Wiring a GFS humbucker - need detailed instructions

[balazs24]

Hi,

 

Finally I decided to upgrade my 10-year old Ibanez RX40 with a GFS H10 humbucker. Really hoped to see the same number and colour of wires when opening up the pickguard, but I was wrong.

I tried to do the wiring according to the short, draft-like description, but as I am totally a rookie at this, some things don't make sense for me. I am not a native English speaker, so I may have misunderstood something as well.

Actually, I did the wiring, but when I tried it out, I was kind of disappointed, because it works, but I couldn't hear any difference from the stock PU. What's more, it is actually isn't as loud as the other two stock singles. So I really hope that I did the wiring badly.

I tried to look up some info on it, checked some images of wiring schematics, but couldn't find the right one for my guitar.

 

There's a 5-way selector with 8 poles in line. Here's what it looked like with the stock PU setup:

The humbucker had a red and a white wire soldered to the 3rd and last poles. The 1st and 4th poles were empty.

Now I soldered a green (+) wire to the place of the former red (3rd pole), and the wired-together red and white to the last position. Grounding is OK I guess.

 

Please let me know if I have done anything wrong.

One more thing: when I opened up the pickguard, one wire was broken. It is some kind of grounding I guess. It is the wire that is connected to the back of the guitar, somewhere at the tremolo springs. Where should I solder the other end?

 

Thanks for all your help.

[_pete_]

The red & white you soldered together are splitting the humbucker to a single coil. Disconnect that if you want the full humbucker with no split.

 

The ground from the spring cavity should be soldered to the back of the volume pot. The black and bare wire of the GFS should also go to the back of the volume pot.

[balazs24]

Thanks for your reply. Does it mean that one of the PUs in it is switched off?

And if I split them, where should I solder them?

Thanks

[guitar-fish]

I just replaced the stock Epiphone hums with a set of GFS Fat PAF humbuckers. The red & white wires on the new pups were soldered together - leave them that way. I put some electrical tape over the connection so that it wouldn't hit metal anywhere and short or anything.

 

Next, I soldered the ground and the black wires of the pup together, then soldered them to the back of the volume pot.

Finally, I soldered the green wire to the bottom connector on the volume pot.

 

Everything sounds great - hope this helps.

[_pete_]

 

Thanks for your reply. Does it mean that one of the PUs in it is switched off? And if I split them, where should I solder them? Thanks

 

It sounds like you have only one coil of the humbucker wired up. If the red & white wires are grounded, the pickup is in single coil mode.

 

 

Assuming you have a standard 5 way switch, wire the GFS like the Duncan in this scematic.

 

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/schematics/1h_2s_1v_2t_5w_as.html

[Ashtray77]

go to this website and find your application:

 

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/schematics.shtml

[balazs24]

It sounds like you have only one coil of the humbucker wired up. If the red & white wires are grounded, the pickup is in single coil mode. Assuming you have a standard 5 way switch, wire the GFS like the Duncan in this scematic. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/schematics/1h_2s_1v_2t_5w_as.html

 

 

Thanks for the new posts, too (though it is interesting to see that you don't agree in everything)

 

If I look at the schematic you linked, does it mean that I have to solder the black wire, which is supposed to be grounded into the switch, the green (+ according to the GFS guide) to the volume grounded? In this case, the red and white wires are still soldered together. Shouldn't they be split up after all?

 

oh, and about the switch. Is the order of poles the same in all types? Mine looks like this:

 

 

Thanks

[_pete_]

Thanks for the new posts, too (though it is interesting to see that you don't agree in everything) If I look at the schematic you linked, does it mean that I have to solder the black wire, which is supposed to be grounded into the switch, the green (+ according to the GFS guide) to the volume grounded? In this case, the red and white wires are still soldered together. Shouldn't they be split up after all? oh, and about the switch. Is the order of poles the same in all types? Mine looks like this: Thanks

 

Well that's a Duncan diagram so follow the GFS instructions. Green=+, blk=gnd, r&w=split.

 

I honestly don't know how the poles match up on your switch, I always replace those kind.

