Sonicalm Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 (edited) Hello everyone, I have some questions I hope you guys can answer, since I'm new to guitar modifications or customization. I bought this Ibanez Gio GRG250DX two years ago and I want to upgrade the pickupshttp://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/eg_page15.php?year=2015&area_id=3&cat_id=1&series_id=9&data_id=191&color=CL01 Since it came with passive pickups I'd like it to have new passive pickups, I was thinking about buying EMGs, H4, H4a and S3http://www.emgpickups.com/guitar/humbucking/passive-humbucking/h4.htmlhttp://www.emgpickups.com/guitar/humbucking/passive-humbucking/h4a.htmlhttp://www.emgpickups.com/guitar/single-coil/passive/s3.html I was wondering if I can install the 3 passive pickups with this wiring kit, or if is it possible to install 3 EMG passive pickups, I've been searching on google for diagrams but I can't find one that has an HSH guitar, and mostly the ones I find are for active pickups or just 2 passive pickupshttp://www.emgpickups.com/accessories/wiring-kits/wiring-kits/3-pickup-wiring-kit.html Edited January 28, 2016 by Sonicalm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 Pretty sure EMG do not offer a 3x passive pickup wiring kit, and the 2-pickup wiring set that ships with each H4 pickup won't give you sufficient connection points to expand to a third pickup. The three-pickup wiring kit you've linked to will only suit their active pickups, and does not include the necessary switching requirements to match the Ibanez GRX (positions 2 and 4 on the 5-way switch coil tap the humbuckers). Your only likely option is to use the Quick Connect cables for each pickup, cut off the plug that usually fits into the EMG 'basestation' and manually solder each cable to your existing controls to achieve your desired switching requirements. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonicalm Posted January 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 Thanks for answering so fast, so, would you recommend to buy the 3 pickups without the wiring kit? and basically I would have to follow the wiring that my guitar already has to make it work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 As long as you are comfortable with soldering and have access to the necessary tools (or know someone else willing to do it for you) then yes, I believe ordering the pickups without the wiring kit will be the best solution. The H4/H4a humbucker instructions seem to indicate that they can be coil tapped (as per the GRX original pickups), it'd just be a matter of working out what wires would be necessary to transfer over from the EMG pickup Quick Connect cables to get the equivalent operation 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonicalm Posted January 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 I think I can do the soldering myself but I might talk to my brother or my uncle, they know more about this than me, thanks for your time it was really helpful, and I will follow your advice, have a great day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 Take photos of the process, because a lot of people tend to retrofit their instruments with new pickups from stock. The process being documented (even as a before-after) helps a lot of people with their own work. That makes you a teacher ;-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonicalm Posted January 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 thanks for the advice, I will document everything as you said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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