Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

[briankou]

I'm really hoping I installed it wrong. This is what I did: I toook the old pick up out, which had 1 black and 1 white wire. Then I threw in the SD lil 59, and soldered the white and black of the 4 wires, right where the old ones went and then wired the Green and Red ones to ground. Is this right? Also wired the random metal wire to ground.

Couldn't find any schematics for a HSH Ibanez, so F it. I put it in and it works but the sound is so weak it's sad. I don't even think it sounds better than the original single coil I had in there. Any suggestions on what I did wrong?

Poor soldering? Wrong wiring? Someone please respond.

 

[bubbahotep2k3]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

I'm pretty sure the red should not be wired to the ground....

Did you read the instructions that came with the pickup?

I don't have a lil 59 but if it has 5 wires like the Distortion then it goes like this (probably): black gets soldered to 5-way switch, red and white soldered together and wrapped with electrical tape. The green and bare get soldered together and then soldered to the ground.

Check this out:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/schematics/lil_hb_2sings_1vol_2tone_5.html

 

[ex-250]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

its probably wired wrong. theres no universal wire colors, they vary in what goes where from company to company. use the duncan schematics

 

[B Bent]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

Solder red and white together and this should solve your problem.

 

[briankou]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

I'm pretty sure the red should not be wired to the ground....

Did you read the instructions that came with the pickup?

I don't have a lil 59 but if it has 5 wires like the Distortion then it goes like this (probably): black gets soldered to 5-way switch, red and white soldered together and wrapped with electrical tape. The green and bare get soldered together and then soldered to the ground.

Check this out:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/schematics/lil_hb_2sings_1vol_2tone_5.html

I don't understand the instructions at all. But I went to that schematic and did it the way it says. And now it sounds better. But the only problem is this: in the 5 way selector, when its in the 2 or 4 position, or the ones that blend the lil 59 with the other humbuckers, it sounds all weird.

Like tinny and thin.

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

Tinny and thin?

That means the lil-59' is out of phase with the other pickups. So what ya need to do to fix that is...

Unsolder the black wire from where its soldered. And unsolder the green wire.

Then Solder the green to where the black was, and black to Ground.

That will reverse the phase of the pickup, and it will sound normal in mixed possitions.

certain companys wire things differently. and whats considered "normal" phaseing on one pickup doesn't nessicarily stand true for another.

this is an easy thing to fix though.......Ed

 

[briankou]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

Tinny and thin?

That means the lil-59' is out of phase with the other pickups. So what ya need to do to fix that is...

Unsolder the black wire from where its soldered. And unsolder the green wire.

Then Solder the green to where the black was, and black to Ground.

That will reverse the phase of the pickup, and it will sound normal in mixed possitions.

certain companys wire things differently. and whats considered "normal" phaseing on one pickup doesn't nessicarily stand true for another.

this is an easy thing to fix though.......Ed

I'm getting a SH-2 Jazz for the NEck and a DD sh-6b in a couple of days, so I'll just wait and rewire later. THANKS!

 

[Imp]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

i think you've coil-tapped it! ibanez color codes are different to SD ones-

1) disconnect everything
2) join together the (green and bare wires) and (red and white)
3) join the (green and bare wire) to ground. join black to the switch, where the old pickup went, leave the (red and white) joined, but taped up.. this will work, hopefully

its an easy to solve problem, its just ibanez and duncan have a different set of codes for their wire colours

tom

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

you also may have your neck and bridge split in the 2 and 4 positions. look at the other side of the switch and remove those wires and tape them off individually.

 

[MikeS]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

I'm getting a SH-2 Jazz for the NEck and a DD sh-6b in a couple of days, so I'll just wait and rewire later. THANKS!

If you are buying more SDs to replace the original humbuckers, you won't need to swap the black and green.

While you are at it, it's wise to buy a new switch and new pots. The electronics inside Ibanezes are junk. The leads on the Ibanez switch are also different than the leads on a typical American switch (this is the switch seen in the Seymour Duncan schematics).

Once you get all Symour Duncan pups you can follow the wire schematics found on the main page.

Good luck!

 

[jeremy]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

If you are buying more SDs to replace the original humbuckers, you won't need to swap the black and green.

While you are at it, it's wise to buy a new switch and new pots. The electronics inside Ibanezes are junk. The leads on the Ibanez switch are also different than the leads on a typical American switch (this is the switch seen in the Seymour Duncan schematics).

Once you get all Symour Duncan pups you can follow the wire schematics found on the main page.

Good luck!

not a bad idea at all

 

[tone4days]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

yeah, these guys nailed it .. it's wired wrong ... common enough error and easy to make - no sweat - its easy to fix

the SD's red and white get soldered together then taped off ... ground the SD's green wire and bare wire .. take the SD's black wire to the switch ... if for some reason this is still a problem, just put the SD's black wire to ground and the SD's green wire to the switch ...

i am sure you are gonna notice a pretty big improvement over the stock pup once you get the SD pup installed properly

let us know

good luck
t4d

 

[briankou]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

If you are buying more SDs to replace the original humbuckers, you won't need to swap the black and green.

While you are at it, it's wise to buy a new switch and new pots. The electronics inside Ibanezes are junk. The leads on the Ibanez switch are also different than the leads on a typical American switch (this is the switch seen in the Seymour Duncan schematics).

Once you get all Symour Duncan pups you can follow the wire schematics found on the main page.

Good luck!

Where do I get a "good pot" and how do I know if the pot is good or not?

 

[MikeS]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

The "good pots" I'm referring to are CTS audio-taper pots. Some guitar stores may have them (stores like Sam Ash and Guitar Center will not). I typically order mine through stewart macdonald www.stewmac.com

Stew-Mac will also have high quality switches.

I'm sure others will chime in with where they like to get their electronics. We all tend to use different people. Regardless of who you use, a CTS audio-taper pot is what you are looking for. Given your pickup selection, you'll want pots with a 500k value.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

Lots of good advice given.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Installed [?] my Lil 59 and it sucks

I repeat: Every Duncan pickup comes with a color code and wiring diagram on a pink or blue slip in the box under the foam rubber.