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Post by nickname009 on Jun 11, 2024 9:18:58 GMT -5
Just acquired this lovely little headless Ibanez ICHI10 and it has a somewhat unique dyna-mix switching system that basically, is a mini switch that allows putting the neck and middle or middle and bridge pickups in series when bridge or neck are selected from the 5 way switch. The mini switch is a 2 way, I don't actually find these sounds useful and instead want to have the switch be a kill switch. With my limited experience, I'm thinking all I need to do is probably snip some wires somewhere, add a ground somewhere. As it is, when the switch is in the down position it's in the standard single coil 'mode' and in the up position is the 'series' mode (enabling the combination of the pickups). I took a look inside only to find the mini switch has connectors. I tried just unplugging the one side, which only somewhat worked, the up position then became super faint but still had signal, some bleed I would say and only in the neck or bridge positions (the positions where the pickups become series with the switch in the up position) and the regular in middle and in between positions are still full on. How can I wire this properly so that the up position on the mini switch is a true kill to ground? Or do I need to use a standard DPDT switch and replace this one? I've attached photos for reference. Any help would be greatly appreciated! ![]()     |
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Post by stevewf on Jun 11, 2024 23:30:46 GMT -5
Hi. I don't know much about those special Ibanez 5-way switches, especially the printed circuits that aren't easily visible in photos. But after a look at your photos and others online, I see that near one of the PC board edges is a pair of solder connections with labels that look like "GD" and "OUT".
It seems like shorting those two would kill the signal.
Then, looking at the switch, it means that you could use two of its wires (terminals) to cause that shorting. For example, if you connect the switch's green wire to "GD" and the yellow wire to "OUT", then when the switch handle is thrown toward the tail of the guitar, it'd kill the signal. Or you could use the brown and white wires for the same (toward tail=kill).
If you want to kill the signal by throwing the switch toward the (headless) head of the guitar, then you could use the red&yellow or blue&white wires instead.
All the above applies only if my guessing is correct about the terminals of the 5-way and of the switch.
By the way, during faulty attempts at wiring guitars, when I've heard a very faint signal, it's turned out that a pickup's hot lead is connected to the guitar's output and the pickup's cold lead is not connected to the guitar's ground.
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Post by newey on Jun 12, 2024 5:37:31 GMT -5
If you want to kill the signal by throwing the switch toward the (headless) head of the guitar, then you could use the red&yellow or blue&white wires instead Or just rotate the switch 180° . . .  nickname009- You can probably reuse the switch but it's a bit of an oddball with the circuit board attached, so probably best to check its operation with a meter, since you'll be disconnecting it anyway. You could probably figure the switch logic out by figuring the wire colors and connections but since you'll need to disconnect it, it's easier just to check it. This also ensures that it is working properly, which it probably is but worth checking. OTOH, it seems a pretty sizeable switch and switches are pretty cheap, so replacing it with a regular DPDT might make your life easier as far as fitment and wiring it. You could just use a SPDT to do this, if stevewf is right about the 5-way connections. |
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Post by nickname009 on Jun 12, 2024 9:53:30 GMT -5
stevewfSorry for the blurry photo, here is another one to help.  Just to clarify, and using this latest photo for reference, you're talking about shorting out the GD and OUT, located on the top right of the switch in the picture, which are currently, connected to the brown and black wires (as see in previous photos on the other side of the switch) Use red & yellow or blue & white wires and connect them to GD and OUT is what I think you're saying. And I'm assuming, I am disconnecting them from the terminal of the 5 way switch (the reverse side of the 5 way switch), to connect them to GD and OUT? regarding the faint signal: it is apparent in every position, not just one or two positions. Does that make a difference to what you're referring to? newey, thanks for always replying to my odd posts! I am definitely thinking of just starting anew with this guitar, if this plan fails. I do remember wiring up another Ibanez and having some bleed issues with their switches if they weren't wired in an exact way.
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Post by newey on Jun 12, 2024 11:39:07 GMT -5
nickname009- Your posts aren't odd. I did neglect to mention that stevewf's question would be easier to answer if we had a wiring diagram for this guitar. But it is notoriously difficulty to find wiring diagrams for Ibanez on the web. The "support" page of their website has nothing, unlike Fender or Gibson. I did a quick google look-see and came up empty, which doesn't mean that it isn't out there somewhere, but it didn't pop right up anywhere.
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Post by stevewf on Jun 12, 2024 14:04:48 GMT -5
stevewfJust to clarify, and using this latest photo for reference, you're talking about shorting out the GD and OUT, located on the top right of the switch in the picture, which are currently, connected to the brown and black wires (as see in previous photos on the other side of the switch) Yes, those are the solder points I'm referring to. I see now that they're labeled "OUT" and "GND". You could do a feasibility test by temporarily shorting those two points together while the guitar's plugged in. You hope for nice silence (allowing for any noise that the amplifier might make by itself when the instrument cable is unplugged from it). Well, on further thought, it's probably more complicated than that, because you do want preserve some of the connections that are being made by that toggle switch. With that in mind, I've "Spoilered" the solution, which itself has questions.
You'd want to avoid breaking the circuits that are part of the "normal" strat sound, while re-purposing the switch and thus sacrificing the "extra" circuits. It'd boil down to permanently joining some of the solder points that are on the 5-way (ones that currently have wires that go to the toggle switch, and are for the "normal" sounds), thus freeing up the wires that go to the middle terminals of the toggle (yellow and white) i.e. disconnecting those two wires from their factory points on the 5-way.
To determine which solder points on the 5-way should be permanently connected, we need to know which direction of the toggle switch gives you the sounds you want to keep; handle toward the head of the guitar, or toward the tail? Toward the tail: yellow soldered to green, white to brown. Toward the head: yellow to red, white to blue. I'm talking about soldering together the points on the 5-way that correspond to those wires.
If you do the above, then you'll have the normal strat sounds. To then add "kill" function to the toggle, you'd disconnect the rest of the toggle wires from their current locations on the 5-way, and instead attach two of them to the "GND/OUT" points. Which wires to use depends on the same question about which direction of the toggle. If you answered "tail" above, then use the yellow&red (or white&blue); if you answered "head", then it's the yellow&green (or white&brown).
You might indeed consider "starting anew", in part because of those snap connectors. Once you've unplugged them from their component, you're left with connector pins to solder your wires to. The material the pins are made of may not take solder very well, and they're pretty tightly spaced. Instead, you could get replacement parts. Pretty much comes to a standard 5-way switch, a SPST toggle switch, some hookup wire and solder. You'd also preserve the factory wiring for later, in case you ever want to revert. This method depends on the mounting holes of the Ibanez switch matching the holes of a standard switch. If the faint signal is due to one or more pickup hanging from hot, you can identify it by tapping each pickup's poles with a ferrous item (like a screwdriver shaft) and listen for clicks. Sometimes turning up the gain helps with this. If you're running into this problem only when the toggle switch is unplugged, then I wouldn't worry about it for this guitar, since you're gonna make some more wiring changes anyway. If it persists after you're done, then's the time to troubleshoot. |
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Post by nickname009 on Jun 13, 2024 8:05:42 GMT -5
Had a few minutes to work on this earlier in the morning, happy to report it worked like a charm! Thanks again stevewf and newey for saving me time and money! |
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