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Hi everyone,
I own a hollow electric Ibanez AS83 guitar. It's maple
front, back and sides. The shape is similar to the 335.
I think, to improve it by replacing the original pickups
to something better. I had in mind Gibson 57 Classic,
or may be Gibson P94s.
Did anyone had any experience with tis guitar ?
Thanks,
Costy.

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Comments

moonbaby Tue, 05/16/2006 - 14:24

I have an AS72 (?). Actually, it's my stepsons', but...You are biting off a big chunk, my friend! The guitar definitely will benefit from a pick-up upgrade, and the ones you cited are all fine, I'm sure. We ended up putting a pair of Duncans in it ( I think that they are called "Pearly Gates").
Or should I say that we HAD somebody put them in! Have you replaced the pickups, wiring, etc, on a 335-style guitar before? You probably should have an experienced tech do it, and re-do the harness, too. Those crappy pots and switches are no good for a REAL pick-up, especially the switch (and jack).
Properly doing the pick-up install ain't like doin' a Strat, it can be a real PIA. Then there are the half-assed tuners, the pot-metal "tip-o-matic" bridge, and the list goes on. We finally replaced ALL the metal on the thing and it sings like a bird! Good luck!

cfaalm Wed, 05/17/2006 - 06:07

It depends on the sound you're after. How did you get the idea of the Gibson 57 Classic and P94s. I bet the 57 would give you a real good classic tone.

SD Pearly Gates might work for some, but not for all. Seymour Duncan's site features quite a lot of example sounds of different pick-ups. Those are from solidbody guitars, but at least they show you where it's heading. They also have a 57 model. You might want to compare.

anonymous Thu, 05/18/2006 - 07:36

pickup swap

Hey Costy, you may want to go try the p90s or 94's. I am sure they sound smewhat different from the Casino's single coils, especially if the Casino was not vintage. Having said that you can find pickup wiring primers all over the net with tips for hollow body guitars. Use good quality parts as moonbaby suggested but if you can solder a good clean joint, can follow directions and have some patience you should be able to save yourself $80 bucks of labor or so.

good luck and keep on pickin'

gb

moonbaby Thu, 05/18/2006 - 10:59

OK. My suggestion that you replace the additional hardware when you do the pick-ups is simply because the Ibanez-installed hardware is crap and will not hold up over time. This is especially true of the jack and switch. Sure, they're OK when NEW, but they tend to fail very quickly. It is not real easy to fish parts, wires, and stuff through a hollowbody electric, and as long as you're in there...Well, I hope you get my drift.
Also, for whatever it's worth, I have found that P90-type pick-ups are not all that when put on a hollowbody. They tend to be very prone to feedback, even on guitars with a solid center. But to each his own. I have a couple of guitars with P90s and I love the blues tones that I can get from them....on solidbodies. A lot of the questions you have about these pick-ups are going to be based around what tone you're looking for. And that would be...?

anonymous Tue, 05/23/2006 - 14:50

Thanks to all of you guys. The idea of P94s was tempting. But
I decided on 57 Classic for the neck and 57 Classic Plus for the
bridge. I got them from Sweetwater, and they'll be installed
in a week time. The AS83 has maple front, back and sides, just
like 335, but the body is smaller. Theoretically, the Classics
should give clean, rich but more focuced sound, and that's what
I'm looking for. What that would be ? I play mostly open tunings:
open G, C, B, Nashville E and D. I need rich tone and well
defined low end. Clean and overdriven as well. The orignal
pickups are not too bad in mid range, but high and low end
are somewhat a problem.
I sort of agree with Moonbaby about the P90s - when on hollow
body they make low end too broad for my taste. It smacks 100%
of vintage, but for modern recording it's too much. I definitely
like them better on a solid body guitars too.
I'll post the results when I get them. Cheers,

anonymous Sun, 05/28/2006 - 09:32

Hi,
A got the pickups installed (57 Classic neck and
57 Classic Plus bridge) at local Guitar Center. Job
cost $40. The wiring - neck pickup or bridge with
volume and tone, both with one volume and one
tone for both. Quite standard. I still need to
experiment with pickup balance, but the sound
have improved very much already. It's clean and
deep, no odd muddy harmonics. Yet, there's a lot
punch from the bridge pickup. It seems to closser
to a sound of a Les Paul than of 335.