Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

[Kev]

hi guys, finished the installation of the dimarzio breed in the neck and seymour duncan JB in the bridge, but they're both still humming, but with the great output of buckers.

These both went into my ibanez with a single coil in the middle.

If we focus on the breed 2st of all, as this is what i based the wiring around...

heres my wiring :

Red + white dimarzio wires >>> where the old Ibanez red wires was

Green Dimarzio wires >>>>> where old ibanez white was

black and bare Dimarzio wires >>>> where old ibanez giant Bare wire was

I've wired the duncan up exactly the same, however, taking into account the different colour wires in the comparison.

Any suggestions here?

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming

Re: Humbuckers Humming

I beieve its could be the same sort of problem as ZOSO had here:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=33355&highlight=humming

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

anybody?

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

hi guys, finished the installation of the dimarzio breed in the neck and seymour duncan JB in the bridge, but they're both still humming, but with the great output of buckers.

These both went into my ibanez with a single coil in the middle.

If we focus on the breed 2st of all, as this is what i based the wiring around...

heres my wiring :

Red + white dimarzio wires >>> where the old Ibanez red wires was

Green Dimarzio wires >>>>> where old ibanez white was

black and bare Dimarzio wires >>>> where old ibanez giant Bare wire was

I've wired the duncan up exactly the same, however, taking into account the different colour wires in the comparison.

Any suggestions here?

Ok the man for this is T4D, he is an Ibanez wiring expert. My first thought is the SD is wired wrong. The red and white are soldered together and taped if you aren't splitting the pup and the black goes where the red ibanez was, whereas the green goes where the old ibanez white was.

Is it possible that your pups are out of phase, that happens sometimes when mixing pup brands.

Wait for T4D, or Artie, they can knock this stuff out easily.

Luke

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

ok thanks duke!

COME ON BOYS :smack:

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

Ok the man for this is T4D, he is an Ibanez wiring expert. My first thought is the SD is wired wrong. The red and white are soldered together and taped if you aren't splitting the pup and the black goes where the red ibanez was, whereas the green goes where the old ibanez white was.

Is it possible that your pups are out of phase, that happens sometimes when mixing pup brands.

Wait for T4D, or Artie, they can knock this stuff out easily.

Luke

The pups definitly arnt out of phase, im getting lucious tone

They're just buzzing, which doesnt affect anything when im playing but afterwards its a rite pain. Im splitting both the humbuckers with a single coil in the middle which is a bit of a pain.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

Hum can be hard to diagnose but there are some things you can try.

Wire the JB directly to the guitars output jack. Disconnect the jack leads at the guitar as well as the JBs leads and connect them. If the hum disappears then you have a wiring or component issue.

Ibanez guitars use those inline plastic switches and those are very easily damaged by heat but a bad pot (over heating) can also cause hum. The thing is you have to physically test the components by running a signal through them to diagnose it. Its a major pain.

I'll go to the Ibanez site and dig up your schematic for that guitar and see if your connections are correct.

BRB......

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

I need the model number of your guitar. Ibanez wires several different ways.

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

I've looked before at the schematic, but its still causing a pain rob! As the old wiring only had 3 wires per humbucker!

Heres the guitar RG2570EX i think its a 2002 or 2003.
Thanks for the help my friend, very much appreciated!

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

In the mean time, i'll try some more random wirings :laugh2:

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

<bump>

 

[Artie]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

If Robert or T4D doesn't handle this, I'll take a look. Trouble is, I disassembled my computer this weekend to clean it up, and now I can't get online. :yell:

Tried reseating the modem, re-install drivers, etc. I can't create, or post pics at work.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

sorry guys .. was out of town for the weekend at a conference ... giving a presentation, sitting on an 'expert panel' Q&A, then chasing after my sons was more than a full weekend's worth of activity...

so on to the topic at hand .... robert's ideas are the best place to start ... no schematic in the world can correct for a damaged switch or pot ... if the JB is not humming all by itself (when not split), then you need to look in to identifying the part that is introducing the hum ...

you seem convinced that you have no phase issues, so that is a good thing .. have you done the 'screwdriver tapping' test with the amp on a low volume setting to be sure that the coils are engaged as you expect when you move through the different 5 positions of the switch? make sure that no unintended coils are on for a given position

what switch are you using? is it the regular ibanez 5 way?

also, what middle pup are you using? is it a humbucker (stack/rails/etc) or a true single coil? if it is miswired, it could be introducing hum

check the other ibanex HSH thread linked above for some thoughts to

as background: the ibanez stock pups use red as hot and white as the coil split - use this if you know dimarzio's color scheme ... you need to put the JB's black wire where the old red wire went from the stock pup ... you need to put the erd/white pair from the JB where the stock white wire went ... you need to put the JB's green and bare wire to ground ...

let us know
cheers
t4d

 