[ArKay]

 

I think it doesn't leave much room for intepretation

[ArKay]

 

There's a 5-way selector with 8 poles in line. Here's what it looked like with the stock PU setup: The humbucker had a red and a white wire soldered to the 3rd and last poles. The 1st and 4th poles were empty. Now I soldered a green (+) wire to the place of the former red (3rd pole), and the wired-together red and white to the last position. Grounding is OK I guess.

 

 

- Green to the 3rd lug

- Black/Shield to the last lug (those should actually go to GROUND, weird)

 

Leave red and white soldered together and don't connect them anywhere! If you do, you will get a split humbucker = single coil.

[ArKay]

 

Ibanez wiring at its best If you ignore the fact that this guitar has a humbucker in the neck (ignore the white wire) it pretty much looks like your diagram? And of course the tone pot shouldn't be a push/pull either so you have ignore those 2 wires as well.

 

I guess that in pos 2 only one of the bridge coils is used, so your old humbucker probably has 3 wires? No idea how the switch here works. Red & White could be the 2 coil wires and in the first position (bridge pickup) they are BOTH on, in position 2 (between), only Red or White are used. 3rd wire is ground...

 

Probably works like this then... Green to first position (or last depending on how you look at it), ground + black to the volume pot, leave the other wires alone (connected together + taped off).

[balazs24]

Ok, thanks, I'll try it later today. Just one question before trying. What does black/shield stand for? There's a wire with black "coating" and a wire without any "coating". Which one goes to the final lug and what should be done with the other? (altogether there are 5 wires)

Thanks a lot!

[ArKay]

Ok, thanks, I'll try it later today. Just one question before trying. What does black/shield stand for? There's a wire with black "coating" and a wire without any "coating". Which one goes to the final lug and what should be done with the other? (altogether there are 5 wires) Thanks a lot!

 

Black + silver should go to ground. After looking at the diagram I posted I would connect those to the volume pot...

 

Looks like you only need green + ground (black/silver) in your case. You will most likely have both humbucker coils + middle pickup on in the 2nd position, but with that switch it's pretty hard to figure out how to change that

 

Green needs to go either to the 3rd lug or the last . You will have to find out somehow. The 1st (or last as you put it) is more likely as you can see on the diagram. If the other 2 single coils are connected next to it, it's the one.

[balazs24]

OK, thanks, will try these out a little bit later, now I'll have to take care of my little baby first. It doesn't take more than a few hours usually

[ArKay]

OK, thanks, will try these out a little bit later, now I'll have to take care of my little baby first. It doesn't take more than a few hours usually

 

 

I bought an old Ibanez Roadstar II a couple of weeks ago (1 humbucker, 2 single coils). The previous owner had replaced the 2 single coils, but also gave me the original ones which I wanted to reinstall. Took out the new single coils, put in the old ones (red, red, red to the first three lugs on the switch, white cables all to ground) and got a very low out-of-phase sound in the 2 & 4 positions. So I had to connect the middle pickup differently, white to switch, red to ground. You can't take anything for granted with those old guitars I guess.

 

Good luck

[balazs24]

I'm about to start the job and read your posts once again. After all I think you all agree that the red and white should not be soldered anywhere, just left unsoldered and taped for making no contact with anything. But should I split them or can they remain together?

This is what I'm going to do, please let me know if I'll do anything badly.

 

1 Remove red/white wires from the selector and tape them.

2 I'll leave green wire on 3rd lug

3 I'll leave silver wire soldered to volume pot

4 I'll remove black wire from the volume pot and solder it to the last position on the selector.

 

5 And I'll re-solder the broken cable which comes from the back cavity to the volume pot.

 

Thanks...

[ArKay]

- Red + white soldered together, but not connected anywhere and tapped off (don't separate them!)

- Green either on 3rd or last lug. depends on the switch, but it should be next to where the 2 single coils are connected

- Black + silver wire to volume pot ground

[balazs24]

Well, job's done.

green had to be put on the last lug, pu wasn't working if soldered to the 3rd.

 

I don't really know what to say, because I don't know what I expected. To tell you the truth, I still cannot hear any difference... I know it's a low-end pick-up but as I read some reviews, it should show some imrpovement. Well, this does not do anything better.

