Ibanez RG8527Z VLX91 H-H BLACK WINTER HUMBUCKERS... PLEASE HELP.

[JSebek]

Hello everyone,

I've been trying to install SD Black Winter pickups into my J Custom 7-String RG8527Z which uses the dreaded VLX91 switch. My brother tried to help me with it first but once we got it wired up using the 2004 RG3120 diagram and a color code conversion chart from Dimarzio to SD, but the result is something very peculiar. The bridge sounds incredibly nasal/thin/weak, the best way I can describe it is almost like when your cable is shorting out and the signal is "squashed". It has almost no sustain, the notes get clipped off, palm mutes and everything sound terrible. The neck pickup sounds closer to normal but the bridge is just godawful and unusable with no power/life. I took it to a tech and waited a month for him to work on it and just got it back yesterday. I was happy because I thought everything was resolved but to my dismay, it came back sounding exactly the same way as it did when my brother tried to wire it for me the first time. I've been talking with the luthier I took it to and he suggested I post on a forum so we can hopefully get the correct solution and he will make it right/fix it properly.

I have attached the diagram he used as well as the color conversion, I'm really hoping someone here can help us figure this out because it's a nightmare for me to have a new guitar that is unusable for going on 2 months now. I want it to function the same the standard Ibanez 5 way should function.

I am also attaching a link to my Google Drive with sound samples so you can hear the way the bridge pickup sounds, there are 3 files, one is my RG8 with a Black Winter set, one is my S5527QFX with a Nazgul, and the J Custom is the final one with the issue. The second half of it is the neck pickup which you can hear at least sounds somewhat normal. You will notice how lifeless the bridge pickup sounds right away.

Here are the sound files, the guitar with the problems is the J_Custom_Distortion_Test file, the first part of it is the bridge pickup and you can hear that it has no sustain/life. The others are samples from my guitars that are working properly for comparison.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DT8699Ygp2wfFgJ5eRhdX1yAt3eN_EwF?usp=sharing


I have pictures from the wiring before and after also if anyone would like to compare to see if they notice anything incorrect.

BEFORE WITH DIMARZIO PAF 7:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gvRRDiFhJHQ_-FvyNgBIImuPogtaPDOI?usp=sharing

AFTER WITH BLACK WINTER 7:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kwhR09oV54jJ69DE4lV4FA_j6IEn9JWC?usp=sharing

I'm hoping that someone has had this issue before and/or can tell me the problem or get me a wiring diagram that uses the Ibanez standard positions that will 100% work. I want 1 - Bridge series/full 2 - Inner Coils 3 - Both Pickups Full 4 - Neck Parallel and 5 - Neck Series. If you can translate an existing diagram to use the VLX91 switch that explains everything clearly, that would work also. The luthier I took it to gave it back to me sounding just like before I took it into him, it's basically unusable currently.

Thanks for your help.

-Jason

 

[Mincer]

Can you confirm both coils of the bridge pickup are working?

 

[JSebek]

I know that the ohms match the resistance of what they're supposed to be because the tech checked that before he gave it back to me, even though he gave it back to me without it working correctly. I'm not sure other than that, I just know that the bridge sounds incredibly strange as you can hear if you had a chance to check out the sound sample.

 

[beaubrummels]

Doesn't look like he converted all the wire colors correctly to me, and also didn't wire the switch back the way it was. For example, on the images where the stamped name on the switch is showing, on the right side, originally there was a white wire on the 4th lug from the top and on the second set of lugs behind, there was a red wire. In the updated wiring, he's got both the red and white wires on the 4th lug from the top on the front or most forward set of lugs (I can't see the set of lugs behind, it's not in the picture). But just the fact that red/white are on the same lug is not how it was wired originally, and DiMarzio red becomes Duncan black, and Dimarzio white becomes Duncan red, so I would have expected to at least see a red wire on the front set of lugs and a black wire on the back set of lugs. Instead I'm seeing a red and white on the same 4th lug on the front set.

I didn't bother looking at the rest of it after seeing that wasn't right. It needs to be redone more carefully. Probably would be a good idea to first draw out what it was originally, draw a corrected version with Duncan wire colors, then rewire it.

 

[JSebek]

Do you think the original Dimarzio/Ibanez schematic should work properly if the wire colors are converted properly? Also, just for my own reference, I know there are 24 lugs, but why are there 2 holes in each lug, does it matter if both are filled, or does it make a connection with just 1 of the 2?

 

[beaubrummels]

I believe the 2 openings/lugs are just for options where you need to connect two wires together and it's easier to put each in their own lug opening. For example, if you were doing simple splits where the red+white of a Duncan pickup would be together on a switch lug, the red could go in one hole while white went into the other. Maybe that's what he tried to do, but comparing the before/after, that wasn't how it was originally wired.