Ibanez 2 Humbucker 5-Way Switching Wiring

jaymenon

I find this wiring scheme fascinating since it uses the Ibanez 2502N switch, which I understand is internally wired differently.

The interesting part is that in 

Position 2: Inner coil of both humbuckers in parallel (a bit like position 2 on a Strat )

Position 4: Neck humbucker both coils in parallel (a bit like a neck single coil)

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/ZE7DRFx.jpg)

When we tried replacing the ceramic humbuckers with a set of Seymour Duncan Alnico JB and Jazz - it was interesting that in position 2 it wasn’t both inner coils that were active but the inner coil of the bridge HB and the headstock side coil of the neck HB (and they weren't hum-cancelling either)

So are DiMarzio / Ibanez neck humbuckers wired differently? 

With wind & polarity identical to the bridge humbucker?

ICBM

I think the Ibanez/DiMarzio pickups used for this wiring scheme are opposite magnetic polarity, so the split combinations are hum-cancelling. (As PRS do with theirs too.)

To fix this with the Duncans you need to flip the magnet in the neck pickup and swap the black and green wires, which will also change which coil remains on when split.

Funkfingers

Confusion can arise when installing pickups of one brand whilst following a schematic circuit diagram intended for another. The conductor colour codes may be in a different order.

As ICBM points out, in order to preserve noise-cancellation in all switch positions, the Ibanez and PRS circuits require one humbucker to be of opposite magnetic polarity to the other.

In some DiMarzio humbuckers, the bar magnet is glued into position. The only way to reverse the magnetic polarity is to install the DiMarzio humbucker rotated through one hundred and eighty degrees. (Good thing the twelve Allen screw polepieces look the same either way around.) 

jaymenon

Thanks guys - but somehow I don't think rotating a pickup by 180* changes the polarity...

ICBM

jaymenon said:

Thanks guys - but somehow I don't think rotating a pickup by 180* changes the polarity...

Yes it does. The two coils are opposite polarities, so turning the pickup round effectively reverses the polarity of each coil position.

Obviously you have to swap the wiring round as well in order to select which coil is on. If the pickup is normally wired green-white-black-red, it now needs to be black-red-green-white - so the electrical phase stays the same.

Funkfingers

jaymenon said:

I don't think rotating a pickup by 180* changes the polarity...

The magnetic poles run along the long edges of the bar magnet.

jaymenon

 Thanks guys, that was very educational 

jaymenon

My pickups are a set of Tonerider Rocksongs (wiring code the same as DiMarzio).

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/qt5Z5Lh.png)

So I would flip the neck magnet - I figured out how to do that.

What do I then do with the soldering connections on the switch please? The same as the diagram below?

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/ZE7DRFx.jpg)

Funkfingers

Assuming that you have an Ibanez/OTAX selector switch, follow the published diagram.