[webkostas]

Hello everyone,

So, I have an IBANEZ RG7620 and many years ago I changed the stock pickups with A DiMarzio Air Norton 7 neck and a DiMarzio D-Sonic 7 bridge. Everything was working fine. I hadn't played the specific guitar for some years. The other day I tried it again and here goes the problem. All positions sound thin and have an "out-of-phase" type of sound, even if the selected pickup is alone (es only the bridge or neck). The strange thing is that there is a parallel position (position 2 of the attached diagram) for the neck pickup and that position is the only one sounding ok. I attach the diagram used. (I redid all the connections)
I also tried the pickups each alone with the other one removed. Same problem...

I attached also a sounf file with the 5 sounds from each selection from Neck to Bridge.

Any ideas? I'm super confused!

Thank you

[darkbluemurder]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

I am also a bit confused after having read your post as this is something that appears to be very weird.

Do you have a multimeter? If not, you should get one. I find it indispensible for working on guitars and troubleshooting.

I suspect a faulty switch. I recommend wiring the bridge pickup directly to the output jack first. If this works, I would add the volume and tone controls. If it still works I would do the same with the neck pickup. If that works as well, you can be sure that your pickups work right, and the switch should be replaced. If by then one of the pickups still makes problems it needs to be replaced.

Good luck,
Stephan

[webkostas]

Hi, thanks for the welcome and your reply too.
Unfortunately I don't have a multimeter   What connection should I do in order to bypass the switch and volume/tone pots? Leave earth (green and bare) as are, white and black together and red to the output directly? (Di Marzio cabling).

Thank you

[buddroyce]

I would try isolating just the bridge or neck pickup alone by quickly wiring it to the output jack to see if the problem persists. To do that, all you would need to do is join the black and white wires together, solder the red wire to the jack and green to ground.

If the problem is gone, your issue is likely the switch. If it persists, your problem is somewhere else.

[darkbluemurder]

What connection should I do in order to bypass the switch and volume/tone pots? Leave earth (green and bare) as are, white and black together and red to the output directly? (Di Marzio cabling).

Yes, that is correct, and Budd was faster.

Good luck,
Stephan

[webkostas]

Ok thanks, I'll try that in the next few days. I begin to suspect that the pickups are somehow worn out (they have been under many years of "aggressive" live playing and lots of sweat…). I'll post as soon as I have an update, thanks again for trying to help!

[buddroyce]

It's possible that the pickup wore out but highly unlikely tbh.

[darkbluemurder]

Magnet wire insulated with Formvar coating was known for getting brittle with the years - that is why you read sometimes that old strat pickups wore out. This is why almost every pickup manufacturer switched to either plain enamel or polysol coating which do not have that problem. So I would agree with Budd.

Cheers Stephan

[webkostas]

Ok, so I did various tests, re-wirings etc. and to keep a long story short it turns out both pickups were somehow damaged... The bridge had both coils not working properly and the neck only one (hence the parallel correct sound, it was the "good" coil)! I switched them and all is now working as it should. So, rare, but it happens! Funny thing is that I cannot seem to understand why but anyway, it happened!

Thanks again for all your help!

[darkbluemurder]

Well - it is rare but it happens. At least you found it.

Cheers Stephan

[buddroyce]

That's a significant amount of corrosion on those pickups!! I'm guessing you must live in an area that's fairly close to a large body of water or something.

[webkostas]

Well the guitar has travelled quite a bit and has been under lots of sweat from my hands, indeed!