[djpharoah]

Hi - might be getting a Tone Zone 7 (bridge) and an Air Norton 7 (neck) for my RG7421 mod.

However I want to change a few thing than rather just substituting the new pickups. I want to remove the tone knob and put in a volume pot. What are all the things that I would need?

Please help - this is my first time and I dont want o mess up. Any diagrams would help and so would any recommendations for new pots etc. I found the wiring diagram for the rg7621 which is most likely the same for me.

I kinda want to keep the 5 way switch and its 5 "modes" so basically just need to replace the tone knob with a second volume for the bridge pickup, turning the first volume to a volume for the neck.

[scott from _actual time_]

Originally Posted by djpharoah

I kinda want to keep the 5 way switch and its 5 "modes" so basically just need to replace the tone knob with a second volume for the bridge pickup, turning the first volume to a volume for the neck.

unfortunately, it's not quite that simple.

a generic two-humbucker, two-volume setup is easy--look for Les Paul or SG diagrams. the basic idea is that the pickup hot wire goes to the volume pot first, then the volume pot output goes to the selector switch, which on Gibsons is usually a 3-way.

but with all the cool different coil combinations in the Ibanez "special" 5-way switch, things are more complicated. there's not just one hot wire coming from each pickup; different wires are hot in different switch positions, and sometimes more than one wire from the same humbucker is hot [like in the neck-in-parallel position]. and you can't wire all those possible hot pickup wires through separate volume controls or you'd need like half-a-dozen knobs.

it _might_ be possible to do this with a 24-pole superswitch and a custom scheme of ganged outputs--all the hot outputs from the bridge pickup going out of the switch on one common wire and all the hot outputs from the neck pickup going out on another, so that those all-bridge and all-neck wires could go to the bridge volume pot and neck volume pot, respectively. but that might take more switching than that switch will do--i don't know, but i'm starting to get curious if it's possible.

the half-assed option would be to wire one hot wire from each pickup into the volume knobs and leave the other hot wires on the switch. that would mean some of your 5-way switch positions would be controled by the volume knobs, like #1 full neck humbucker and #5 full bridge humbucker, but some of the other switch positions would not be controled by volume knobs at all.

the functional but limited option would be to ditch the 5-way and use a 3-way wired up like a Les Paul. but then you'd lose al lthose cool 5-way coil combinations.

[djpharoah]

Any way to install a 3 way switch for the dual volume knobs? I could care less for the 5 way switch. I usually use all bridge or all neck.

[7 Strings of Hate]

i'm with you pharoah, i just had to ditch the 5 way and use the 3 way, but i',m like you where i only use all neck, or all bridge, on the fly the 5 ways sucks in my opinion, your pg is almost done by the way

[djpharoah]

Originally Posted by 7 Strings of Hate

i'm with you pharoah, i just had to ditch the 5 way and use the 3 way, but i',m like you where i only use all neck, or all bridge, on the fly the 5 ways sucks in my opinion, your pg is almost done by the way

Thats gansta! I cannot wait to see that bad boy.

Btw - which 3 way switch do I get from Universal Jems - should I upgrade the pots as well? Do I need some resistors ?

[scott from _actual time_]

Originally Posted by djpharoah

Any way to install a 3 way switch for the dual volume knobs? I could care less for the 5 way switch. I usually use all bridge or all neck.

sure, that's easy--you had just said you kinda wanted to keep the 5-way. like i said above, get a Les Paul or Sg wiring diagram, leave the tone controls out, and use a 3-way blade switch instead of a round 3-way.

and i do think the dual volume controls with Ibanez special 5-way combinations are possible with a 24-pole superswitch. curiosity sated.

[djpharoah]

Originally Posted by scott from _actual time_

sure, that's easy--you had just said you kinda wanted to keep the 5-way. like i said above, get a Les Paul or Sg wiring diagram, leave the tone controls out, and use a 3-way blade switch instead of a round 3-way.

I guess its time to do some research. How does coil tapping with push/pull pots come into play? Is that too advanced?

[scott from _actual time_]

Originally Posted by djpharoah

I guess its time to do some research. How does coil tapping with push/pull pots come into play? Is that too advanced?

look up some Gibson-style, two-humbucker diagrams. you can easily coil cut with push/pull pots--either one pot to cut both humbuckers at the same time, or two pots so you could cut each humbucker separately.

[djpharoah]

Ok - from Universal Jems site which pot do I get?

I think the ones in the guitar are mini-pots?