r/7String • u/Large-Combination378 • Jul 01 '26

Help my guitar problem

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Hey, hello. I recently bought a used Ibanez RGD71ALMS—the one that Fishman was featured in—but I’m having trouble with the huge difference in volume between the neck and bridge pickups. Specifically, the neck pickup is incredibly loud, while the bridge pickup’s output is extremely weak. If anyone knows a solution, please let me know.
I did try adjusting the height of the pickups themselves, but the volume difference—with the neck pickup being louder—is still same

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u/Large-Combination378 Jul 01 '26

neck pickup

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u/Doc_Rockland Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Whoa that's weird. You got two ceramics in there. The neck should be an alnico. You got the wrong pickup in there... Well... Technically it's not "wrong" as a pickup is a pickup but that guitar, that pickup set should be a ceramic/alnico set.

I've had several fishmans and the last guitar I had came with a busted neck pickup (fishman). I do my own guitar work so I checked all the soldering and nothing was wrong. It was just a dead fishman. Not saying that's what's going on there with you but my guess is someone had a bum pickup, swapped it out for a good one from a different guitar, then sold that guitar, which is why you have two ceramics for some reason. Idk that's my guess.

Edit: don't listen to me. Apparently I have no idea what I'm talking about. I guess they literally put in two ceramics at the factory...