VLX91 Switch from He**

[frets]

For those who remember, I was working on an Ibanez harness with a VLX91 switch by Satan (OTAX).   It’s for an HH and I could not get the coil splits to work at all.  Dead.  The other 4 positions work fine. And,  I soldered according to not one, but two different official Ibanez diagrams (example below) with the same results.  I then make the decision that it must be a bad switch.  

So like a moron, I ordered a new switch from Poland for $60.65.

I solder it up, guess what, same problem - no coil splits.

I throw it across the shop (Yes I did), and it skittered on the floor.  That didn’t fix the problem.

I have never had anything like this (and you all know, I’ve had a lot of “challenges”) happen before.

The diagrams are fine. Got the wire color codes crosswalked.  Checked the pin out.  The switch is new (with a big scratch on it now).

The user is obviously faulty.

Does any soul out there have any theory as to why this is happening?

- Desperate Cindi

[cynical1]

Sept 4, 2022 11:15:12 GMT -5 frets said:

...Does any soul out there have any theory as to why this is happening?

You didn't throw it hard enough...

[unreg]

Jun 27, 2022 19:45:53 GMT -5 newey said:

frets-

…

EDIT: You did test the switches before wiring? I assume you did but had to ask.

Resistance tests give a much more detailed idea about how your switch is/isn’t working (that opposed to continuity).

Maybe testing continuity is all you need here?


[EDIT]But, obviously, two similar-model switches returned the exact same problem; so, the diagram or its implementation is probably the culprit. It’s just that you said the diagrams are fine; so I, with my lack of experience, concluded that your switches probably both have the same problem.[/EDIT]

[Deleted]

For $60 I'd make you a switch!
So think more can be done for cheap

[jaymenon]

From my understanding, the magnet on one of the pickups needs to be flipped - so the magnetic polarities of the two humbuckers are now opposite. Only then will the inner coil of each pick up selected together be hum-cancelling.

I believe the DiMarzio/IBZ pickups come, that way as stock.

[newey]

frets-Did this issue ever get solved? To clarify, the issue was only at switch position 2 where the coils are split? Piezo, everything else works OK?

jaymenon- Her problem was no coil splits at all, not that they didn't hum-cancel

[frets]

Newey,

It remains the biggest enigma of my wiring career. No splits at all - ever. I refuse to work with those switches. I even bought a new one, still didn’t work. I have no idea what it was. It wasn’t the pickups.

[ssstonelover]

I looked around and found a differences in the drawing version you used and another with the same switch and the same alleged functions
I highlighted it in a pink box. This may hold the secret (possibly). Note: I did no wire tracing, just a wire comparison.
Both the while and black wire jumpers are different here.
If you click the image a second time (after it opens in Postimage) it seems to expand nicely. If you have any issue, I'll send the image to your mailbox, just let me know.

[frets]

Ssstone,
Thank you for the diagrams.