Help! Middle Pickup removal

Hi people! Cool website and forums. Just rolled in from a google search and must say i'm pretty impressed.

I would much appreciate some advice on the following....

I have been given an Ibanez GiO. The middle pickup got in the way of my picking so i decided i wanted it out. It wouldn't lower enough you see and i never use it. Its a 5 way pickup selecter but i only want to use the bridge. After a few searches on google i thought it would be fine just to snip it out.

Now the guitar has a constant crackle unless i touch the bottom of the empty pickup hole with my finger. All i snipped was a black wire and a white wire. I haven't removed anything from the pots or selecter. Is it gonna be a pain to keep the pickup removed and fix the problem? If so can i just solder the wires back together where i snipped them and put up with the pickup being in the way?

Any help appreciated.
Thanks

You could actually be shorting to ground from the snipped wire. I'd suggest either putting the pick up back, or de-soldering the wires at the switch.

Thanks Razbo, it seems the white wire goes to the selector switch and the black wire goes to the volume pot. Should i de-solder both? Will this eliminate the hum/crackle and allow me to keep the pickup out?

The crackle at the moment also stops when i rest my hand on the bridge.

Thanks
Deano

I can't guarantee this will remove the hum/crackle, but it will ensure the pick up is properly removed. :)

You could get away with clipping the wires really close to the pot & switch. In fact, I would recommend that at the pot. They can be hard to get all the grounds soldered back up nice.

Then, any remaining issues with hum/crackle can be followed up. That would be a grounding issue or a bad connection somewhere (especially the input jack). Look for any broken looking connections and for any cold solder joints (they will look dull) that can be fixed. Does it have a trem? Make sure it is grounded.

I'm no expert, so I can't give you all the variables, but those would be some common things. Also, consider taking it to a tech if you aren't comfortable doing this stuff. To my surprise I've found most people don't actually work on their own guitars. :eek:

thanks man! I've just made a new discovery however, the black wire which goes straight to the volume pot seems to be causing the hum, when i grab the bare end where i snipped it from the pickup it stops humming. So, i'm guessing if i snip it at the volume pot it's still gonna cause the noise. In theory the noise should stop if i re-solder the wires to the pickup as i haven't touched anything else but i want it out!!! hehe

I forgot to mention that there was no hum/crackle at all before i snipped the middle pickup.

I've spotted what seem like 2 ground wires. one screwed below the middle pickup i took out and one on the trem both look fine

thanks again for your time!

How does a pickup get in the way of you picking?

Originally Posted by: hunter1801How does a pickup get in the way of you picking?

That's actually very common, the pick simply hits the middle pickup. I lower the middle pickup on my strat because it gets in the way. On Les Pauls you don't have to deal with that problem (unless you have a three pickup one). I know both Yngwie Malmsteen and Greg Howe have the same problem :)

Yes, and it's very annoying! I don't have this problem on my Strat for some reason, but on another guitar the mid pup is almost an inch closer to the bridge (24 3/4 scale), and it is right in the way. Had to drop it as far as it would go.

Never had that problem myself. The only thing that gets in the way for me are the stupid volume knobs :mad: My hand/fingers are always bumping into any knobs close to the strings.

Yeah that's the thing with Strat models. When I play aggressively I hit the pickup selector too if I'm on the neck pickup. I've seen artists duct tape the selector in the neck position to prevent that from happening haha! :D

Originally Posted by: Ben LindholmThat's actually very common, the pick simply hits the middle pickup. I lower the middle pickup on my strat because it gets in the way. On Les Pauls you don't have to deal with that problem (unless you have a three pickup one). I know both Yngwie Malmsteen and Greg Howe have the same problem :)

correction-malmsteen has never removed his middle pickup ,,he simply disconnects them because he "does not like the tone of that position".

also Greg howe has played tons of guitars with normally positioned middle pickups and in fact he was an endorser of the HM strat !(h s s).

that said I can imagine holding a standard pick by the back end than hard strumming would cause it to strike things more easilly and knock it loose from the fingers.so removing the pickup may be the only solution to that technique.

a fender blacktop would be annother good choice, they are reasonably priced too

Well, yeah, Yngwie used to disconnect the middle pickup, but he doesn't anymore. He still disconnects the tone knobs though. But I've heard both him and Greg Howe explain in interviews how that middle pickup gets in the way of their picking. Of course that doesn't mean they can't play with pickups that aren't lowered :)

Check out this video, at 2:19 Greg Howe explains it all. That's why he doesn't have a middle pickup at all on his new guitars.

I know I'm a bit late with this post, but for you Strat players out there who are comfortable with wiring and soldering, etc. you can have a pickguard custom made WITHOUT a hole for the middle pickup. You can also get it made without the hole for the top volume knob if that gets in your way as well. You could then use a simple 2 pickup, volume and tone pot configuration like a Tele uses, and likewise with the switch wiring.

I've been using a Tele for a few years now mainly because of the middle pickup and volume knob thing. Even with the Telecaster, sometimes the pickup switch gets in my way. But as soon as I can afford it, I'm going to build myself a hardtail Strat the way I would like it.