Southpa Posted June 4, 2005 Report Share Posted June 4, 2005 I just bought a IBZUSA C2 stacked single coil sized pickup. Can't seem to find any info ie. stock resistance across coils. I got it used for $30 Can. from a local guitar shop. I don't think the guy knew it had HB capabilities even with 2 black wires and one red. He probably would have charged me more. If you have one maybe you coud mention how its wired and, in general, how it performs. Thanks muchly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miro Posted June 4, 2005 Report Share Posted June 4, 2005 hmm, maybe you're talking about the 'mini humbuckers' I so much love (humbuckers of the size of a single coil pickup, no pole pieces, but a steel bar in their place). check www.projectguitar.com, in the Eletronics section there is a list of wirings, then just take a HB or a mini HB one. anything just ask! c ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 It's basically a Dimarzio HS2. You can split it and only use the top coil. I think that sounds better myself. But either way, it's a good pickup, made by Dimarzio for Ibanez. No Miro, he's not talking about the side by side humbuckers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saber Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 There are a couple in the 540R that I bought from a pawn shop, recently. It's only written IBZUSA on the pickup cover but from what I've read at jemsite, it's the same thing, and the measured coil resistance supports that. They're simply wired in hum-cancelling mode with the green wire to the selector switch, the red wire to ground, and the other 2 wires connected together in the pickup cavity. They sound OK and were a good idea when they were released about 25 years ago but the level drops a lot when switching from the bridge humbucker to one of those. But I'll try replacing them with Virtual 2 pickups which are a more recent model of stacked humbucker that have higher output and lower coil resistance, and are brighter. And since they have less magnetic pull due to their Alnico2 magnets (as opposed to the HS-2's Alnico5), they can be placed closer to the strings for even more output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jester700 Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 The bottom coil adds no signal; it only loads the pickup. So in addition to sounding better, there's more output if it's wired as a single coil. Wired that way, it's a medium output single - not Texas hot, but not low output either. The bridge bucker on these is pretty hot, too. Nice score, BTW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted June 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 (edited) I've learned a few things since so I'll share. Its strictly a hum cancelling pickup and to split the coils, which are wound in opposite directions would lessen its performance. I read it at about 9.5 Kohm, pretty good for a single coil. Its now in the bridge position of my strat in place of the Seymour Duncan Hotstack and DPDT toggle. And its staying! Funny, all the research I did mentioned a green (hot), red (ground) and 2 black wires (or one white and one black). Mine doesn't have a green wire and there is no indication that one ever existed. I just connected the 2 black wires, coming off each coil, together and then ran that to the 5-way switch and grounded w/ the red on the switch base. Now I have a hole in my pickguard from the mini toggle, oh well. Here is a pic of what I pulled out of the strat. Its a true stacked humbucker, the bar magnet goes thru both coils and has all the wires for potential switching combinations. I had it rigged for series/split/parallel output. I'm going to try it in the tele I'm building as a neck pickup, I sure hope the wires reach that far. Edited June 6, 2005 by Southpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jester700 Posted June 6, 2005 Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 I've learned a few things since so I'll share. Its strictly a hum cancelling pickup and to split the coils, which are wound in opposite directions would lessen its performance. I read it at about 9.5 Kohm, pretty good for a single coil. Its now in the bridge position of my strat in place of the Seymour Duncan Hotstack and DPDT toggle. And its staying! Funny, all the research I did mentioned a green (hot), red (ground) and 2 black wires (or one white and one black). Mine doesn't have a green wire and there is no indication that one ever existed. I just connected the 2 black wires, coming off each coil, together and then ran that to the 5-way switch and grounded w/ the red on the switch base. Now I have a hole in my pickguard from the mini toggle, oh well. "Lessen it's performance" means different things to different people. A C2 would lose it's humbucking ability, but GAIN output and (IMO) better tone with the bottom dummy coil disconnected. But if you're connecting red & black, you HAVE no dummy coil connection; black is the center join, and red is the start of the "good" coil. Green is the end of the bottom coil on these, so you're using this as a pure single - and my experience agrees with your sonic assessment. With cover off, can't you see a connection to the bottom coil right above where the wires go through the bobbin? Right next to where the black one connects? Also, your measurement is a little high. None of my HS2s or C2s measure much above 8k, so you have one hot C2 there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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