Help me please! Buzzing problem

[hararge]

Dear all,

Thanks for reading this post and for any help you can offer.

My guitar is an ibanez sc420 and i've recently replaced the pickups with an evans "the humbucker" at the neck and a dimarzio dual sound (so super 2, i think) at the bridge.

I reversed the 5 way switch basically as i was confronted by a situation where by i was taking a four wire pup out of neck, 2 wire from bridge, and installing the opposite combination - if you get my drift.

Position 1 (switch toward neck) = neck hum
p 2 = neck humbucker in single coil (but still hum cancelling, Evans genius)
p 3 = Both humbucking
p 4 = Dimarzio in parallel
p 5 = Dimarzio in series

I had to remove a linking wire to avoid p 2 having some bridge input.

My problem: Position 4 hums noisily. This is more noticable the nearer you are to the amp (as one might expect), but at a reasonable distance is still louder than it should be, and hence very annoying as it is a fantastic clean sound that i don't want blighted by buzz.....

All other positions are quiet.

Is there anything obvious that would cause this? I'm not hugely experienced when it comes to wiring but i've done a fair bit..... My lack of understanding of the 5-way switch may be the main problem here, but i was hoping some of you ibanez fans may be more familiar with it.

Cheers for any light you can shed on this

Hararge

[j.arledge]

i think the reason why you have hum in position 4 is because you can't do series and parallel with out a switch. I belive that you are coil spliting the dual sound instead of running it in paralle .

I started using a push pull tone knob to switch between series in parallel in all my guitars . You can also use a dpdt switch to change from series and parallel .

I'll do a bit of research and see if i can find a way to not have to use a dpdt switch or push pull knob

[j.arledge]

nope not possible without a push pull knob or dpdt swich.

[MicJustMic]

Actually it is possible to do this with a 4 pole switch, but the wiring excapes me at the moment . . . I'll get back to you.

Mic

[hararge]

Yeah, it is possible as originally position 2 was in parallel (ibanez v1). The switch in use is a bit weird (i think its similar to a "megaswitch"), it's model no. 3PS1SC5 and reads 2502N on it. I literally turned the switch through 180 degrees and swapped the wires.... and then removed the link wire. Its actually a really good switch enalbing many different combinations but i don't really understand the connections.

Your help is appreciated. Apologies If i don't respond again for a while, i'm away during the week.

Cheers

[MicJustMic]

Oh, I see what you're doing . . . you just want it to do the same thing, in reverse.

That should work, I think you just mucked up the wiring somewhere. Go to Ibanez.com and look at the wiring diagrams they have there, that should help a bit.

The switch is a "special" switch that Ibanez uses for "special" 2 humbucker combinations. It's good for what it does, but not much else. I prefer the Superswitch that stew mac sells, much more versitile, but you really have to understand how to wire the thing to get it to do what you want it to.

Mic

[rty13ibz98]

make SURE that you have an S classic switch for 2 hums, and not a standard 5 way. i made the mistake a long time ago with a tele i was wiring. i had ordered an S classic switch from a dealer but received a standard 5. i was wiring a tapped quarter pounder and hot rail and did not get the cool sounds i had wanted from the switch. after much troubleshooting realized that the switch was in fact just a regular 5 way. they look identical and i have even seen several with the same markings. the only true way to see which switch you have is by reading it with a meter. the standard 5 will be a 2 pole, with 3 lugs per pole. position 1 will be lug 1 only, position 2 will be lugs 1 and 2 summed, position 3 will be lug 2 only, position 4 will be lugs 2 and 3 summed, and position 5 will be lug 3 only. this will hold true for both circuits/poles of the switch. this is also the standard for a fender switch.
now the S classic switch will have a bunch of different combinations...per both poles. this is how you will be able to tell that you have the proper switch for the application.
what you did with the removal of the linking jumper reminded me EXACTLY what happened with my tele project. so chances are you have the wrong switch. which would be odd considering you already have the S classic. let us know what you find.


rich

[hararge]

Well i know it's possible with this switch, as the original combinations required more than a standard 5 way. In a few weeks i'll have a bit of spare time so i'll probably just have a tinker.....

Cheers for your help