[MF_Kitten]

i´ve got this Ibanez RG 350DX, and i´m thinking about messing around with it´s innards to see what i can accomplish... i want to change the sound, i´m getting tired of what it sounds like right now :P

the setup is: H-S-H, the pickups are the INF3, INFS3, INF4...

i´m including pics of what it looks like with the base plate removed, so you can check out the situation... this is the INF3 neck pickup...

top view...


side-view

inside!

also inside!

so, as you see, it has two thin black metal plates (magnets?), the big magnet plate in the middle, and between the big metal plate and one of the coils, there are shiny metal thingies... like they separate something? also notice there are two of them stacked on top of each other in there... its what you see on the right-middle side in the pictures...

so, any suggestions what i can manipulate here to make it sound nicer?

[OzzyC]

Get new PUs? There's not all that much you can do yourself to change a pickup.(other then changing a magnet.)

[MF_Kitten]

naw, that´s what i´m trying to postpone here, just used all the cash i had on a dimarzio EVO7 for my schecter 7 string...
and i know there are mods that can be done to the magnets somehow...

i saw someone on jemsite posting about modding your ToneZone to make one of the coils an ´´air´´ coil, making it half-tone zone and half-air zone...
in a way...

so yeah, basically what am i capable of doing by removing things here? or moving them around? what happens if i remove the big magnet? what happens if i remove the chrome-ish looking thing on the right coil? what if i remove that chrome-ish thingy and put it on the other side?

anyone here have extencive knowledge about pickups that can tell me what all these things really do?

[ohio_eric]

Unless you're feeling all frisky and rewind the pickup, which depending on how well that pickup is built to begin with may or may not be worth the effort, all you can really do is change the magnet, like Ozzy already said.

The best bet is just get new pickups.

Edit: Yeah you could turn into an Airbucker. That just means there's a little gap between the magnet and the coils. But the real question is this. How much do you like these pickups?

[MF_Kitten]

they´re ok, actually, a little soul-less and plasticy though... why? :P

i´m not rewinding anything, just gunna play with the magnets... could you explain to me, maybe with the aid of the pictures how i can go about making this into an airbucker?

i´m just looking for improvement and/or change in how they sound and/or perform really... i´m planning on getting new pickups some day anyways, so there´s not really any big risk being taken in doing this... and i´m still not unwinding or rewinding anything... just playing with magnets :P

[ohio_eric]

Because if the pickups aren't good to start with it's pointless to spend time mucking with them. Alnico magnets would probably help but I'm not sure they will make those pickups sound that much better.

[MF_Kitten]

i don´t really care about how good they sound, i´m mostly doing it for fun and curiosity... just to see what can be done :P

now, what do i do to make that airbucker then? :P i´m really into this right now, i wanna fiddle around with this... also, what happens if i remove the big bar magnet in the middle? it´s like the magnet that ´´amplifies´´ the sound, right?

so yeah, just ignore the fact that these pickups aren´t dimarzios or duncans, and see if you can figure out something cool to do! :P

it´s mostly because they´re not the best pickups in the world, that i´m willing to do this... also, they´re not really half-bad, they´re just not GREAT :P

I LOVE COFFEE

[ohio_eric]

Electromagnetic pickup for stringed musical ... - Google Patents

[MF_Kitten]

yeah, i just read that actually

but thanks :P

i´m gunna go look at the magnet of some single coil i have laying around to see if it´s smaller than the one already there... maybe i can use that instead, eh? might be interesting!

EDIT: ok, so the magnet on that single coil was Epoxy-ed on there, so yeah... also, i found one of my old Powersound pickups, sans wires... i opened it up, and it was alot simpler in construction, no polepiece-holder or anything, and the magnet was the same width and length

However, i did notice differences: the INF3 pickup is alot taller than the PWRSND, making it brighter... so i was thinking maybe if i switcharooed the magnets, maybe some difference would be achieved? :P like instead of tall magnet, i use short magnet... it would still fit the same size in the gap, but it would be more ´´shallow´´ into the pickup...

also, i´m thinking of getting a hold of my buddy´s old epiphone les paul pickups and rob it of it´s nickel cover, and then put that on there, and replace the polepieces to match... but does the pole pieces have anything to say in how it sounds?