Factual Frank
Junior Member
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2022
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- 11
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Hello
I have a 1981 blonde Starfire IV that I bought used. It had a set of Ibanez pickups when I bought it.
From what I can gather on the internet, this guitar could have been shipped with either HB-1 or XR-7 pickups. Is there a way to tell which from the serial number?
Either way, I have to decided to install XR-7s once I find them used. They are cheaper and I like the idea of a hotter pickup.
From pictures and articles I have seen on the web, the neck and the bridge are basically the same pickup. The one with greater resistance is usually installed in the bridge. I did find a used one and I am not too worried if it is a bridge or neck. When I find another, I will measure both and put the hotter one in the bridge. I removed the pots in the guitar to see what was original. The two volumes and bridge tone have Guild stamped on them. The neck tone was damaged and not original. The interesting thing (to me) is that the bridge tone is 200k, and the other two are 500k. My guess is that was done to knock down some of the extra highs since the pickups are the same and the bridge would be brighter. Anyway, when I found a picture of another set (see attached), I noticed that the wires will come out on the bridge side of the backing plate when installed on BOTH pickups. I have installed many sets of Dimarzios, and the general rule is the wire is on the neck side for the neck pickup and the bridge side for the bridge pickup. Or another way to say it is, the screw coil is where the wire is. And the screw coil on the neck pickup is installed on the fretboard side and the screw coil for the bridge pickup is installed on the tail piece side. The XR-7 has two screw coils so that doesn't help. On top of that, I can only install them in one direction anyway because of the 3 screw configuration.
So here are my questions:
1. Are there "neck" and "bridge" pickups for the XR-7?
2. What would the north/south orientations be for the pickups? I can find this out for the one I bought when it arrives.
3. Am I correct in thinking this really won't matter except when I have the switch in the middle (both pickups)?
4. Does anyone have another XR-7 they would like to sell?
Thank you so much for this forum and I would appreciate any other information that I may have missed.
I have a 1981 blonde Starfire IV that I bought used. It had a set of Ibanez pickups when I bought it.
From what I can gather on the internet, this guitar could have been shipped with either HB-1 or XR-7 pickups. Is there a way to tell which from the serial number?
Either way, I have to decided to install XR-7s once I find them used. They are cheaper and I like the idea of a hotter pickup.
From pictures and articles I have seen on the web, the neck and the bridge are basically the same pickup. The one with greater resistance is usually installed in the bridge. I did find a used one and I am not too worried if it is a bridge or neck. When I find another, I will measure both and put the hotter one in the bridge. I removed the pots in the guitar to see what was original. The two volumes and bridge tone have Guild stamped on them. The neck tone was damaged and not original. The interesting thing (to me) is that the bridge tone is 200k, and the other two are 500k. My guess is that was done to knock down some of the extra highs since the pickups are the same and the bridge would be brighter. Anyway, when I found a picture of another set (see attached), I noticed that the wires will come out on the bridge side of the backing plate when installed on BOTH pickups. I have installed many sets of Dimarzios, and the general rule is the wire is on the neck side for the neck pickup and the bridge side for the bridge pickup. Or another way to say it is, the screw coil is where the wire is. And the screw coil on the neck pickup is installed on the fretboard side and the screw coil for the bridge pickup is installed on the tail piece side. The XR-7 has two screw coils so that doesn't help. On top of that, I can only install them in one direction anyway because of the 3 screw configuration.
So here are my questions:
1. Are there "neck" and "bridge" pickups for the XR-7?
2. What would the north/south orientations be for the pickups? I can find this out for the one I bought when it arrives.
3. Am I correct in thinking this really won't matter except when I have the switch in the middle (both pickups)?
4. Does anyone have another XR-7 they would like to sell?
Thank you so much for this forum and I would appreciate any other information that I may have missed.
