Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Bigguy1305

Bigguy1305

New member
Hello gang,

I have an old Ibanez RS125 (hum-hum). I bought it dirt cheap and the prev owner changed a few things. I wanted to bring it back to original (close to) but with 2 SD humbuckers. The Ibanez came from factory with 2x hum, 1x vol, 1x tone, 3 way switch and a mini toggle switch (phase when in middle position on the 3-way). I've been trying to find more info on the switch itself. I don't know if it was a DPDT or a SPST, a on/on or an on/off. What I would like to know is. Can I have 2x humbuckers 4-wire with 1x vol, 1x tone, a 3 way switch and a toggle switch and have the toggle switch put both or one pickup in phase when in middle position of the 3-way?

Here's what the description states from back in the 80s.
"The RS100, RS125 and RS205 incorporate a phase switch into the electronic harness. This switch allows you to revers the polarity of the pickups when both pickups are in the use (center pickups are position). The low frequency cancellation achieved by the phasing gives you a crystal clear chording sound"

Any help or know of someone that can help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Omar
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

A phase switch needs 2x3 poles to work, and is always an on-on.

You are putting 1 pickup out of phase. Which gives it that honky tone that many don't like.....but might just work if you fluke the right pickups/guitar.
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

You only reverse the polarity of one pickup. Polarity, (or "phase", as people call it), is one pickup as compared to the other. So one pups wires get left alone, and the others' hot/ground go to the switch. If it has 6 terminals, it's DPDT. If the handle has 2 positions, it's on-on.
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Thanks guy/gals for the help. I was able to find after two weeks of research that the factory (like you said) did use a DPDT mini toggle and it was for the bridge pickup. Now with that info and the diagram. I’ll be able to finish the project.

Thanks
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

The hot wire from the phase switch goes to the pickup selector switch then to the vol pot (since you have two pups and one master vol). So:
pup>phase>selector switch>vol pot>jack.
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Okay guys. Just finished wiring the thing. A few issues/problems. The bare wire that supposed to go with the green on the phase switch like the diagram over at seymour does not work that way. I found another diagram and the bare needs to go directly to ground out side of the toggle switch.

And the big second. My neck don’t work. It’s an SH-2 and I have it wired like it’s supposed to. White and red together and tapped (I soldered them). Bare and green to ground and black to switch. Well no sound what so ever. It’s even shutting down my bridge hummy in middle position. What could it be?
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

I just check with my multi-meter and I’m getting nothing from the humbucker. I also checked with a Pearly Gates and an Alnico II I had and they were fine.

Can the SH-2 be fixed?
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Yeah, usually humbuckers can be fixed- SD has this service. Did it work before? Did you try testing it outside of the circuit?
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Don’t know id it worked before. I bought it used. I did tested it all hooked up and with my multi meter. No luck with either. I I know I can have it fixed with SD put for the price I can get a new one.
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

I ended up putting my Pearly Gates at the neck and a Distortion on the bridge. Tomorrow I’ll finish adding the strings and setting it up. I really wanted the Jazz. Anyway I can fix it at home?
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Okay peeps, I went at it again and checked everything. The pickup shows flow outside the pickgurd. When I install everything it doesn’t give me numbers on my multi-meter. The bridge pickup does show flow on the meter and the Pearly Gates in the pickguard and out as well. The Jazz does show numbers outside 7.56, the Distortion shows 17.06 and the PG 7.52.

Update, (I’m fixing and writing) the green and bare wire together are giving me problems. The green alone as ground and black as hot shows me juice. So if that fixes it then what do I do with the bare wire?
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Found out what I needed to do. I saw that when I put the black at the switch and the green and bare as ground I was getting nothing but everything off worked fine. So I swapped the green with black and vualaa! Green was the hot wire and black the ground. Finally! I’m able to use the Jazz.

As you can see I can’t sleep till I fix a problem. That’s why I have a hard time sleeping and I’m always sleepy. Peace to all and goodnight!!!
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Changing green and black wires won't make a pup work or not work. It only changes the direction the electrons flow through the pup. This is how you change the "phase".

The green wire is neither hot nor ground...it is either, depending on what you want to achieve with your wiring. The green wire is the "start" wire of the screw coil, the black wire is the "start" wire of the slug coil. Nothing more nor less. It is just by convention that the green wire is usually attached to ground to be consistent when wiring more than one pup.

What your original problem was had to do with soldering not wiring. By switching the wires around you corrected the solder connections but now you have created another problem...your neck pup will be out of phase with your bridge pup when they are both on. However, you may like that effect and therefore it may not be a "problem" after all.

PS: you were correct about that SD diagram (some of their diagrams are wrong)...for a phase switch to work the green and bare wires need to be separated, green going to the switch and bare going directly to ground. Sorry I didn't catch that when I posted that diagram.
 
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Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

so what you’re saying is that my neck pickup is in series in the neck position. Both hummies are out of phase in middle and my bridge is in series in bridge?
 
Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

The fact that the Jazz got a reading separate from the guitar shows it was always working. The change in wiring (swapping green/black) would not have affected whether it could produce sound, so the last element that likely prevented it working the first time was a bad solder joint somewhere. Redoing everything eliminated that first solder issue, assuming that’s what it likely was. Happens to everyone. You wire it, test it, fix it, enjoy.
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

But that’s the thing. I soldered it the first time, it didn’t work. I then took it off, cleaned everything and re-soldered it (I made sure this time around was better) still nothing. Later I took it off again, cleaned my contact points again and did the same thing but green and black swapped places and it worked. I know the parts I used couldn’t have been because my pots are CTS and my switch is CRL.


The way she is now. Is she in series in neck, both out of phase in middle and in series in bridge?
 
Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Once again - you cannot have both pickups out of phase. You either have 1 pickup out of phase, or both pickups are in phase.
Pickups are internally connected in series with humbuckers.
Then when selected together they are in parallel with each other.
 
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