Pickups

I own an ibanez rg350dx guitar. I was not satisfied with the stock pickups on there. So i purchased two new pickups. For the bridge i purchased dimarzio evolution bridge DP159 f-spaced, and for my neck i purchased the dimarzio humbucker from hell DP156. I replaced the pickups on my own by following the instructions. The problem that i am having started after i restrung my guitar. I put a new set of stings on and i plug into my amp and i notice that there is quite a bit of hum when i am not playing. With my old pickups i would just sit infront or just to the right of my amp and i would get no hum. Is it because these pickups are more sensative that i am getting the hum. When i move away from the amp i notice that i have no hum. On top of that i notice that the neck pickups just doesn't seem to be loud enough. Has anyone had this problem? If so please give me advise. If anyone can help me please tell me because if i do not hear from anyone i am going to go to a music store and have someone take a look at it. Thanks in advance! :)

[font=trebuchet ms]I'm going to assume that you know your way around wiring diagrams and that you can make good solder connections. If you have doubts, carefully check your work.

Something that is not addressed in the (otherwise excellent!) DiMarzio instructions is the issue of magnetic interaction between pickups. If the pickups are installed with the same magnetic poles next to each other, there will be problems. If you have a compass, you can easily check this by holding it above the strings between the pickups. The needle should be very strongly held in a line pointing from one pickup to the other.[/font]

Hey thanks for replying. Yes i know my way around wiring diagrams to an extent i am not a master at it, and yes i know how to make a good soldering connection. I am going to try what you said. Ill let you know. Thanks again.

Hey I found a compass and when i put the compass over the bridge pickup it is not pointing to the neck pickup. It is pointing in the opposite direction and the same happened with the neck pickup. Do i need to just take the pickups and flip then around. Please reply. Thank you very much for your help so far.

Originally Posted by: JPetrucci1547Hey I found a compass and when i put the compass over the bridge pickup it is not pointing to the neck pickup. It is pointing in the opposite direction and the same happened with the neck pickup ...

[font=trebuchet ms]Pay close attention here.

"If you have a compass, you can easily check this by holding it above the strings [u]between[/u] the pickups. The needle should be very strongly held in a line pointing from one pickup to the other."


The magnets in each pickup are arranged so that the poles at the top of each coil are opposite. One coil has all North poles at the top. The other coil has all South poles at the top. A compass held directly above a pickup will be strongly aligned in this field, and will not be affected by the other pickup.

The pickups need to be arranged so that the poles alternate in sequence. For example, if the bridge pickup coil next to the bridge has North poles at the top, the other coil of that pickup will have South poles at the top. The neck pickup must then have North poles at the top of the coil next to the bridge pickup, and South poles at the top of the coil next to the fret board.

Like: (bridge) NS (space) NS (fret board).

A compass held [u]between[/u] the pickups will have opposite magnetic poles on either side of it, so it will be strongly held in line.

The poles in your set up may be opposite to my example (South instead of North, and North instead of South), but as long as the poles alternate from the bridge to the fret board, it's good. Either way, the compass will be strongly aligned with the feild between the pickups.

If the pickups are installed with similar poles next to each other,

like: (bridge) NS (space) SN (fret board).

The field between them will not align the compass to point from one to the other. If you bring the compass in from one side, you will see that the compass points to the space between the pickups until you get close, then it will drift around as you pass between the pickups, and then spin around to point back at the space as you continue past the pickups.[/font]

I cannot hold the compass inbetween the pickups because my setup is humbucker single coil humbucker. So if i hold the compass inbetween the pickups it will just be right above the single coil. So is there another way to figure it out. If i cannot figure it out by this weekend i am going to go down to a music store and i am going to have someone there take a look at it. But i would like to tryand figure this out myself to save $$. So if you can help me again that would be great. Thanks.

Originally Posted by: JPetrucci1547I cannot hold the compass inbetween the pickups because my setup is humbucker single coil humbucker ...

[font=trebuchet ms]Ah, well now, that's a different situation altogether!

You will need to arrange them so the poles alternate like this:

(bridge) NS N SN (neck)

or

(bridge) SN S NS (neck)

If you can't get a good indication with a compass, you will have to pull things apart to shuffle the pups. The single-coil will have either N or S poles at the top, so you can use it to test the humbuckers. The top of the single-coil pickup will cling to the top of the humbucker coil that has the opposite magnetic polarity. You want to install the humbucker with this coil nearest to the single coil pickup. Since the neck pickup in your setup is the one that is 'not quite right', I think you will find that it needs to be turned around.[/font]

[font=trebuchet ms]Hey, JPetrucci1547!

Did you solve your problem? What was wrong? Inquiring minds want to know.[/font]

Hi every one

maybe this is a weird comment ...but anyway I write it down :(

why don't you get a screwdriver........
and lower your pick-ups a little bit from the string...the sound is
more wooden but clean as a wistle...
it helped me once with sum humbuckers I replaced .. :D

greets everyone

Luke - Belgium