Coil splitting Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz pickup

M

monologue

New member
Hey everyone,
I'm new here, so I'm not sure this is the right place to ask these questions (sorry if it's not).
I need a little help:

I'm going to buy an Ibanez RGA321F (HH). I'm planning to swap the pickups with a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck and JB in the bridge position. A friend is going to do the soldering for me.
Now here's the thing: the guitar has a 5 way switch. Is it possible to coil split the Jazz and JB pickups? And if so, does it sound good, or would you not recommend it (as in: are the pickups not made for it)?
If it is possible, can someone hook me up with a diagram for soldering it that way? Any other things I have to keep in mind?

Additional question: I also have a JB and Jazz set in another guitar and it sounds awesome, but that one only has a 3 way switch. Will I 'lose' some tone with my new guitar because of the 5 way switch? Someone once told me that the more wiring you have going on, the more tone suckage you'll get, but I have no clue if that's true.

Thanks!
 
Re: Coil splitting Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz pickup

Hey!
If you want to do a simple coil split, then you can use this diagram: http://www.seymourduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2H_5WSPL_1V_1T.pdf . BUT you'll need to replace the switch in your RGA321F (assuming it comes with the original Ibanez 2 Humbucker 5 way switch. It is actually a custom switch with different switching configuration) with a simple 5 way blade switch.

If you want to keep the Ibanez switch and thus the switching configuration (pos 4 - neck parallel, pos 5 - neck series), then search for "2 Hum Ibanez Style 5 Way Switch 1Vol 1Tone" diagram on the bare knuckle pickups website, just make sure you convert the wire color code from BKP to Duncan (Humbucker Colour Code Conversion Chart also on the BKP website). BUT!!! To achieve this you'll need to flip the magnet in your neck pickup (other forum members, please confirm). It is not difficult to do. I did it for an Ibanez H-H guitar with Jazz and JB and it worked great.
 
Re: Coil splitting Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz pickup

megaup987 said:
Hey!
If you want to do a simple coil split, then you can use this diagram: http://www.seymourduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2H_5WSPL_1V_1T.pdf . BUT you'll need to replace the switch in your RGA321F (assuming it comes with the original Ibanez 2 Humbucker 5 way switch. It is actually a custom switch with different switching configuration) with a simple 5 way blade switch.

If you want to keep the Ibanez switch and thus the switching configuration (pos 4 - neck parallel, pos 5 - neck series), then search for "2 Hum Ibanez Style 5 Way Switch 1Vol 1Tone" diagram on the bare knuckle pickups website, just make sure you convert the wire color code from BKP to Duncan (Humbucker Colour Code Conversion Chart also on the BKP website). BUT!!! To achieve this you'll need to flip the magnet in your neck pickup (other forum members, please confirm). It is not difficult to do. I did it for an Ibanez H-H guitar with Jazz and JB and it worked great.
Click to expand...

Alright, thank you so much! I guess the easiest method is to replace the switch then?
Can you explain the difference between the Ibanez 5 way switch and a 'simple' 5 way blade switch?
 
Re: Coil splitting Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz pickup

The Ibanez H-H 5 way switch is custom made for Ibanez (not sure if anyone else uses the same switch) to give you the following sounds:
1. Bridge series (normal humbucker wiring)
2. Neck and Bridge split (inside coils parallel)
3. Neck and Bridge full (parallel)
4. Neck humbucker coils in parallel - think of this one as the 2 coils of the neck humbucker wired as 2 single coils, sort of like position 4 on a Strat
5. Neck in series (normal humbucker wiring)

Actually, the more I look at the seymour diagram, the more I get confused, so disregard that one. Here's a dimarzio diagram (so you'll need to convert the wiring colors from dimarzio to duncan). http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c22/bancika/2h1v1t_5wsplit24-1.gif
With this 5 way switch you get:
1. Bridge series
2. Bridge split
3. Bridge and Neck split
4. Neck split
5. Neck series

Actually, just flip the magnet like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdrvctQIAyQ . I wouldn't use power tools, though.
 
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Re: Coil splitting Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz pickup

monologue said:
Hey everyone,
I'm new here, so I'm not sure this is the right place to ask these questions (sorry if it's not).
I need a little help:

I'm going to buy an Ibanez RGA321F (HH). I'm planning to swap the pickups with a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck and JB in the bridge position. A friend is going to do the soldering for me.
Now here's the thing: the guitar has a 5 way switch. Is it possible to coil split the Jazz and JB pickups? And if so, does it sound good, or would you not recommend it (as in: are the pickups not made for it)?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's possible... and yes, they sound good. The JB/Jazz are a nice set for splitting since they both have enough power to still sound great when running just one coil.


monologue said:
If it is possible, can someone hook me up with a diagram for soldering it that way? Any other things I have to keep in mind?

Additional question: I also have a JB and Jazz set in another guitar and it sounds awesome, but that one only has a 3 way switch. Will I 'lose' some tone with my new guitar because of the 5 way switch? Someone once told me that the more wiring you have going on, the more tone suckage you'll get, but I have no clue if that's true.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't concern myself too much with the "loss of tone" concept. My own set is in an HSH with all sorts of switches & settings (180 to be precise) and still has plenty of ballsy tone.
 
Re: Coil splitting Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz pickup

I don't know if switch type can case a change in tone at all, but I've never done in-depth experiments. I also have never read about anyone that has, so I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Re: Coil splitting Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz pickup

Alright, thank you all so much for helping me out!
Last question: would this switch work?
 
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