[ArticFrost]

I've got a pair of Ibanez "IBZ-LZ" active humbuckers that came stock on an Ibanez ART300 guitar and am trying to figure out if the wiring coming out of each pickup allows the two coils to be split or not, or coil tapped?

Based on my notes from how these pickups were originally wired up in the guitar they came out of, this is what i know about each wire:

GREEN - hot
BLACK - coils' ground
BARE - cover's ground
RED - battery power
WHITE - ????

in the OEM wiring scheme, the two White wires from each pickup were connected to each other and taped off. I have no idea why or what this means about the White wires' function. I don't know if it is related or not, but the only other time i have seen this configuration, is on a pair of *passive* Designed By EMG humbuckers that came stock on an Ibanez RGR320EX.

So, looking to know what the White wires do and if i can wire them for any options - like coil split/parallel/coil tap etc.?

Second question: does anyone know if these active pickups can be run at higher voltages, like a 9 volt battery instead of the stock 3 volt option? I searched around the net but found nothing that addressed these specific pickups. Apparently Ibanez has designed different pickups through the years but used "IBZ-LZ" in the name of these different pickups. Some were passive but there was an active EQ control/pot in the wiring scheme, some were a design that were made by Dimarzio for Ibanez... so that adds to the confusion. Again, the ones i am asking about are definitely active, run stock at 3 volts, and there is no active EQ or active control elsewhere in the circuit.

Pics below.

 

[sepulchrave]

My guess is that the white wires don't do anything if they were taped together, the pickups were manufactured using 4-core screen because 3-core screen wasn't available and 2-core screen was no use.
I can see no reason to change the electrics to 9V so I'd leave it be rather than risk blowing the preamps and trashing the pickups.

 

[ArticFrost]

My guess is that the white wires don't do anything if they were taped together, the pickups were manufactured using 4-core screen because 3-core screen wasn't available and 2-core screen was no use.
I can see no reason to change the electrics to 9V so I'd leave it be rather than risk blowing the preamps and trashing the pickups.

I would like to know if they can handle 9 volts so that if they do, then i could replace the neck pickup with a 9 volt offering (which most other active pickup manufacturers use) without having to cram into the cavity an additional 9 volt battery.

 

[sepulchrave]

Better to use a passive neck pickup like the Dimarzio D-activator.

 

[ArticFrost]

I took some time today and wired these pickups with a 9 volt harness and battery. I found the pickups do not work when run at 9 volts - the sound out of the amp was a bunch of electrical noise right from the get-go. To be sure, i took it back to the bench and wired up the original 3 volt harness and tested again through an amp. No issues, worked fine. So question #2 is answered, and at least now documented for the future.

Anyone know about question #1 - what does the white wire do?

 

[j.arledge]

I took some time today and wired these pickups with a 9 volt harness and battery. I found the pickups do not work when run at 9 volts - the sound out of the amp was a bunch of electrical noise right from the get-go. To be sure, i took it back to the bench and wired up the original 3 volt harness and tested again through an amp. No issues, worked fine. So question #2 is answered, and at least now documented for the future.

Anyone know about question #1 - what does the white wire do?

as said before, they probably do nothing If they were just taped from factory. You can always take a multi-meter and see. if you know, hot, ground and power then that is probably it. The only other thing is if they can be split.

 

[ArticFrost]

I reached out to Hoshino Gakki USA and someone there was able to answer the question about the white wire. Only the bridge pickup contains the DC voltage converter and so the white wire is necessary to connect the neck pickup to the bridge pickup so that the neck pickup can function correctly. This pertains to the original design of these two "IBZ-LZ" pickups, part numbers 3PU12A0001 & 3PU12A0002. An updated version of these two pickups that appeared about a year later - part numbers 3PU12A0023 & 3PU12A0024 - relieved this dependency/constraint by placing a DC voltage converter in the neck pickup as well.

They also were able to tell me that for the other pickups i mentioned in my first post - the Designed By EMG passives found on the RGR320EX - that the white wires on those pickups do in fact provide a coil tapping function.

 

[ArticFrost]

I reached out to Hoshino Gakki USA and someone there was able to answer the question about the white wire. Only the bridge pickup contains the DC voltage converter and so the white wire is necessary to connect the neck pickup to the bridge pickup so that the neck pickup can function correctly. This pertains to the original design of these two "IBZ-LZ" pickups, part numbers 3PU12A0001 & 3PU12A0002. An updated version of these two pickups that appeared about a year later - part numbers 3PU12A0023 & 3PU12A0024 - relieved this dependency/constraint by placing a DC voltage converter in the neck pickup as well.

They also were able to tell me that for the other pickups i mentioned in my first post - the Designed By EMG passives found on the RGR320EX - that the white wires on those pickups do in fact provide a coil tapping function.

UPDATE: i just heard back from Hoshino Gakki USA about some followup questions i had, and it turns out the earlier explanation that i was given (posted above) was not correct. Someone at Hoshini Gakko Japan said that in *both* versions of these pickups, only the bridge has the DC converter. So in both versions, the neck is dependent on the bridge for its active capability. The Japan rep said the only difference btw the two versions is that the later version has covers and screw threadings that are closer in design to EMGs than the first version.

They also provided this "wiring function" diagram.

 

[sepulchrave]

So no coil split then, better to just leave it standard for now.