Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Very nice job on the notation. That's great that you are thinking about the rest of the forum community and the next person who might run across the same question.

Here is a diagram for a single 2way switch for the neck pickup. Try that 1st and see if you even like it enough to want to do it for the bridge pickup as well. Just FYI in case it did not come up in your research about parallel mode, it yields about a 75% drop in volume compared to series humbucking mode. While we are on the topic, a humbucker split to a single coil yields about a 50% drop in volume output.

Let me know what you think of the pickup combinations.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Also, I meant to say that that wire coming off the volume pot that branches out to many lugs on the pickup selector switch is depicted in a "functional" manner. i.e. you wouldn't literally splice into it as the picture might suggest. You could, but you don't have to, since doing so is more burdensome than necessary. Instead, just route that wire to one of the lugs that it is supposed to connext to, then run another wire from that lug to the next lug it is supposed to connect to, and on and on in turn. So it forms a daisy-chain. If I created this diagram from scratch, I would have drawn it that way, but in this case I modified an already-existing drawing I found at guitarelectronics.com .

 

[RexRemus]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Thanks Jack, I'll look it over and I think the suggestion to try the neck before worrying about getting a new switch is a good one. I may not get this all done tomorrow, but I'll update as it progresses.

 

[RexRemus]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Ok so, I need some help. I assume the "box" (with the numbering) the "switch" side of the switch, and the other side is the bare PCB - I think. I assume this is with the actual switch facing "down" looking at the "bottom" of it?

I wired it up with those assumptions for the bridge but it seems to be... Backwards? Like the bridge is active when the switch is "forward" in the neck position. And only seems to be split in one position as far as I can tell vs 2 of them, so I assume I'm doing something very wrong.

How do I orient the physical switch properly with the switch in the image? Sorry I'm sure it's something really simple but I'm worried that maybe it's more than just a 180 "flip" like do all the pickup leads need to be "reversed" as well?

 

[RexRemus]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Actually I think I figured out the splitting issue, had a bad wire to ground. But the question about how to "reverse" the wiring to make the switch positions line up as expected still stands.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Ok so, I need some help. I assume the "box" (with the numbering) the "switch" side of the switch, and the other side is the bare PCB - I think. I assume this is with the actual switch facing "down" looking at the "bottom" of it?

I wired it up with those assumptions for the bridge but it seems to be... Backwards? Like the bridge is active when the switch is "forward" in the neck position. And only seems to be split in one position as far as I can tell vs 2 of them, so I assume I'm doing something very wrong.

How do I orient the physical switch properly with the switch in the image? Sorry I'm sure it's something really simple but I'm worried that maybe it's more than just a 180 "flip" like do all the pickup leads need to be "reversed" as well?

Actually I think I figured out the splitting issue, had a bad wire to ground. But the question about how to "reverse" the wiring to make the switch positions line up as expected still stands.

Oops, I see now that I designed that diagram for a 2PDT switch. I forgot you had a 3PDT on-on. When I get home I'll look into it.

 

[RexRemus]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Oh no, never even touched that, I'm saying when I have the 5-positon towards the neck, it's actually the bridge pickup selected ��

I just wanted to test only the bridge before getting into the neck wiring

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Oh no, never even touched that, I'm saying when I have the 5-positon towards the neck, it's actually the bridge pickup selected ��

I just wanted to test only the bridge before getting into the neck wiring

Oh, ok, let me review the diagram again so I can describe the switch orientation to you in terms of the EP1112. One minute....

 

[RexRemus]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Alright, on a whim, I just swapped the north start and N/S finish wires to the opposite side common terminals and switching works exactly as it should. So I'm assuming if I just flip the neck to the other side as well things should "work"?

One thing I did notice - I'm testing this by just tapping the poles on the bridge pickup and when it's in a split mode I still get some signal from the "dead" coil. It's not a lot, it's much quieter than the "live" one, but it is definitely not zero. I don't know if that's normal or if it indicates and issue with grounding or something else. Thoughts?

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Oh no, never even touched that, I'm saying when I have the 5-positon towards the neck, it's actually the bridge pickup selected ��

I just wanted to test only the bridge before getting into the neck wiring

Oh, ok, let me review the diagram again so I can describe the switch orientation to you in terms of the EP1112. One minute....

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Oh no, never even touched that, I'm saying when I have the 5-positon towards the neck, it's actually the bridge pickup selected ��

I just wanted to test only the bridge before getting into the neck wiring

Hmm, I thought I posted the below about an hour ago, but it's not showing up, so again: your interpretation about the "box" being the switch side is correct. It turns out the pre-existing diagram I worked from has the whole switch turned around backwards. Good thing you decided to test just the bridge pickup wiring first.

As for the 3DPT switch you have versus the 2DPT switch depicted, the wiring as drawn will work just fine. You will just end up with an unused "column" of lugs.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Alright, on a whim, I just swapped the north start and N/S finish wires to the opposite side common terminals and switching works exactly as it should. So I'm assuming if I just flip the neck to the other side as well things should "work"?