[o010010010101010]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

alright listen. Dimarzios GROUND wires are GREEN and BARE soldered to ground (volume pot) So lets say you have a standard strat or YM-50 type switch where the soldering points are NOT adjacent. if they are adjacent then lets say your putting the dimarzio in your neck like your doing now... you would solder the green and bare wires to your volume pot and the black/white wires to your very last prong or 8th pronge on the right then the red would go on the 5th from left. With your Duncan in the Bridge Green and bare would be soldered to ground your black wire to your FIRST prong and Tie your red and white wires together. they dont NEED to be soldered but some people like to for some reason : )

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

sorry guys .. was out of town for the weekend at a conference ... giving a presentation, sitting on an 'expert panel' Q&A, then chasing after my sons was more than a full weekend's worth of activity...

so on to the topic at hand .... robert's ideas are the best place to start ... no schematic in the world can correct for a damaged switch or pot ... if the JB is not humming all by itself (when not split), then you need to look in to identifying the part that is introducing the hum ...

you seem convinced that you have no phase issues, so that is a good thing .. have you done the 'screwdriver tapping' test with the amp on a low volume setting to be sure that the coils are engaged as you expect when you move through the different 5 positions of the switch? -

YEP SCREW DRIVER TEST DONE!

make sure that no unintended coils are on for a given position

what switch are you using? is it the regular ibanez 5 way?

YEP regular Ibanez 5 way!

also, what middle pup are you using? is it a humbucker (stack/rails/etc) or a true single coil? if it is miswired, it could be introducing hum

MIDDLE PUP = standard single coil.

check the other ibanex HSH thread linked above for some thoughts to

as background: the ibanez stock pups use red as hot and white as the coil split - use this if you know dimarzio's color scheme ... you need to put the JB's black wire where the old red wire went from the stock pup ... you need to put the erd/white pair from the JB where the stock white wire went ... you need to put the JB's green and bare wire to ground ...

let us know
cheers
t4d

I've answered the questions in the quotes mate, im gonna do some operating on the ibby soon, so i'll bare this knowledge in mind!!!

Cheers

Kev

 

[tone4days]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

sounds great - good luck

i did a touch more research on the DZ color code ...

- put the DZ Breed red where the ibanez stock neck red wire was
- put the DZ Breed black and white where the stock neck white wire was
- put the DZ Breed green (and bare, if it has it) wire to ground

cheers
t4d

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

Ok, here is the good news. The Ibanez pickups are the same polarity as SD and DMZ and the bridge and neck pickups both split to ground and leave the north coils in the circuit with a top south middle single coil. So at least when you find out what is causing the hum, your guitar will be hum cancelling in the #2 and #4 positions and if you use the SD and DMZ color codes as given above you'll be good to go from there.

Unless you really got the wiring wrong on both humbuckers both pickups shouldn't be humming. Disconnect the JBs red/white wires from the guitar and tape them off. Then play the guitar selecting only the JB. If the JB sounds like a fairly hot humbucker but is humming then you most likely have a bad component.

I'll bet you a dollar that it's the switch.

I have a 1986 RG550 that has a JB/JB jr and a 59 in the neck. It's my least expensive guitar but it plays great and the tone is killer with the JB. When I worked on that guitar I made the mistake of over-heating the switch terminals and the switch got noisey. The terminals on those switches are press mounted to the plastic and they damage easily. I replaced my switch with a Fender type Switchcraft and the guitar hasn't given me a problem since. You may have damaged the volume pot removing and replacing the grounds but those import plastic switches are garbage and I always suspect them first. I always try and replace them in client guitars whether they are broken or not.

Check that wiring and then bypass that switch with the JBs red/white wire disconnected and I bet the hum disappears.

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

sounds great - good luck

i did a touch more research on the DZ color code ...

- put the DZ Breed red where the ibanez stock neck red wire was
- put the DZ Breed black and white where the stock neck white wire was
- put the DZ Breed green (and bare, if it has it) wire to ground

cheers
t4d

Ok guys, i'll get the back off 2nite, and give it a go after my programming exam!

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

sounds great - good luck

i did a touch more research on the DZ color code ...

- put the DZ Breed red where the ibanez stock neck red wire was
- put the DZ Breed black and white where the stock neck white wire was
- put the DZ Breed green (and bare, if it has it) wire to ground

cheers
t4d

Ok guys, i'll get the back off 2nite, and give it a go after my programming exam!

Thanks a tonne for the help here, really appreciated as im just another bum with a pickup problem lol :smack:


Kev

 

[Kev]

Re: Humbuckers Humming- Desperate help needed!

sounds great - good luck

i did a touch more research on the DZ color code ...

- put the DZ Breed red where the ibanez stock neck red wire was
- put the DZ Breed black and white where the stock neck white wire was
- put the DZ Breed green (and bare, if it has it) wire to ground

cheers
t4d

Followed the instructions mate, and hey presto no hum!

However what ive noticed is, the breed's ouput on clean is considerably less i think, and seems quite muddy now to what it used to.

Could it have been that i had them wired up as single coils? The weird thing is though, i did the pole tap test over and over again, and each pole was on when it should have been.

:werd:


Thanks for the advice everyone you guys, :yourock: