[7 Dying Trees]

So yesterday I get down to replacing the switch in the 540s7. Fairly simple, 5 way switch. 2 rows of 3 connectors, just looking to get full on humbucker, then the split coil sounds.

Basically, for some reason, when i started I only got the bridge humbucker, no single coils. So I threw away the old switch, and then simply:

Dimarzio Blaze(Bridge)
-> Black and white wires soldered together
-> Green and ground wire to earth
-> Red wire to pickup selector.

Single coils:
-> Onlky one wire, other goes to ground, basically whatever wire pokes out to one of the other two connectors.

Now, the single coils work, and I love the neck single coil sound, supremely twangy, awesome, even the mid single sounds good on this guitar, way better than on the UV's.

Now. First wiring I wired it so:

1) output of the two plates wired together row 1 out -> row 2 out -> volume pot

2) Humbucker(bridge) hot (red) to pos 1 , row 1

3) Middle single hot (well, reverse wound hot yadda yadda) to pos 2 row 1

4) Neck single hot to pos 3 row 1

5) black and white (coil split) humbucker to pos 1 row 2

Now I realise 5) is wrong, but, i removed that wiring and I have the following problem:


Bridge humbucker is basically not producing any output, or very very low (as in the singles produce a crapload more signal than the humbucker)

THis even happens with the b+w connection off the switch.

I am starting to think maybe something has gone wrong with the pickup? Has anyone ever melted a pickup through soldering? Unlikely as it wasn't heated long. Loose wire? Pickup finally died? ANyone have any ideas?

James

[bostjan]

Got any alligator clips?

Clip one end to the red lead of the pickup and the other lead directly to the output jack and see if you get any output. If not, the pickup is dead.

[7 Dying Trees]

good idea. although am thinking of just quickly soldering the output to the volume knob, see what happens.

Worst part is that before I started the bridge worked, but the single coils didn't as the switch was shot. Now it's the other way round. sigh.

[bostjan]

Well, I doubt you melted the pickup, but I try to limit my soldering time for the mere reason that inhaling all of that solder is hazardous to your health.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that you may have a bad switch, even right out of the box.

[7 Dying Trees]

Yeah, am going to try with a different switch, time to plonk in a vlx-91. They are far too confusing to wire, but are very good switches. First time to make sure the pickup isn't fried!

With soldering I only really heat it up 2-3 secs untill the solder melts, get it flowing and then heat off.

ah well :/

[scott from _actual time_]

Originally Posted by 7 Dying Trees

Yeah, am going to try with a different switch, time to plonk in a vlx-91.

that may not be possible--the switch in an S guitar usually sits inside that notch cut through the body, right up against the plastic switch-holder thingy. the VLX91 may be too wide to fit in there.

i agree that soldering should not melt the innards of a pickup. it could however melt the hook-up wires or the insulation around those wires. i agree with the advice to solder the hot wire of the humbucker diectly to the volume pot tab or output jack and see what happens.

also, check your grounds. soldering to vol pot casings takes way more heat than soldering to switches, and if that ground (earth) connection isn't good, that could be causing this.

do you have a voltmeter? that's the best way to check connectivity on anything.

[scott from _actual time_]

Originally Posted by 7 Dying Trees

1) output of the two plates wired together row 1 out -> row 2 out -> volume pot

this is part of your problem. in the standard Ibanez H/S/S or H/S/H wiring, the second "plate" or bank of the 5-way is not used for output; it's used to coil cut the humbuckers in positions 2 and 4. so the output of the second bank should not be soldered to anything.

the correct relative wiring for that second bank is bridge HB series link to bridge position tab (usually #3), neck HB (if H/S/H guitar) series link to neck position tab, ground to the middle tab, and nothing to the output tab. this connects the bridge HB series link to ground in position 4 only, so the bridge HB is coil cut only in position 4.

[7 Dying Trees]

Yeah, checked the impedance of the pickup, and, no joy :/ (reads 20k thereabouts, so seems fine)

I have one other crappy switch lying around, so can try that if the vlx doesn't fit.

Very annoying, as the rest of the pickups sound great! I do seem to remember my old s540ltd having a vlx switch in it, so I have a feeliung it will fit.

What definately won't fit is the monstrosity that is the dimarzio 4 plated 5 way style strat switch. That's going in the 1077 when i get new pickups for it