play them, but they're usually extremely lowly ranked in my own personal guitar hierarchy. I've owned 8 or 9 Ibanezes by now, and they definitely have my favorite neck profile.
 
#13 ·
So I recorded a pickup comparison between my Fishman Fluence Modern Humbuckers (in my 27" scale Ibanez RGIBXL7) and my new Bare Knuckle Pickups Ragnarok set in my RG752FX.



The first guitar is always the Fishmans and the second guitar is always the BKPs. I made up the second riff and the lead guitar (and its accompanying bass) on the spot specifically for this test, so it's pretty sloppy, but eh, it's just a test.
 
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