AcousticSmash

Ibanez has never used toggle switches on their solid body guitars, at least none that I know of. It had a 5 way switch, now I am installing a 3 way blade switch but I haven't the slightest clue how to solder the pickups to the darn thing which is what I am trying to find out.

Bump Sorry, I forgot to mention that it only has one master and one tone for controls.

Wouldn't it be safer to have two individual grounds for both guitar and bass?

Alright, I have not posted in here in a dogs age but here is my story. I am beefing up my Ibanez RT650 with a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the neck and a Seymour Duncan SH-5 in the bridge, however I am rewiring the guitar with a 3 way switch since the original one was shot, but the switch is a Fender Telecaster style one, not a Gibson and the tone knob is a push pull for coil splitting. I have searched all over the internet and the only diagrams that come close are ones with volume pots as the coil split instead of the tone knobs. Can anyone help me out here? I can wire it no problem so long as I have a proper schematic to do it, cause I am not shelling out 50 bucks to get it wired for me since this is also a learning experience for me.

I would rather just wind my own pickups though, if you do your research then you will find out how to make pickups to fit your tonal specifications. Say you want a 50's Strat sound, wind a single coil pickup at least 7900 times, the more winding you do though the fatter the sound will be. If you are looking for a nice clean tone ala Eric Johnson or Albert Lee then you would want it wound to the minimum of 7900, but the more wire on it the fatter the tone.

The Dimebucker is a nice pickup, my guitar teacher has one in a guitar of his. If you are into high gain stuff then it is worth the investment, however DiMarzio Breed are good as well, the Evolutions are a bit smoother though and are not as heavy as the Breed pickups.

Well recently I have had an interest in making my own pickups for electric guitars, mainly vintage style single coils and humbuckers. Anyway I am not sure where to start exactly. I know you need a pickup winder but I have seen around the web that people have used sewing machines for making pickups, however I do not know how reliable that is exactly in terms of making proper electronics. I have seen the price of the pickup winder on Stewmac and I darn near crapped my pants (what with it being almost 400 CAD) so is it possible to get one cheaper then that or are there any good online indepth tutorials on how to build your own winder?

Charvel Strat style bodies arent rounded on the edge though, at least mine isnt. Like Ibanez RG's really. I would imagine its possible to put a thin piece of glass on it, 2 pieces though cause you have to regard the pickup cavities and bridge as well and you would essentially have to cut the whole body layout in half in order to make pickup and bridge slots, unless you can route a mirror so to speak, plus holes would have to be drilled for the pots and pickup switch.

You need a metal surface for powder coating, so a guitar body won't work. Also, the heat needed to cure it would probably cause the wood to crack, if not when it gets hot, then when it cools down and the powder coat would flake if you could even get it to stick at all. What if you had sheet metal cut out and conformed to the body by a really strong adhesive of some sort? The metal would get really hot though and still crack the wood I would imagine. Would it be possible to get a mirror that was tinted for colour and thin enough to apply to the top of the body by means of a adhesive? The trick would be that it would have to be split in half though to cut out the pickup cavities and bridge as well. I know there are a couple of companies around here who deal with glass and mirrors that can probably do something custom for me, although the glass would have to be really thin, like 2mm or so and it would be very fragile. Even so the electronics cavity would have to be routed a little more so the pots stick up enough for the knobs to fit properly. Sorry for bringing this thread up, it should be pinned. Kinda answered some of my other questions though.

I dont expect the guitar to around forever, I only paid 200 bucks for it and its a fairly solid axe, however I dont think I will be keeping it forever. I want to do something with it though, a solid ocean blue colour doesnt look great for me. I forget where I read it but there was a tutorial on how to do the mirror effect like what Ibanez does with the JEM's but I do not remember where I found it. However I recall there was a flaking technique or something like that and the reflective stuff on the body was tin foil ironed onto the body or something along those lines.

I am interested in finishing a Charvel Strat copy that I bought recently. It has two humbucker pickups and a Schaller Licensed Floyd Rose bridge with locking nut. Anyhow I am going to strip off all the pain and finish and redo it in a mirror finish, just like the Ibanez JEM77BRMR or the Bad Horsie JEM (probably in a different colour than either of those two guitars). Anyhow are there any tutorials on how to do a mirror finish that works well and will last a long time.

I first learned on a recorder, twas my first instrument. I started playing clarinet just before I started highschool, just working on playing the thing before learning the fingerings. I picked up the alto sax the same year. I played the tenor sax as well during grade 11 in prep for a local theater production that I was in the following summer. In grade 12 I picked up the oboe as my minor instrument for the music class. I picked up the guitar after I finished grade 10 and have played it since. I major on alto sax and clarinet. I played the bari sax for my senior highschool band in my extra year of school.

ok thanks guys. I live in Guelph so Cambridge is closest for me actually.

Matt what kind of store did you buy that wood from? I need some Alder, preferably something that can be aged for me. I dont know anyone who could do that for me though and I dont know where I would find Alder wood in the first place.

5 way switch. the tone pots get wired to the bridge and neck pickups instead of the neck and middle pickups.