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Thanks - the guitar sounds quite bright through the Princeton and even with my paraeq I'm having trouble getting a fattish tone. As an earlier post pointed out it may be more the TOM bridge than the pickup so I'm looking for a replacement. I'll let you know if I find anything.
Originally Posted by KIRKP
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01-05-2015 11:50 AM
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My 2004 AF105NT is also too bright with the tone controls full up. When playing jazz I usually turn the tone controls on the guitar at least half-way down. Originally Posted by seaguitar
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How's your Priceton's tone controls set? Originally Posted by seaguitar
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Both Treble and Bass at about 4 and volume also around 3 or 4. I tried plugging into input 2 but that just seemed to lower the levels, and that does takes brightness down too but at the expense again of desirable sound. I found that bringing the tone down drastically on the guitar also takes away any desirable characteristics of the guitar. The paraeq improves it a bit and brings it into likable territory but still not quite "fat". Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Try cracking both treble and bass pots barely open--a trick i learned for getting a flat response out of a two band EQ Fender amp. Then roll of a little treble on the guitar, if it's still too bright, and try running the guitar's volume at like "8" or "9"
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Jeff, Thanks for the tip. That definitely improved things - sounds much nicer. Now a rosewood bridge first, then if necessary a pickup change should bring this into even warmer territory. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Cool! Yeah do the bridge. What kinda strings you running?
Pickup changes are for dragon chasers. There's two reasons to change a pickup--shit don't work, or there's an exact tone you're going after. Everything else is Gear Page "i gotta have this because it's cool BS."
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
I'm using Thomastic flat wound Jazz swing 11's. I hear you on the pickup, and feel the same way -- don't plan to unless absolutely necessary.
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Try 12's. Experiment with brand too...I'm one of 7 people on the planet who doesn't love 'em. I like the higher tension Chromes.
And maybe 12's? 12's were "light" at one time! j'm not a "heavy strimgs" nazi, but if you're chasing vintage tone, well...
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Yeah, I was thinking about that too. Have some 12's will throw that on later after I've run through these a bit ( they are not cheap! ). I like the tone of chromes, but find their tension to be higher than I like - the thomastiks feel good.
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Chromes didn't inspire me. I loved the TI Swings, but they're at least triple the price. I'm currently using Rotosound RS200 Top Tape Monel Flatwound strings (12 16 24 32 42 52) and am pretty happy with them. They seem like a bargain at around $8. Originally Posted by seaguitar
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Never heard of those - will give a look. Originally Posted by KIRKP
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https://schneidermusik.de/shop1/prod...fmgjo3ifh2icr3 Originally Posted by KIRKP
TI JS112 is $15.50 a set when bought in a dozen. Note that the online price reflects 20% VAT. Snail mail postage is about €10 to €20 from Germany to the US.
Don't know if it makes sense to do a group buy here. Folks living close to each other could work something out.
Pickup change is no more dragon chasing than string changes. Just don't go paying silly money for "booteek" with juju in the maggies. Besides, you can move them from guitar to guitar. And unlike strings, pickups don't wear out. Say you pay $175 for a booteek neck pickup; that is 20 sets of D'Addario Chromes.
I like ones by Peter Florance, Jim Rolph, Jason Lollar and of course, Kent Armstrong. The UK Bare Knuckles are pretty damn good too.
But I know where mr. b is coming from. Don't go crazy trying new things and swapping them in and out chasing the dragon. Stick with one good 'un and stop there.Last edited by Jabberwocky; 01-06-2015 at 01:25 AM.
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Call me a dragon chaser then: I've owned 4 of the rare AS103s in burl or spalted maple. Really lovely 335 type guitars - the pickups on the first three were the stock Super 58 Custom (Alnico V by the way) and they were ok thru my Fuchs ODS modded Princeton Reverb (12 inch speaker, Mercury Magnetics 25 watt tranny). Then a buddy of mine score THREE AS103s last year in a period of 10 days, in the group was one we called the Chicago Guitar that came with Gibson Classic 57s in it, also gutted and rewired with CTS pots and caps and output jack. WOW !! What a mind blower this thing is. Just jumps out at you, I got D'Adarrio Chrome 11 flats on her.
And for my birthday I took my beloved Eastman T186mx in and had the Ibanez Super 58 and Duncan 59er replaced them with a set of Duncan Seth Lover 4wires and got the Duncan Triple Shot switching systems that are built into the pickup rings. That now is a total tone bomb.
Ya know it's subjective, it's that thing you want and when you get it well then you're happy. Some guys really want to make what it came with work, others know Ibanez used a cheaper oickup to put this already great guitar out at a lower price point. The nice thing is you play the hell out of it, tweak those knobs to dial in what works for you and maybe later you think about changing stuff out. It's all good.
