Weird Wiring Idea

[convulted]

Hey all...
I own an Ibanez RG7421XL (H/H pickups) and I just noticed that the output jack is stereo, so I had a bright idea to leave the left channel as it is and hardwire a pickup combination to the right channel, then use a custom switchbox to select which channel to route to the amplifier (if that doesn't make sense, it's not important, so ignore it please ).
Anyway, the hard-wired pickup combination I would like to use is the parallel wired bridge and no neck pickup combination (gives a very nice clean sound on the rest of my rig). The problem is that I would not like to affect the rest of the output (i.e.: the output leaving the guitar on the left channel).
Added to all this I have absolutely no idea what connections the toggle switch uses - help!
Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Dre

[Scott of Actual Time]

wow, that is pretty wierd!

to get that hard-wierd to the ring on the stereo jack, you would need a DPDT to convert the bridge humbucker to parallel mode. you'd have to run the hot and coil cut from that DPDT into the 5-way to make the stock combinations still work. and as you say, you would need a custom switchbox at your amp.

the better way to do the switching i think would be to have that in the guitar as well, and still keep the output on the tip of the stereo jack. you'd need another switch in the guitar, but you wouldn't need an external switchbox. the only reason to use the stereo jack is if you think you'd ever want both signals running at the same time.

and if you really like the bridge humbucker in parallel, you could modify the stock wiring scheme to include that position, with a DPDT push/pull pot or with some fancy switching.

[convulted]

I'm note sure I got all of that (hey I'm new to this and very tired ) My point was really to relocate the switching from on board the guitar to a footpedal so a DPDT switch on the guitar would be missing the point, especially since the combination I need is already wired in the selector switch.
On a related note, would I need to wire both (red and white, I believe) wires coming from the bridge pickup to the ring or just one of them to use parallel? How about series instead of parallel, would that be feasable?

Thanks a lot,
Dre

[Scott of Actual Time]

Originally Posted by convulted

My point was really to relocate the switching from on board the guitar to a footpedal so a DPDT switch on the guitar would be missing the point, especially since the combination I need is already wired in the selector switch.

right -- i got your point, i was just offering another solution. if you want the switching in a footpedal, then yes you don't want a switch in the guitar.

but the combination you need is _not_ already wired into the selector switch -- the neck humbucker is in parallel mode in position 2 in the ibanez 'special' 5-way switching scheme, but the bridge HB is never in parallel.

Originally Posted by convulted

On a related note, would I need to wire both (red and white, I believe) wires coming from the bridge pickup to the ring or just one of them to use parallel?

you would need a DPDT switch or push/pull pot to switch the bridge to parallel. it is more complicated than just a couple wires, since parallel wiring is significantly different from 'normal' humbucker series wiring. for this reason, you would also want the DPDT for the bridge pickup 'upstream' of the 5-way switch -- you'd run the pickup wires to the DPDT and then from there to the 5-way.

you also need a 4 conductor humbucker to do this. i think the RG74XX series came with the ibanez V7-7 / V8-7 pickups, and the bridge humbucker has a coil cut wire but is not 4 conductor. you could hack into the pickup to get the other wires out, but be careful.

Originally Posted by convulted

How about series instead of parallel, would that be feasable?

series humbucking is "normal" humbucking, which is already in the 5-way switch. if you wanted this coming out of the ring stereo channel, just connect the hot wire [most likely the red one, but i can be certain without seeing your guitar] to the ring. however, depending on what position the 5-way was in, it might be coil cut or produce no sound at all.

[convulted]

I appreciate the fact that you offered an alternative, don't get me wrong!

I was... uhm... reading the switching diagram backwards .
Anyway (lol)... then what would make most "sense" would be to leave the pickup switch in position 4 (second closest to bridge) and wire the bridge hot wire to the ring.
I'll try this sometime this week and tell you what happens (if anything ).

Dre