Sustain still forgettable, no difference in sound.

Is it possible that something is still wrong with the wiring?

 

Here's a link to the PU's homepage:

http://store.guitarfetish.com/alfatpafbohu.html

[ArKay]

It sounds fine in my LP copy, I dunno what you're looking for.

 

Just to make sure you can try connecting the red & white wires to ground which should split it. It should sound A LOT thinner then.

[balazs24]

 

It sounds like you have only one coil of the humbucker wired up. If the red & white wires are grounded, the pickup is in single coil mode. Assuming you have a standard 5 way switch, wire the GFS like the Duncan in this scematic. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/schematics/1h_2s_1v_2t_5w_as.html

 

 

 

Hi,

 

Looking at the schematic you linked, it is quite the opposite of everything that was mentioned here - but correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Red and white soldered to the switch, black soldered to switch, green soldered to volume pot.

 

It is worth a trying, but does it have sense?

 

Plmk if I'm wrong.

[axegrinder]

If you connect the red/white anywhere you only open up the potential for splitting off a coil. If you are going for a FAT HB sound this is the last thing you want to do.

 

I had a recent experiance with a different GFS humbucker that didn't sound as loud as my single. I found it was a matter of lowering the single and raising the bucker closer to the strings. Have you tried adjusting the height of your pickups? It does make a difference.

[_pete_]

 

Hi, Looking at the schematic you linked, it is quite the opposite of everything that was mentioned here - but correct me if I'm wrong. Red and white soldered to the switch, black soldered to switch, green soldered to volume pot. It is worth a trying, but does it have sense? Plmk if I'm wrong.

 

 

That schematic is to automatically split the bridge humbucker when you combine the bridge/middle. The humbucker is in normal mode in position 1.

 

I think I said earler to reverse the green & black with GFS pickup.

[balazs24]

Hi,

 

OK, here's today's progress so far. Green and black reversed (as Pete advised), probably got the same sound. PU height adjusted (thanks, axegrinder), definite improvement in volume.

 

I checked all PUs and all seem to work (tried different selector positions, work as they used to with the old PU)

 

I think I'll finalize things soon and accept the situation as it is, but two things reamain unsolved and I'd need your thoughts about them.

 

1 The old stock PU had two wires connected to the selector and worked the same way. It had a red and a white attached to the selector and one silver grounding. An it workes as a full humbucker. Would like to know if it is a feature of the selector or the old PU. Though there are still some combinations left of wiring, but I don't think they'd make any change. Why the difference then?

 

2 I'd still need to know what you should expect when you change a PU. I think the stock Ibanez humbucker was the cheapest and simplest of all, and the GFS was supposed to be improvement. But in what way? I haven't put on all the strings, just been trying with the E, but I cannot hear any difference. Is there any chance that anybody have a sound clip of this PU (GFS H10)? Without any effects of course.

 

Thanks for all your help so far, and please don't mind that I'm inexperienced at this... I'll try to do better next time

[balazs24]

last one edited

[ArKay]

It had a powersound humbucker in there before? Maybe it doesn't make an immediate difference because the old one was also high-output? If you have a multimeter you can check the resistance of both. And the sound doesn't depend on the pickups alone, it's also the body, your playing abilities, amp, etc. It probably won't be a WOAH, THAT'S DIFFERENT experience when you strum the first chord either, it could be nuances.

 

As to how to wire it up with THAT switch, I can only guess. The other humbucker wire was there before so that the humbucker would be split if if the switch is in the 2nd position (1 coil of the humbucker + middle position pickup).

 

Assuming--doesn't mean that it is that way--that it works like a standard 4 + 4 switch, you could try this:

 

- 1st empty (don't change)

- 2nd connected to ground

- 3rd red + white from humbucker (BOTH!)

- 4th empty (don't change)

- 5th goes to volume or tone pot (don't change)

- 6th red (or white?) of neck position sc (don't change)

- 7th red (or white?) of middle position sc (don't change)

- 8th green of humbucker

 

1-8 depend on how you look at it of course Black and silver from the hb connect to ground.

 

It should be hum-cancelling in the 2nd switch position. If it DOES hum or sound tiny, you have to reverse 3 & 8.