"Tonight when I chase the dragon
the water will change to cherry wine
and the silver will turn to gold
time out of mind....."Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 01-06-2015 at 09:20 AM.
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I worked at Hoshino, scooped those up each month on "Seconds" day. Did pickup changes to them and sent them to my friends and colleagues. I always smiled because they were truly like those tricked out Honda Civics that would outrun a Ferrari. I love "players'" guitars, ones that may not have collector's prestige but are a pure delight in the hands of those who make music. The Ibanez guitars, and Epi's (often both made in the same Asian factories, often side by side) are my favourite vehicles for transformation. The burls...yeah, they were always a Wow! when I'd unpack them for set up. Never got much of that variation in the seconds room though! Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
David
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Nice Steely Dan quote ^ ^ Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
I like the version on the Gaucho Outtakes even more.
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Cool - I've seen pics of those and they look great. Do you have a sound recording with the 57's. If I ever end up doing a pickup change they are likely my first choice given they are in ES 175's. I don't know what kind of pots these guitars have - I'm guessing 250k. You must have upgraded to 500k perhaps? Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
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This is a recurring conversational item here: Ibanez/Hoshino took some examples of what they wanted to a Chinese factory (who knows what one) and told them MAKE US THIS and they did. These things have the most amazing fretwork, unbelievably comfortable necks, great wood selection, all flame maple binding everywhere, rosewood
pick guard and knobs, gorgeous inlays on the rosewood board. They just chose to use a lesser quality pot and pickups. They have 500's in them now, don't think they were sent over with anything less in value, just quality. These 103's in burl or spalted maple sold retail for $800.00 with the Ibanez case. They still keep their value, not just because there were only 240 of these 103s made but because they're such nice guitars. It's like a lot of the Chinese gear, get it in your house and later when you can afford to pump it up with the electronics upgrade of your dreams. Here's a shot of my first two, a 103 in dark stain burl and a 103 in natural spalted. The Spaltie is probably one of the nicest combos of spalted and flame maple I ever saw. No kidding. My first blonde burlie, hated to have to let THAT go but we had pet bills we needed to pay. Turns out I got another one last fall. I'm gonna do everything I can to hold onto that Chicago Guitar...
Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 01-06-2015 at 12:52 PM.
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It's not dragon chasing if you have a sound in mind you're going after and you know the new pickup gets that sound. Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
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You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I uncrated from overseas. It was our job to take EVERY FRIGGIN US Ibanez guitar and set it up and make it good. These were a delight to work on. Yes, if they told China to build a guitar out of animal hide, I believe we would have uncrated them 2 weeks later. And yes, the workmanship can be amazing. I've seen it, and as a factory's standards would rise to meet or exceed other Asian factories, their prices would rise slightly, and Hoshino would switch to a cheaper factory with lower prices and standards. Sigh. You just had to catch it right. At the peak before they "qualitied" themselves out of the running. Heh heh, pretty funny eh? Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
David
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So I bought this:
Rosewood Archtop Adjustable Acoustic Floating Guitar Bridge New Ships from US | eBay
I figured for the price it's worth a try and the measurement post to post seemed to match up. Unfortunately it's just slightly off that the saddle doesn't quite sit on the bridge, but the post threads match up with the nuts. So for now I put on that saddle and bridge and the sound is definitely better - a little bit mellower and woodier. The intonation is fine and a setup will get it right.
When I take this in to my tech I'll probably have him see if he can drill just enough to fit the saddle to the original bridge that came with the guitar since it's just a bit off.
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Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I found a web site for ordering Ibanez rosewood bridges. This part number is used for the AF155, so it should be a good fit to the AF105 without much re-contouring. There are less expensive bridges, but since this is an Ibanez part I thought it was more likely to work well, and the gold finish should look better. I'll report back with results.
https://www.drumsetc.com/content/iba...-set-2gb1h1wdg
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A follow up to my last post on this thread -- The AF155 rosewood bridge (Ibanez part number 2GB1H1WDG) worked like a charm on my AF105. I was pleased that the contour of the base perfectly matched the top of the guitar. Eliminating the sanding job made it worth the $40 to me. It got rid of a "tinny" ring that was driving me nuts. With the rosewood bridge I can bring the treble back up and get a livelier tone without the jangle. It sounds better unplugged too.
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My af105BM came with both the "tunomatic" bridge and the wooden one.
Mu af105F came only with the metal "tunomatic" I liked the wooden bridge more, so I bought 2 wooden- ones from the brand 'Boston"
One standard "adjusted / tuned"bij the factory,( pic 2) the other one ( pic 1) you can adjust with small metal "sadles"you can change the position. I end up using the "standard"adjusted, witch fits OK. I bought those for less than € 20 in Holland ( Piet Joosten muziekwinkel) but I can imagen you can buy this in more locations
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Rolling off the guitar volume a smidge is almost a knee jerk reaction to plugging in these days for me. I do that before doing much else. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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