One thing I did notice - I'm testing this by just tapping the poles on the bridge pickup and when it's in a split mode I still get some signal from the "dead" coil. It's not a lot, it's much quieter than the "live" one, but it is definitely not zero. I don't know if that's normal or if it indicates and issue with grounding or something else. Thoughts?

Whenever I have done the tap-test, my experience matches yours: i.e. it's more of "A is louder than B" phenomenon than "I hear A but none of B". So i don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

[RexRemus]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Thanks Jack, hoping to finish it tonight. So, all I did was swap commons from "bottom" to "top" for the bridge on the diagram you sent. I didn't " reverse"anything else but when going through positions everything was right - inner coil on 2, outer coil on 4 (bleed issues mentioned above aside) - so do I actually need to "reverse" everything? Or can I just move the 2 "outs" from the mini-switch to the "bottom" of the EP1112 per the diagram and it should be good?

Apologies for so many questions, it's just... Confusing and this is my first attempt at anything like this and I was too stupid to pick something easy to do ��

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Thanks Jack, hoping to finish it tonight. So, all I did was swap commons from "bottom" to "top" for the bridge on the diagram you sent. I didn't " reverse"anything else but when going through positions everything was right - inner coil on 2, outer coil on 4 (bleed issues mentioned above aside) - so do I actually need to "reverse" everything? Or can I just move the 2 "outs" from the mini-switch to the "bottom" of the EP1112 per the diagram and it should be good?

Apologies for so many questions, it's just... Confusing and this is my first attempt at anything like this and I was too stupid to pick something easy to do ��

Reviewing that idea against the diagram, stand by...

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Thanks Jack, hoping to finish it tonight. So, all I did was swap commons from "bottom" to "top" for the bridge on the diagram you sent. I didn't " reverse"anything else but when going through positions everything was right - inner coil on 2, outer coil on 4 (bleed issues mentioned above aside) - so do I actually need to "reverse" everything? Or can I just move the 2 "outs" from the mini-switch to the "bottom" of the EP1112 per the diagram and it should be good?

Apologies for so many questions, it's just... Confusing and this is my first attempt at anything like this and I was too stupid to pick something easy to do ��

Just finished sketching it out. Swap around *all 4* "outs" on the superswitch and it will work fine.

 

[RexRemus]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

So tops to bottoms and bottoms to tops? That was the plan, so that's good news. Thank you for all of the help!

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Thanks Jack, hoping to finish it tonight. So, all I did was swap commons from "bottom" to "top" for the bridge on the diagram you sent. I didn't " reverse"anything else but when going through positions everything was right - inner coil on 2, outer coil on 4 (bleed issues mentioned above aside) - so do I actually need to "reverse" everything? Or can I just move the 2 "outs" from the mini-switch to the "bottom" of the EP1112 per the diagram and it should be good?

Apologies for so many questions, it's just... Confusing and this is my first attempt at anything like this and I was too stupid to pick something easy to do ��

And no apologies needed on your part. Just on my part for not spotting earlier that the superswitch was depicted backwards. Looks like you are on the correct path to have it all sorted out. Let me know.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

So tops to bottoms and bottoms to tops? That was the plan, so that's good news. Thank you for all of the help!

Yes. No thanks needed, sorry to not have this all buttoned up from the start.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Updated diagram bases on the issues described above.

 

[RexRemus]

Re: Help with HH wiring in Ibanez S-series

Update:

Have everything wired and it's mostly working as planned. When testing after setting up the neck, I found that by having it swapped I was getting outer/inner (or inner/outer) in the split positions. So I rotated it back to "normal" and got inners and outers. Upon stringing it up and playing through an actual amp, the split positions seem to not be noise-canceling - so I suspect perhaps something other than the commons needed to be flipped/reversed? When I flip the neck to parallel positions 2/4 ARE noise-canceling or maybe it's just that the output is low enough that it just sounds like it - it's midnight and I couldn't play loud enough to really check.

Aside from those oddities and from needing a lot of setup (didn't position pickups at proper height or anything yet, and need to readjust my trem, etc. etc. I'm pretty pleased with the tones coming out of it, while there's still some mud in certain positions it's nowhere near as much as I had with the stock mojotones, the bridge (Omega) is nice and crisp in a way the hornet bridge never was. The split positions sound good and maybe even better with the neck in parallel as I think that almost acts like a low-cut and cleans things up a bit. I need to do a lot more testing/playing but I'm pleased already with the changes.

I'll have to look over the new diagram and make sure everything is wired up properly but for now I'm not unhappy, it was the pickup orientation flip not being "correct" that threw me a little but I can't do any more work on it tonight. And honestly I might just want to leave it as-is since the parallel neck split positions actually sound pretty nice to me at first blush so I think I might prefer to have those be noise-canceling (as they are now) anyway since they'll probably see more use than the series config for those positions.

This was WAY more work than I'd have guessed, but definitely worth it. Just a few little things to shake out before I'm fully willing to call it done, but I'm pleased with the difference already upon first listen.