Hi all,

I posted my question in the Ibanez AR section already, but it has to do with the DC resistance that I just measured on a newly acquired AR700. Here is the link to my question:

http://forum.ibanez.com/yaf_postst84428_AR700-bridge-pickup-DC-resistance-question.aspx

I wonder if the 15.2 kOhm reading for the bridge pickup is normal. I guess if it is normal for that year Ibanez, then the designation Super 58 is a little misleading as a large difference in the resistance (how hot the pickup is) changes the sound quite a bit, so one can't determine what the pickup would sound like from the name (Super 58) without knowing which Super 58 one is referring to.

I hope somebody out there knows a little about the Super 58 pickups from this time period (late 1990s and early 2000s). Thanks for any help.

I actually have tested a bunch of other Super 58 pickups (from 1980s vintage Ibanez guitars) and none of them had a DC resistance that was as high as the one I measured for the bridge pickup on the AR700. they were mostly in the range of 8 to 9 kOhms. This is for both neck and bridge pickups. The bridge pickup on the AR700 might just be a new "subspecies" of Super 58. That is what I am curious about.

My Super "Duper" 58s (let's shorten that to "SD58s") sound different from each other as one would expect from the difference in the resistance. The SD58 neck pickup is a little hotter than the 1984 Super 58 neck pickup I measured recently (9 versus 7 kOhms), and sounds just a bit louder and has a little bit less presence, but more bass and mids. The SD58 bridge pickup is a lot hotter than the 1984 Super 58 bridge pickup I measured recently (15 versus 7 kOhms), and it has much less highs and more mids and bass. I don't like it as much for clean country type leads (not very good) but it is nice for overdriven sounds, especially if you don't like "piercing highs". Of course, you can adjust your amp to roll off highs (if your pickup has more than you want), and while you can emphasize the highs that are present in the SD58 by turning up the amp's presence, you can't turn a dark sounding pickup into a bright one.

I really don't know if I dislike the hotter SD58 bridge pickup compared to the older, less hot Super 58, but it does put out a different sound than I expected when I got the guitar (and thought it would sound like the "usual" Ibanez Artist AR equipped with Super 58s).

I guess I would still like to know if anybody (especially those who might have an AR700, AR2000, or maybe AR3000 - these are made in the late 1990s and early 2000s) has measured their bridge pickup's DC resistance to be in the range I measured (around 15 Kohms). If anybody has done this, let me know what you have measured. Also, if anyone has taken pics of the bottom of their pickups (same vintage as my AR700), it would be great if you could post them so I can see if my pickups are in fact stock. I think they are, but who knows. Thanks much for any help.