Ibanez pickup structure - 2 or 4 leads Log Out | Topics | Search
Moderators | Edit Profile

Ibanez Collectors World » Jeff's Black Hole » Ibanez pickup structure - 2 or 4 leads « Previous Next »

Author Message
Aki Rintamäki
Posted on Thursday, September 27, 2001 - 8:03 am:   

I tried out a CN-200 '78 that had no trisounds. We checked inside the control room, and found that the pickups (super 80 right?) have got only ground (on the cover) and hot -leads. The CN-250 anyway is said to have a trisound switch. Did Ibanez make 4-lead Super 80 pickups for tri-sound guitars at the same time than they made these 2-lead wire Super 80s? Also, Super 58 seems to be found both 2- and 4-lead connector cables. Why is that? Maybe Ibanez wanted to save a few pennies using less cable when possible..? ;o) Or just to make the connections stay simple in a guitar without a tri-sound.

Could a 2-lead pickup be equipped with a 4-lead wire, does the inside of the pickup give reasonable possibilities for this (without unwrapping coilwire etc)? I really would have liked already for the CN-200 to have a trisound.

Oh, and if someone can sell me a player's (NOT mint) CN-250 or a CN-200, please do!

...which by the way - the CN-200 atleast - is a tremendious guitar!


-Aki.
Fred B. (Fredb)
Posted on Thursday, September 27, 2001 - 11:00 pm:   

Aki,

The Super 80s in my Artists that have tri-sounds have 3 leads. There could be 4 lead variants out there, but pretty sure most (if not all) of the 3 point adjustment Super 80s have 3 leads.

Regards,
Fred
Aki Rintamäki
Posted on Monday, October 01, 2001 - 7:36 am:   

Fred,

You can't make the tri-sound effects with only 3 leads. Those can make a split coil, but can not be wired to parallel. Or do You mean 3 leads PLUS ground?


-Aki.
Fred B. (Fredb)
Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 11:45 am:   

Hi Aki,

Was referring to the number of conductors on the pickup, where ground is implicit, like in the single conductor Super 80s (which I think is the difference in counts as it looks like you're counting ground in calling it 2 wire). The tri-sound Super 80s are different than most other pickups as there are 3 conductors (white, red, and blue) along with a ground.

Most other pickups that don't have the two humbucker coils wired permanently in series have 4 conductor wires, plus ground, for the two coils. Like how Duncans and DiMarzios have red, white, green, and black conductors.

Regards,
Fred
Aki Rintamäki
Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 9:09 am:   

Okay, this explains, we just count differently.

I bought a Super70 earlier that had 4 leads (white, red, blue, black) and a ground wire. This might be a newer model, since it was in a non-opened package, but usually they seem to have 1 or 3 leads.

I suppose even a single conductor pu can be quite easily made to tri-sound-able pickup (I know, nobody recommends to do these things, but I am experienced and have a pro pickup maker to help me). When I opened my Super58 to fix the loosened ground wire, I noticed the coils to join with a lead similiar to the output lead. Cutting the 'jumper' lead in the middle and taking both ends out among original leads with a long 3-lead (+ground) cable would do the trick.

I love the tri-sound at the neck pu enough to take these kind of risks. My AM255 has it's 'dual-sound' (series/parallel) at the Super70, which usually is at the bridge, but now the 70 being tested at the neck position, I find myself using the dual-sound a lot more! So my 58 is going to have the dual-sound at the neck and my 70 is going to be plain humbucking (just like my bass), whenever I find time for the job. That will make my AM a great, very many-sided overall guitar.

-Aki.
Fred B. (Fredb)
Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 11:38 am:   

Aki,

Good luck with it, splitting coils can be a risky business J ... also glad there's someone else out there who finds the switching useful in their sound. I've found that "EQing the mids" in single-coil position can really close the gap in getting a convincing Strat sound, and combining the parallel setting on one pickup with any other gives a great "twang" when needed.

Regards,
Fred
Aki Rintamäki
Posted on Monday, October 08, 2001 - 12:53 pm:   

And... done!

Now my neck Super58 has the 'dual-sound' sw. It came out very easily and fine, and the sounds speak for theirselves! I can't stop thinking the Super70 in the neck-position, it was more presenceful than my 58. That somehow made the normal midposition (both pu's on) more usable, more bright. Saying that, maybe the 2x Super70 wouldn't be a bad idea afterall, I think. Well, live to see.

Is the major difference in Super 70 and Super 58 pickups the ceramic vs alnico magnet?


-Aki.

Add Your Message Here
Post:
Bold text Italics Underline Create a hyperlink Insert a clipart image

Username: Posting Information:
This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here.
Password:
Options: Enable HTML code in message
Automatically activate URLs in message
Action:




Thank you for supporting Ibanez Collectors Forum. Please help your favorite Ibanez guitar site as we endeavor to bring you the latest information about Ibanez custom vintage electric and acoustic guitars. Here you can discuss ibanez, guitars, ibanez guitars, basses, acoustics, acoustic, mandolins, electric guitar, electric bass, amplifiers, effect pedals, tuners, picks, pickups.