Humbucker sounds tinny in split mode -- help?

SBlack · #1 11-12-2003, 11:49 PM

I have wired a H-S-S Ibanez with a V2 humbucker in the bridge, and when the switch is in position 2 (splitting the humbucker and combining it with the middle coil) I get a tinny sound that I can't figure out how to correct. I wired the switch according to the Ibanez diagram. Please help!

dot-dot-dot · #2 11-13-2003, 04:51 AM

Sounds like you have the pickups out of phase with each other. Try reversing the hot and ground leads on the humbucker.

SBlack · #3 11-13-2003, 02:35 PM

Do you mean take the humbucker's red wire off of the "hot" terminal and put the bare sheild (ground) in its place. Then, solder the red wire to the pot instead of the shield? Please let me know if I got this right.

Thanks

dot-dot-dot · #4 11-13-2003, 05:34 PM

What wires do you have from the humbucker?

SBlack · #5 11-13-2003, 10:17 PM

I got it! Thanks. I put the shield to the switch and the red to the ground and it fixed the tinny sound -- now it sounds right finally. But if I touch the pickup screws I get a fuzzy noise like 60-cycle hum. How can I fix that? Thanks.

frankfalbo · #6 11-14-2003, 12:14 AM

Go back the way you had it, because you just activated the poles, the baseplate, and the cable shielding to "hot" Next, reverse the hot and ground wires on the two single coil pickups instead. They usually don't have a shield, or if they do, they still have an independent hot and ground that you can switch while leaving the shield alone. Shields should always go to ground. In the case of the V2, the shield is connected to the ground wire of the pickup internally, so there's really only one way to wire that pickup. I can't stand pickups that are wired that way. You need to reverse the phase of the others instead.

dot-dot-dot · #7 11-14-2003, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankfalbo

In the case of the V2, the shield is connected to the ground wire of the pickup internally, so there's really only one way to wire that pickup. I can't stand pickups that are wired that way. You need to reverse the phase of the others instead.

Argh - I didn't know that about the V2. Doh.

SBlack · #8 11-16-2003, 10:08 PM

Thanks. I reversed the single coil black and white wires and connected red to hot, white to tap, and shield to ground on the V2 -- ouala! It works perfectly now. Thanks again.