HSH 2 conductor help . . .

[Crispy]

I'm working on a project guitar and need some wiring advice. The guitar is an Ibanez RG350 and has 2 humbuckers and a single coil, 5 way switch, one volume and one tone control.

The currently installed Ibanez humbuckers are 3 wire pickups. The humbuckers I bought are 2 wire pickups (one hot and one ground).

Question is, can I still somehow use the 5 way switch or am I going to have to go to 3 way switch because of the 2 wire humbuckers? I'm totally confused and can't find a diagram anywhere for this 2 wire set up.

Can anyone get me on the right track?

Thanks!

[marnold]

You should have no problem wiring them up with a five way switch, basically like a Strat. What you won't be able to do is what Ibanez HSH guitars normally do in the second and fourth positions. Normally, in those positions they will shunt one coil of the humbucker so you will get somewhat more Strat-like quack tones. You will be "stuck" with the full humbucker together with the single coil. Not the end of the world, IMO.

Follow this wiring diagram (http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=HSH_1v_1t_5w). The pickups in that diagram use Seymour Duncan's color codes, but it shouldn't be a problem. Just run the hot lead from the pickup to the switch and the ground lead to the back of the volume pot and you should be golden.

[Crispy]

You should have no problem wiring them up with a five way switch, basically like a Strat. What you won't be able to do is what Ibanez HSH guitars normally do in the second and fourth positions. Normally, in those positions they will shunt one coil of the humbucker so you will get somewhat more Strat-like quack tones. You will be "stuck" with the full humbucker together with the single coil. Not the end of the world, IMO.

Follow this wiring diagram (http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=HSH_1v_1t_5w). The pickups in that diagram use Seymour Duncan's color codes, but it shouldn't be a problem. Just run the hot lead from the pickup to the switch and the ground lead to the back of the volume pot and you should be golden.

Hi, and thanks for the reply. This wiring diagram make sense, but looking at it, wouldn't it just be converting the 5 way to 3 way switch? By the way this is wired up, it looks like positions 2, 3, 4 would work, but 1 and 5 would be dead. Isn't this this case? Just wondering...

Thanks!

[DeanEVO_Dude]

Hi, and thanks for the reply. This wiring diagram make sense, but looking at it, wouldn't it just be converting the 5 way to 3 way switch? By the way this is wired up, it looks like positions 2, 3, 4 would work, but 1 and 5 would be dead. Isn't this this case? Just wondering...

Thanks!

Nope. You still have your inbetween settings (bridge-middle and neck-middle), what you "loose" in your case are the coil taps on the neck and bridge pickups (that's where the 3rd wire on the old pickups comes into the picture). On the 5-way switch the two sides are not electrically tied together (that's why the jumper from the bottom on one side to the top of the other side). When you move the switch to position 1, only one (bridge) terminal is tied (thru the wire) to the volume pot. In position 2, the bridge and the middle terminals are connected inside the switch and connected to the vol. pot. In position 3, the middle is connected to the vol. pot. The pattern continues with positions 4 and 5 of the switch.
So, the important part of this is that there are 2 halves of the switch, independant (electrically) of each other, it is not a 5 position with 5 terminals; it is 2, 5 positions switches tied to switch together.

Hope this help your understanding a little better. Cheers!

[Crispy]

Nope. You still have your inbetween settings (bridge-middle and neck-middle), what you "loose" in your case are the coil taps on the neck and bridge pickups (that's where the 3rd wire on the old pickups comes into the picture). On the 5-way switch the two sides are not electrically tied together (that's why the jumper from the bottom on one side to the top of the other side). When you move the switch to position 1, only one (bridge) terminal is tied (thru the wire) to the volume pot. In position 2, the bridge and the middle terminals are connected inside the switch and connected to the vol. pot. In position 3, the middle is connected to the vol. pot. The pattern continues with positions 4 and 5 of the switch.
So, the important part of this is that there are 2 halves of the switch, independant (electrically) of each other, it is not a 5 position with 5 terminals; it is 2, 5 positions switches tied to switch together.

Hope this help your understanding a little better. Cheers!


I appreciate your taking the time to explain this, and your points are well taken. Here was the problem... my Ibanez does indeed have a 5 way switch, but it is of the "import" type whose pin arrangement is laid out differently than that of the Fender-type 5 way shown in the diagram you forwarded. I wasn't aware of this difference until this morning. In fact, I found this link which explains the difference in switch types perfectly:

http://www.alloutput.com/Wiring/5way.html

After I studied this switch diagram and translated the pin arrangement from one switch to the other, it all made sense. I resoldered the whole thing, temporarily attached the pickguard with a couple of screws, put the strings back on, ran it downstairs to the studio and plugged it into amp. Damn! It works perfectly and these pickups scream! In this case, giving up the coil taps is waaaaay acceptable. I am attaining a wide variety of sounds as is.

Thanks again, and I'm glad there are people like you out there who spread the knowledge around.

Crispy

P.S. And check this out. I wrote it several year ago--you might find it interesting:

http://stagemaster.blogspot.com/

[marnold]

Thanks again, and I'm glad there are people like you out there who spread the knowledge around.
Glad to be of help and even more glad to hear that everything turned out well the first time around!

[DeanEVO_Dude]

...After I studied this switch diagram and translated the pin arrangement from one switch to the other, it all made sense.

Yeah, sorry about that, forgot about those cheesey import switches (like the ones I have had in all my strats!). Glad you got it sorted out.