SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

[RiggaMortes]

Took the stock PowerSound pickup out... it was a 3 wire pickup. I can't figure out how to wire the new one in and I don't want to screw it up.

Here's a diagram of how my Ibanez is wired...

Link

... the wiring information says to solder the red and white together and tape them, the green and bare are grounded, and the black one is the hot output. But... that wouldn't allow for coil splitting, would it? Would I just match the red and white wires how the old pickup was for coil splitting? If so, what do I do with the black wire then? My old one didn't have that black wire (hot output).

*EDIT* By the way, I'm replacing the bridge pickup.

 

[nuno_owns]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

well my friend. as a fellow ibanez owner i feel your pain. i spent 3 months tryin to put a bill lawrence l-500 and a dimarzio tone zone in my rg370dx and i learned this... IBANEZ DOES THE WEIRDEST WIRING! im gonna do my best to coach you through this one man. first things first. do you understand how a pickup selector switch works? its basically just a sweeper that makes a complete connection between the two wires on the switch. once the connection is made the pickup is engaged. so by this logic you can ALMOST guess where the wires should go. but then phase becomes an issue as well. but thats a different story. i dont have much experience with coil tapping but i can research it for ya... man do you have msn. that'll make this WAAAAAYY easier. nuno_owns@hotmail.com ill wait to hear more from you before i continue. later dude

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

I have an RGT42 that I put a SD Distortion in:
From SD tech support.
Black to where Red was
Red and White together where Black and White was
Green and bare to pot.

 

[RiggaMortes]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Yeah, I have MSN... JAGebhart@msn.com

inner, I don't think that applies to my setup as I never had black and white wires, only red and white, and both of those were connected to the switch, with the third bare wire grounded to the back of the pot.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Ohh. I had an INF2 in the bridge with a 5 way switch.

 

[RiggaMortes]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Anyone else have any ideas? I found how a Jem is wired with the same switch and 4-conductor humbuckers and tried it the same way with no luck.

 

[RiggaMortes]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Ok... I got it working... sort of. Somethin happened to the output... it's WAY low. I have almost no clean channel left on my Marshall VS30R... have to have volume at about 6 to hear ANYTHING. Overdrive channel sounds like the clean channel used to... and with my Metal Zone pedal it sounds worse than the old pickup.

 

[Artie]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Should go like this:

Artie

Edit: Green, on the Duncan means green and bare. If its out of phase with an Ibby pup, reverse green and black, but leave bare at ground.

 

[RiggaMortes]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

So the red/white on the new pickup does have to be connected to the switch again? =\ Kinda misleading with it saying to solder and tape them together.

So without that red/white connected, would that cause low output like I'm describing?

 

[Artie]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Actually, its not misleading at all. They didn't know you were putting it into an Ibby. (Remember, all guitars are different.)

The red/white, if taped up and not connected to anything else, will just give you standard humbucker operation. Connecting the red/white as in the Ibby diagram gives you "split" operation. If you're combining this with an Ibby pickup, there's a good chance the two will be out-of-phase with each. Then you'ld simply reverse the black and green connection on the Duncan. Leave everything else the same.

Artie

 

[RiggaMortes]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

So... even if I only have it in position 1 for just the humbucker, if they're out of phase, would that cause the problem I'm having with really low output? Don't mean to play 20 questions, I just don't want to keep soldering and removing solder and soldering again.

 

[Artie]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

The out-of-phase problem will only be apparent when used with another pickup. If its weak while used by itself, then its wired wrong. Having said that, you can wire the pup itself, out of phase with itself. For example, if you connected white to hot, red and black together, and green to ground. There's other ways also.

As a starting point, I'd do the Duncan "by the book", so to speak. Then try it by itself and see how it sounds.

black to where the Ibby white used to go.
red and white together and taped off.
green and bare to ground.

No problem with the questions. Keep asking 'til we get this right.

Artie

 

[nuno_owns]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

ya dude thats whats causin the low output. id listen to this dude over me. he knows WAY more. merry sloderin.

 

[RiggaMortes]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Well I switched the black and green and THEN it was out of phase... no sound at all. So I guess I had that part right to begin with... I've also switched the black and the red/white pair and that doesn't help. At this point I'm wondering if this is how they're supposed to be... but I'm hoping I'm just an idiot and I'm overlooking something.

Forgetting about everything I've tried so far, what can cause really low output like that?

*EDIT*
Just to summarize I tried this...

black to where the Ibby white used to go.
red and white together and taped off.
green and bare to ground.

... and it's weak.

black to where the Ibby white used to go.
red and white together and connected where the red used to go
green and bare to ground.

... and it's weak.

black to where the Ibby red used to go.
red and white together and taped off.
green and bare to ground.

... no sound at all.

black to where the Ibby red used to go.
red and white together and where the white used to go
green and bare to ground.

... no sound at all.

green to where the Ibby white used to go.
red and white together and where the red used to go
black and bare to ground.

... weak, and no sound with switch in position 2.

 

[Artie]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

A Distortion should have lots of cojones. Its possible that you toasted a pot. Try wiring the Duncan straight to the jack as a temporary move. Again, red and white together, black to the center, green to ground. Then see how that sounds.

Was it a new or used pup?

 

[RiggaMortes]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Brand new, bought it at Guitar Center this morning.

 

[RiggaMortes]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Well I guess that's it... fried pot. Hooked it up to the jack and plugged it in, turned on the amp and it sounded nice. So I guess that's my next project... new pot to go with the new pickup, lol.

 

[Artie]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Hey RM; Let me leave you with this thought. Down through the guitar ages, they've soldered to the back of pots. I never do. They aren't designed for that. I know that goes against conventional wisdom, but if you can find an alternative grounding spot, you may want to take it. There's other options, like using those star-washers that have the solder lug on them, to using metal "ground-planes". May take a little fabrication, but it could save a good pot - and some aggravation.

Artie

 

[Artie]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

One last thing, and this is something that a lot of folks, (including myself), sometimes overlook. If you use fairly thick solder, it has a thicker inner flux channel also. In the normal position you hold a pot to solder to the lugs means that the excess flux can run down into the pot and get on the carbon ribbon. Flux is pine tar. It insulates fairly well.

Try to spray some cleaner in there, if you have any. Might save you a few steps.

 

[RiggaMortes]

Re: SH-6 in an Ibanez RG270DX

Sounds like good advice. I'll see what I can do to avoid soldering on the new pot(s).

With the washers, what would you do with those? Just screw one into the wood in the little cavity in the back of the guitar?

I'm going to try cleaning up the old pot... there's a big pile of solder on it either from the previous owner or from Ibanez. You wouldn't happen to have any diagrams that show how to test a pot would you? I have a digital multi-meter.