Hum - Single - Hum, 5-way switch & push/pull for neck/bridge only, split & phase...

[gattart]

Hum - Single - Hum, 5-way switch & push/pull for neck/bridge only, split & phase...

OK, long title, sorry, but all this has gone a little over my head! Picked up a brilliant de-blacked Ibbie RBM-1 from 1991, with a Silverbird humbucker (had two in my Eggle Iommi Artist), an SVR-1n in the middle and Hot Rails at the neck. Too hot for my taste, though it all smooths out nicely when you lower the vol to about 3, without any tone loss (just like the Eggle), but still, a Lil' '59 I had in my toolkit made the neck sound perfect to my ears, and to my fingers... So a Big '59 (or maaaybe a '59 Hybrid) is going to replace the SH9 (and NO, the SH9 is NOT for sale), and probably a Duckbuster, or SSL-1 or 7, in the middle.

Question is: can I wire the 5 position switch to give me the neck/bridge normal both humbuckers on option, like on my SG? AND get the push/pull tone pot I put in to do phase in/out? (The RBM-1 doesn't usually have a tone pot, just an 'oh-look-how-kuul-am-I' on/off 'uselessness' switch.)
Like, can the tone pot (with that 3 prong per side 'pull for on' type assembly attached to the bottom of the pot) be used to split the neck AND change phase on the bridge at the same time? Say, split in pos'n 4 and phased in pos'n 2?
With the tone pot 'off' it would be 5:neck, 4:neck/bridge, 3:middle, 2:neck/bridge again, and 1:bridge
With the tone pot 'on' it would be 5:neck single coil 4:neck/bridge singles, 3:middle, 2:neck/bridge out-of-phase, and 1:bridge (by itself, but 'technically' out-of-phase)

I'm usually quite good at stuff like this, but each time I decide on a wiring scheme, I find some stupid flaw in the design, luckily, before heating up the welding iron... can anybody set me straight here? And, yes, I do tend to overthink these things... wrongly in this case unfortunately...

Thanks in advance, Rick

 

[tone4days]

Re: Hum - Single - Hum, 5-way switch & push/pull for neck/bridge only, split & phase.

Re: Hum - Single - Hum, 5-way switch & push/pull for neck/bridge only, split & phase.

which 5 position switch do you have?

are you able to change it to a super switch (meaning, will a super switch fit in the cavity)?

when i rewired my ibby, i could not fit anything other than the stock 5 way in there so i had to get creative

 

[gattart]

Re: Hum - Single - Hum, 5-way switch & push/pull for neck/bridge only, split & phase.

Re: Hum - Single - Hum, 5-way switch & push/pull for neck/bridge only, split & phase.

Hi, mmm yeah, I had NO idea what I was getting into! I have only ever worked on my guitars with Gibson style three way switches, and just tossing in the odd extra flip switch in case I needed to split of redirect something. The only Ibanez I had with a 5 way, a '91 JEM7, was kinda perfect already. Even the 5 way in my fretless Yamaha guitar I converted to a 3 way tele style for two single sized humbuckers and a sustainiac.
I just read up on these 5 way switches and, OK, I definitely need a 'superswitch', I could work with that. Thanks for your input, I had no idea these things existed. And, yes, the cavity does look a bit small, but I've got a nice rooter attachment for my drill and I'm not afraid to use it...
I made a bit of a mess installing the splitable tone pot, as the RBM1 comes with just a tiny split switch, so I'll probably be pulling it all apart once I decide on the bridge pup. Still torn between a two wire Burstbucker and a splittable '59... I never actually 'needed' a single coil pickup in my SG, but I do enjoy freaking out my band with glassy clean single coil solos at practice... Anyways, I'll do a proper search for a wiring diagram for the Superswitch and eventually post my take on the wiring needed to have this near-Zappa anal-level of pickup control. If you have an idea ready though, I'd love to see it before I get dazed with this ridiculous amount of Superswitch positions...

 

[tone4days]

Re: Hum - Single - Hum, 5-way switch & push/pull for neck/bridge only, split & phase.

Re: Hum - Single - Hum, 5-way switch & push/pull for neck/bridge only, split & phase.

when i wanted to jam too many options into a tiny ibanez control cavity, i resorted to push-pull pots (luckily they didnt require TOO much extra depth ... i couldnt fit a superswitch into the cavity so i had to puzzle over reuse of the stock switch

the superswitch essentially allows you nearly anything-to-anywhere flexibility

i ended up with a ridiculous number of options and it was definitely fun (in its own weird guitar geekery way) but i never ended up using the majority of the options .. but hey, theyre almost all hum-cancelling, so thats cool right?

my only 'regret' was that i used a duckbucker in the middle instead of a vintage rails ... i definitely hear a drop off in volume when using that pickup alone , clean, and bending strings ... if the string moves off-axis, the thiny screw pole piece just doesnt 'hear' the string ... i assume a rails pickup would have more even response when bending strings while retaining a tone essentially identical to the (otherwise excellent) duckbucker

good luck