Ibanez H-H 5-way switch parallel / series

[F242]

On my RG321MH I measured the total pickup resistance for each of the 5 positions of the switch and got the following:

1 (Bridge Hum) : 16.0 kohm
2 (Bridge-Neck coil tap) : 3.8 kohm
3 (Bridge-Neck Hum) : 6.8 kohm
4 (Neck parallel) : 3.0 kohm
5 (Neck hum) : 12.8 kohm

It makes sense that the Bridge humbucker has a higher resistance because it probably has more windings in order to keep the same output level as the neck humbucker.

It also makes sense that the neck parallel has about one quarter the resistance of the normal humbucking mode (series).

What surprises me is the low values I get for the two combinations of the neck and bridge pickup. I always read the diagram from Ibanez as if the output of the two pickups was summed (i.e. series connection) but it appears that they are in fact connected in parallel for position 2 and 3.

Which is also makes sense since the output from the guitar in position 3 is not significantly higher than in position 1 or 5. So position 3 is more about blending the two pick ups and not about adding the outputs as I expected.

Finn

[Vim Fuego]

Usually combinations of pickups are wired in parallel while the coils of a humbucker are in series (It's just simpler that way). You are correct that positions 2 and 3 are parallel wiring (either both hums or one coil from each hum). The confusion is that Ibanez use a different colour to denote that the neck is in series or parallel mode and then use the series colour for all the other pickup selections D'oh
Jim