adding a JB JR to an Ibanez headless guitar(ICHI10)

[ISHIELDS]

hello all! i recently picked up an Ibanez ICHI10; absolutely love the guitar, but can't help but want to tinker with/modify any guitar i have. in this cae, i am wanting to put a JB JR in the bridge position. the guitar is wired using solderless connectors, and i have never dealt with something like this before. that, combined with the oddity of the "alter" switch, i am at alittle bit of a loss when it comes to installing my new bridge pickup.

the first pic is what the alter switch does

the second is how i think i should wire the jb jr in



anyone have any ideas?



thanks in advance!

 

[McD]

What were the stock pickups? If you didn't already uninstall them, post a pic. Worst case I can ask my buddy at Ibanez.

 

[ISHIELDS]

What were the stock pickups? If you didn't already uninstall them, post a pic. Worst case I can ask my buddy at Ibanez.

i haven't taken them out yet, but here are pics of the whole stock set(like the ones that are still in my guitar)

the one i will swap out first is the bridge, which is the bottom pickup in each of the pics. ibanez call these pickups R1s and they sound quite good for stuff a little lighter than i like to play.....but i need some crunch!


i am hoping it can be something as simple as this:

thanks!

 

[Mincer]

Do you have the connector 'tails' to solder on the SD pickup, or are you going to re-use what you have?

 

[ISHIELDS]

Do you have the connector 'tails' to solder on the SD pickup, or are you going to re-use what you have?

i figured i would cut the connectors off the wires and splice them to the new pickup's wires....that is, once i figured out how i can wire in the new pickup

 

[playas]

Firstly you'll need to figure out the colour codes on the existing pickups. Do you know the manufacturer?

Secondly I imagine you´re aware you are replacing a single coil with a humbucker. That wiring scheme is versatile, but designed to make the most of three singles.
You´ll need to decide if you want to wire them full humbucker all the time or if you want to be able to split them at some point.

Bear in mind if you don´t split them some positions in that scheme would end up with 3 or 4 coils all in series / parallel at the same time which may end up really loud/quiet, or at least not very well balanced betwen positions.
Personally I´d be inclined to simplify things as much as possible by sticking with single coils, at least for the neck and middle if you haven´t already bought them - maybe even the existing ones if you like them.


Once you've that sorted out and assuming you don't require any splitting it should be a case of splicing the JB jr wires to the equivalent colour in the existing wiring's colour code, and white and red just spliced to each other as in your own diagram.




If splitting and you are going with neck and middle humbuckers too - you´ve mentioned you´ll replace them, but not what you´ll replace them with - you´ll need to decide between splitting individually (which would need an additional switch per pickup) or splitting all with a single switch. I think that´s possible but I´m not even 100% certain, I think it depends on the type of switch.
A single switch would mean you couldn´t have one pickup split and another full HB.


(If you are going to split the JB jr, the simplest way would be to add a switch or push-pull pot to connect the red & white to ground.)

 

[ISHIELDS]

Firstly you'll need to figure out the colour codes on the existing pickups. Do you know the manufacturer?

Secondly I imagine you´re aware you are replacing a single coil with a humbucker. That wiring scheme is versatile, but designed to make the most of three singles.
You´ll need to decide if you want to wire them full humbucker all the time or if you want to be able to split them at some point.

Bear in mind if you don´t split them some positions in that scheme would end up with 3 or 4 coils all in series / parallel at the same time which may end up really loud/quiet, or at least not very well balanced betwen positions.
Personally I´d be inclined to simplify things as much as possible by sticking with single coils, at least for the neck and middle if you haven´t already bought them - maybe even the existing ones if you like them.


Once you've that sorted out and assuming you don't require any splitting it should be a case of splicing the JB jr wires to the equivalent colour in the existing wiring's colour code, and white and red just spliced to each other as in your own diagram.




If splitting and you are going with neck and middle humbuckers too - you´ve mentioned you´ll replace them, but not what you´ll replace them with - you´ll need to decide between splitting individually (which would need an additional switch per pickup) or splitting all with a single switch. I think that´s possible but I´m not even 100% certain, I think it depends on the type of switch.
A single switch would mean you couldn´t have one pickup split and another full HB.


(If you are going to split the JB jr, the simplest way would be to add a switch or push-pull pot to connect the red & white to ground.)

thanks for the great response!

not interested in splitting the humbucker at all, unless i end up needing to. the wiring in this guitar is all done with solderless connections.....i am really not familiar with how any of it. if i were to split the humbucker, i would likely just swap out everything: pots, 5 way, everything....and end up with a 500k vol, 250k tone, 5 way, and toggle for splitting the outer pickups(my goal is a hot HSH)

according to the back of the ibanez pickup and wires, white=hot, red=cold, and black=ground...that is what led me to the conclusion seen in my sketch(though i am not 100% sure that would work); do you reckon my thinking is correct here?


ALSO, do you have any insight into a single coil that will have decent crunch for heavier stuff and palm muting, ect?

 

[Ashurbanipal]

For Ibanez oem stuff these days, white is hot, red split, black ground. Transposed to a Duncan, it would be black - hot, red + white taped off (for no splitting), green + black to ground). But, are these Ibanez pups stacked? Wondering in this case what the red is for and how it's wired.

 

[ISHIELDS]

i tinkered around a bit last night and this is what i came up with. can any of you make heads or tails of this all? is there another configuration that stands out as something i should try?

 

[Mincer]

These are basically series & parallel combos of these pickups, right? Then #2 should work (hopefully someone who is better than I at wiring can confirm).

 

[ISHIELDS]

These are basically series & parallel combos of these pickups, right? Then #2 should work (hopefully someone who is better than I at wiring can confirm).

i believe that is the case. i wish i understood better why it splits the hunbucker in the non-alter mode. though that seems like a cool set up. i also will put a neck jb jr in this guitar; so it may allow me to keep a near stock mode with the alter switch off, then a grittier heavy mode with the switch on

 

[playas]

I hadn't noticed the hot, cold and gnd written on the pickups. My guess would be that they are relatively hot singles with a tap to allow for lower output as it may be more suitable in some positions. Again, just a guess.

As for high output singles, they're not really my thing so I have no experience there. An ssl-5 or a quarter pounder maybe?
Lots of others on here be much better able to guide you there.