Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

[Kraig K.]

I wired up a JB the other day and it sounded great. Then I got together with a long time musician and he said that it sounded out of phase when it was on the split of the JB and the middle SC. I thought it was supposed to be twangy and nasaly. So I switched the black and serial link wires and then they seemed in phase but a new problem arose. Severe hiss with just the JB on. Is hiss the same as hum? My buddies rig does this all the time when he's on stage and I just thought it was high gain hiss. We both play 80s rock/metal with lots of gain. I switched mine back because since I'm still just learning, I just play with the HB and the hiss bothered me, but I want to know how things should be.

Here's the Ibanez wiring schematic but there's an error. I just looked at my wiring last night and was surprised I didn't notice this before. The neck and bridge pickups are switched.
Ibanez wiring

I have it wired now like this SD wiring diagram. So in relation to the Ibanez one, I have the black on the far left lug of the switch and the serial link on the third from the right.

My buddy has been around a long time but he has the ears, I'm the electronics geek.

EDIT:
In summary:
Wired like it is now, HB is quiet by itself but hissy and nasaly when split with SC.
If wires are switched, HB is hissy and when split with SC, it's quiet and sound is better.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

welcome to the forum

try this: keep the JB wires in the position you originally preferred, then swap the SC wires around and see if it helps .. you gotta remember that when you split the JB, it becomes single coil, so unless the rw/rp thing is in effect, you are not gonna get hum cancelling when you combine it with the sc

your description is a bit hard to follow (or i am just dense, sorry ), but i think it might be ok if you try this .. unless, of course it gets you some phase trouble with the neck pickup - oh well, cross that bridge if you get to it)

good luck
cheers
t4d

 

[HooDs]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

my jb has a slight hum i dont think its a problem

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

ok, move the serial link back to where it was. what you really need to do is just swap the black and green wires. what's happening is that your single is out of phase with the jb and swapping the single will cause trouble with the neck (being out of phase with each other). i had the same problem with my ibanez

 

[tone4days]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

so Skyy, is there a way for him to keep the middle sc in phase with both the bridge JB and the neck? ... seems to me he'd need either a phase switch on the middle pup (which wuld be awkward to deal with) , or to do a magnet flip ... no?

or am i missing something?

cheers
t4d

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

from his description, he sounds like he left the green alone, and swapped the red/white with the black in his trial run. what he needs to do is flip the black and green and put the red/white back where it was. when you flip the black and green around you are basically flipping the magnet (but not quite). what's happening is that when the jb is on by itself the pickup responds like normal, but when it's split, you short out the other coil causing that one to be on the other end of the magnet. so in essence you are not flipping the magnet, just using the other coil.

IIRC, when you split a standard wired humbucker you are getting only the stud coil. but when it's wired the opposite way (black to ground, green to hot), the split will cause the screw coil to become activated (on the other half of the magnet).

i hope this all makes sense.

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

Do it this way ....
First, ... remove the series link connection from the switch (just as you have it wired right now), tape it up if you want, but make sure it doesn't touch anything ... Then listen to the SC along with the JB ... the JB will be full out, so it won't be split, that's okay you're just listening for whether the jB is in or out of phase with the SC ... From what you stated it probably won't be, (if it was in phase the worst you'd encounter is an in phase sound that wasn't humcancelling) if so reverse your black and green wires (bare always goes to ground period!!!), reconnect your series link to the same place you had it before (third from right side as you said) .. try it out, if you're good to go, problem fixed ... it should be in phase ... But if if still not humcancelling at that point ... swap the jb's red for black, and it's white for green, and use it's black and green as the series link, wired to the switch referenced just like you have it.
See the extra step is necessary 50% of the time, unless you know the polarity and wind direction of the middle SC (which I don't here).
This should fix you up ... If you still can't get it, take it to your local tech, as it's a lot easier to have it fixed than to try to type a book explaining the details and principles behind all the possible unknown combinations (well there aren't that many, still too much work).

 

[Kraig K.]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

Sorry I wasn't following the thread this weekend...

Yes, the only connections I have been playing with so far is the black and serial link the next thing I was going to try was switching the SC wires but I figured that would make the neck out of phase as suggested here. So before I wasted time soldering, I wanted some ideas.

Thanks for the input, this gives me ideas on what to try. And the "extra step" that Kent explains makes sense to me. Actually, your "mini-book" explains things perfectly and I think I can get it right following it.

HooDs - the slight hiss or hum isn't that annoying I guess but when I know there is a way for it to be silent, then I want to have that.

Hopefully I'll get to play with this tonight and I'll post back for future reference.

Thanks!

 

[Kraig K.]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

When you guys test out wiring configurations, do you resolder everytime or just use jumper wires? I used a jumper wire once and it seemed to add to the hiss quite a bit, which makes sense I guess. So is it best to just solder every time?

The other thing is the high gain hiss, is there such a thing or with a good HB pickup should there be silence? Maybe after I figure out my wiring this question will get answered for me. I'm tryin to decide if my buddies guitar needs to be wired differently.

 

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

Hails kraig
send me a pic of your ibanez.
i have a 450
namy@openline.com.br

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

When you guys test out wiring configurations, do you resolder everytime or just use jumper wires?

I don't even get near a soldering iron until I lay it out on paper and proof it. If it is laid out correctly, it works period.

I used a jumper wire once and it seemed to add to the hiss quite a bit, which makes sense I guess. So is it best to just solder every time?

Jumpers or clips are fine, any extra noise introduced by the jumpers will be removed when they are removed ...

The other thing is the high gain hiss, is there such a thing or with a good HB pickup should there be silence? Maybe after I figure out my wiring this question will get answered for me. I'm tryin to decide if my buddies guitar needs to be wired differently.

There will always be upper end hiss with hi gain, much comes from the amp circuit itself ... of course any noise introduced into the front of that amp will only be magnified by the hi gain, so best to get everything as noise free as possible at the source and on the way to the amp.

 

[Kraig K.]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

Got it all working fine. Sure enough, it ended up being the last configuration, black/green is my serial link. Now the only pup that sounds like an SC is the SC by itself, hum wise that is.

Thanks a bunch, now I can easily hear what's right and what's wrong.

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: Help with Ibanez RG470 and JB wiring.

congrats... another success story from the SD forum