Cool Customizables

Hey!

I've decided to add some new knobs and switches to one of my guitars, but I don't know what to do with them ...

So, I'm looking for suggestions!

The guitar is an old Yamaha in the shape of an Ibanez RG.
3 pickups - 2 humbucker and 1 single coil with 1 volume and 1 tone knob.

I've already fitted an push/pull pot where the tone used to be - at the moment it's still just a tone control ...

Plus I've got a 2 way and a 3 way switch.

I've been thinking of making one of the switches a kind of off/on thing to get that Tom Morello thing going, but I'm sure there's loads more that i could do!

What d'ya think?

Thanks.

Do the humbuckers have 4 wires coming from each pickup, ( disregard the shielding)? That would be my first concern, because that would give you a ton of options, Lordatthestrings is the Yamaha Maven here, he may be the largest consumer of Yamaha products in North America :p , How about it LATS?

Keep in mind that the more simple of wiring you have the more bright your sound will be. The opposite is also true, if you make your guitar's electronics too complex/long wired it will dullen your sound a little.

Well Greasykid, looks like Lordatthestrings is busy, so do you want to get this show started or what? If so we have to get on the same page, so I need to know the following, 1. What model is this Yamaha, if you can tell, 2. How is it currently wired, I'm guessing with a 5-way Strat type switch since you said it has humbucker-single-humbucker and single vol and tone 3. Need to know if the Humbuckers are 2 or 4 conductor and the colors of those wires 4. Do you have or have access to an ohmmeter 5. Are you willing to get another push-pull pot 6. You have some ability with a soldering iron? Right? 7. Have you given any thought to what you are wanting to accomplish? As soon as we get these Q&A's out of the way we can get started, even if you can't answer all these questions their are still a few fun things to try, and don't worry about losing the highs, we could even brighten up the sound if you'd like........

OK,
1. Not sure. I recently took all the paint off it and removed the sticker that had it's model number on it ... It started with RG but I don't remember the rest.

2. Yep, a 5 way selector switch, 3 puckups, 2 control pots

3. I don't know how to tell if the humbuckers are 2 or 4 conductors ... the wires are soldered to the selector switch in the following order - (bridge to neck) red/white, black, red/white, red, black, white, black (red/white means 2 wires soldered to the same connection)

4. Hopefully, I'll be able to get hold of an Ohmeter (see below)

5. If it sounds cool, I'll buy anything!

6. I'm not exactly brilliant, but I can manage!

7. I need some suggestions so I can make an informed decision ;o)


A side note to #4: I've bought a Black Ice Distortion module ... I've soldered it into place as per the instructions that came with it, to a push/pull pot. The idea is, pot pushed down = tone, pot pulled up = Black Ice.
The tone is working fine (in fact, it's working better than before I replaced the original pot) but the Black Ice is doing NOTHING!!

The instructions say that you need a resistance greater than 6K ohms to drive the Black Ice, so I need to check that out but where do i put the ohmeter's electrodes to measure this?

I hope you can help, you seem like you have a considerably wider knowledge of guitar wiring than I do ...

Thanks!

Well I take it that you know the Stewart-McDonald website, since you have the Black Ice module, on the website it says pickups should be 10K or higher, your Yamaha pickups probably fall somewhere around 7.5-8.5K , but you say the instructions for the Black Ice say pu's need to be 6k or more, so we have 3 possibilities, 1. Pick-ups too weak, 2. It's wired up wrong, 3. The Black Ice is defective, I would suggest to eliminate the possibility of 2., wire it as simply as possible, you might want to wire it up to your old tone pot, and slip that back in to test it, if that does not work, I think we can eliminate 2., I strongly suggest that you get a ohm meter (vom) Radioshack has a small one that will fit in your shirt pocket for cheaps, that will do everything you need it to do, an ohmmeter would help you determine 1,2&3 above, I also would like to suggest that you go to the Stew-Mac website, go to Free Information, and read i-4000, Understanding Guitar Wiring, very informative, so let me know how all turns out.......................Oh, Btw, if you want to check the pu's output, probably what would be the easiest for you would to put your pu selector in the Bridge only position, turn the volume pot to max, and if your can reach the output jack from inside your control cavity, touch one lead of the ohmmeter to one connection, one lead to the other connection of the output jack, if you can't do that, then one lead on the output lug of the vol pot ( the one connected to the output jack ), and the other lead to ground, ( the back of a pot ), from what I info I have dug up on your guitar it's factory wiring is as follows, Bridge-Full Humbucker, Bridge and Mid with a coil split off the Bridge PU, ( the coil split grounds one coil of the Bridge Humbucker so that it operates as a single coil ) Mid- single coil only, Mid and Neck with a coil split, Neck-Full Humbucker, Pretty cool wiring already there.....let me know your findings/results OK? Good Luck............