Damaged Jazz?

mamm

mamm

New member
Hi folks, long time lurker, first time poster!

I'm having trouble with a Jazz and maybe the collective forum wisdom can shine a light on it. The guitar is an Ibanez RG721RW, fixed bridge, two humbuckers, with a so-called "Ibanez 5-way super switch":


RG721RW_CNF_1P_02.png



This particular 5-way switch allows these combinations:


3.png



I swapped the original pickups to a Jazz neck and a JB bridge trembucker (a combination I love in other guitars). The JB sounds majestic, as it does in some other guitars I have. The Jazz, not so much. It's "pling, pling" territory - it sounds like 90% of the windings are shorted. Very weak signal. But the catch is: when I test the resistance at the output jack, I get 100% correct readings: 7.7K, 1.9K, 5.2K, 2.6K, 16.4K (neck to bridge).

These correct readings at the output jack show, IMHO, that there are no shorts in either pickup and the wiring is done correctly. I'm stumped. What else can I investigate to discover why the Jazz is sounding weak and bad?
 
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Re: Damaged Jazz?

Hmmmm, don't know why my original post disappeared? Did I break any rules?

Let's try again:

--------------------
Hi folks, long time lurker, first time poster!

I'm having trouble with a Jazz and maybe the collective forum wisdom can shine a light on it. The guitar is an Ibanez RG721RW, fixed bridge, two humbuckers, with a so-called "Ibanez 5-way super switch":


RG721RW_CNF_1P_02.png



This particular 5-way switch allows for these combinations:


3.png



I swapped the original pickups to a Jazz neck and a JB bridge trembucker (a combination I use in other guitars). The JB sounds majestic, as it does in some other guitars I have. The Jazz, not so much. It's "pling, pling" territory - it sounds like 90% of the windings are shorted. Very, very weak signal. But the catch is: when I test the resistance at the output jack, I get correct readings: 7.7K, 1.9K, 5.2K, 2.6K, 16.4K (neck to bridge).

These correct readings at the output jack show, IMHO, that there are no shorts in either pickup and the wiring is done correctly. I'm stumped. What else can I investigate to discover why the Jazz is sounding weak?

Thanks!
 
Re: Damaged Jazz?

No worries, thanks for the "resuscitation"!

So, anyone have any ideas why a Jazz (who has correct ohms readings) is sounding weak?
 
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Re: Damaged Jazz?

mamm said:
Hmmmm, don't know why my original post disappeared? Did I break any rules?

Let's try again:

--------------------
Hi folks, long time lurker, first time poster!

I'm having trouble with a Jazz and maybe the collective forum wisdom can shine a light on it. The guitar is an Ibanez RG721RW, fixed bridge, two humbuckers, with a so-called "Ibanez 5-way super switch":


RG721RW_CNF_1P_02.png



This particular 5-way switch allows for these combinations:


3.png



I swapped the original pickups to a Jazz neck and a JB bridge trembucker (a combination I use in other guitars). The JB sounds majestic, as it does in some other guitars I have. The Jazz, not so much. It's "pling, pling" territory - it sounds like 90% of the windings are shorted. Very, very weak signal. But the catch is: when I test the resistance at the output jack, I get correct readings: 7.7K, 1.9K, 5.2K, 2.6K, 16.4K (neck to bridge).

These correct readings at the output jack show, IMHO, that there are no shorts in either pickup and the wiring is done correctly. I'm stumped. What else can I investigate to discover why the Jazz is sounding weak?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


First try to resolder the ground for the Jazz. May have a cold solder joint.
 
Re: Damaged Jazz?

audiocheck said:
First try to resolder the ground for the Jazz. May have a cold solder joint.
Click to expand...
Hi audio, thanks for the suggestion. I redid the "blob" where the green and bare wires (for both pickups) attach to the back of the volume pot, I agree that it was looking kinda suspicious. It's looking better now: a nice, shiny, perfectly adhered blob.

But the problem remains. I retested the resistance at the output jack (with the volume on max): 7,38K, 1,88K, 5,25K, 2,64K, 17,45K. All seems fine, except the "pling-pling" sound from the Jazz.

Now I'm really stumped, almost to the point of yanking the Jazz and putting something else at the neck...
 
Re: Damaged Jazz?

Does the Jazz sounds weak in the 1. position (neck in series) or the 2.position(neck in parallel)?
 
Re: Damaged Jazz?

Both positions are weak. The #1 position (series) sounds like the volume pot is barely above zero. The #2 position (parallel) is worse - it's pratically a whisper, and very metallic.

What I don't get it's the correct resistance readings. I figure that, when there's a problem with a pickup coil (a shorting or something else), the resistance of that coil would be affected, no? How can a pickup sound weak when the coils are ok resistance-wise?
 
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Re: Damaged Jazz?

See what happens when you connect it temporarily straight to the jack. Might be a bad pot or switch in the middle.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk
 
Re: Damaged Jazz?

At this point, the most probable culprit is the super-switch selector. Like something is touching somewhere that's affecting the first two positions only, so I think it's something of mechanic nature.

HTH,
 
Re: Damaged Jazz?

Well, maybe that's the push I was needing to finally rewire it completely and get rid of the original pots and switch. I much prefer two push-pull pots to control coil splitting for each pickup, plus a simple 3-way switch.

It's a great playing and great looking guitar, it deserves a good rewirin'.

Thanks all!
 
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Re: Damaged Jazz?

Update: just finished rewiring the guitar. Yanked the tone pot (never use it), put on a mini on-on Gotoh (for coil splitting of both pickups) in its place. Yanked the original 5-way switch, put on a 3-way Switchcraft.

Problem solved.

Now I have a good looking, good playing AND good sounding guitar!
 
Re: Damaged Jazz?

Awesome, glad to hear it. You'll love the Jazz, really sweet, clear and a great companion to the JB.
 
Re: Damaged Jazz?

Nice axe! Love the five piece neck.

As you've discovered, the switch and pots on MII/MIC Ibanez guitars suck more often than not. It probably doesn't take much application of a soldering iron to fry something inside.
 
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