Have a pick guard and installing wilkinson M series Pickups

[Maverick Wolfe]

I know the picture is distorted, however the setup is HSH, the old neck HB is still in the guard as I haven't installed the new ones completely into the guard. The middle is new and Wired correctly, however the neck and Bridge I am not sure about as the small yellow wires are top=Neck Bottom=Bridge. What I want to make sure of is that it's wired right and when I go to select them I'll get the full of each bucker and not a single. These are a matching set of Wilkinson pickups which I bought to go together from Amazon. I know I could have kept the original ones, however I figured it would be better to just replace everything and match them to be sure of no imbalance. I'd appreciate any and all advice and if I should move the wires to the same spots as the other two wires for each HB respectively. the Neck is the yellow/white large wire, the bridge is the red one with Red and white. I don't want to blow up the pickups the first time I put the guitar I am installing the guard into on an amp. This is also an Ibanez setup, so I don't just want to screw up the harness.

[McCreed]

Really need a broader, clearer photo to give you proper advice.
Also, you can't really "blow up" pickups.

[Maverick Wolfe]

Really need a broader, clearer photo to give you proper advice.
Also, you can't really "blow up" pickups.

Thanks for the info, will get back to you with a better picture it's the one I had available and it was too big.

[McCreed]

Thanks for the info, will get back to you with a better picture it's the one I had available and it was too big.

The max size allowed is 1500 x 1500 pixels is hosting directly on the forum. I find if you resize a clear well focused pic to 1000 (on one side) we can expand to see a lot of detail.

Alternatively you can host offsite, eg: Imgur.

[Maverick Wolfe]

Thanks for the info, will get back to you with a better picture it's the one I had available and it was too big.

The max size allowed is 1500 x 1500 pixels is hosting directly on the forum. I find if you resize a clear well focused pic to 1000 (on one side) we can expand to see a lot of detail.

Alternatively you can host offsite, eg: Imgur.

These are 1500, yet very clear, If you'd like some different shots let me know and I'll break out my D60 instead of using my Galaxy S10+ Camera.

[McCreed]

The phone camera will be fine. I'm still using an iPhone 6!
Just take a bird's eye shot so we can see the signal path and what wires are going where.


Regardless of the pics, if you want the standard Ibanez 5-way HSH wiring follow this diagram:
This will give you full HB in 1 and 5, and split HB + SC in 2 & 4.


You will need to check the Wilkinson wire colour code to determine your positive and ground wires on the HB's, but the already joined red & white wires are the "coil finish" wires that go to the switch as per the diagram.


As far as I can tell in your pic, you have an 8-lug import switch, so use this drawing below to cross-reference the diagram switch and your 8-lug.

[Maverick Wolfe]

The phone camera will be fine. I'm still using an iPhone 6!
Just take a bird's eye shot so we can see the signal path and what wires are going where.


Regardless of the pics, if you want the standard Ibanez 5-way HSH wiring follow this diagram:
This will give you full HB in 1 and 5, and split HB + SC in 2 & 4.


You will need to check the Wilkinson wire colour code to determine your positive and ground wires on the HB's, but the already joined red & white wires are the "coil finish" wires that go to the switch as per the diagram.


As far as I can tell in your pic, you have an 8-lug import switch, so use this drawing below to cross-reference the diagram switch and your 8-lug.

Would you recommend I order a different switch and Just wire things exactly per the diagram? If I order a new switch I was thinking about the Kaish 5 way switch like is listed on Amazon or if there's another brand you would recommend that I can search for. I simply used part of the original wire because it would have been a bit more complicated to redo the joint on the pot, they're all at the same point for the grounds.

[McCreed]

You certainly can upgrade/change the switch if you want, but I have no experience with the Kaish ones so can't comment. I have used some hardware of some kind from them, but I don't remember what it was (a bridge maybe???) and I don't recall being disappointed (fwtw). CRL and Oak Grigsby are high quality USA-made ones but will cost more than MIC units.

I found this diagram for an Ibanez using an 8-lug import switch that gives their standard auto-split selections:


I modified the drawing to remove the wire colours as they vary across different brands to avoid confusion. However it will be conceptually the same using positive, ground and series connections as shown. You can print out and write in your own colour codes for clarity if it helps.

One note, the middle single coil leads may or may not need to flipped around depending on the phase of the humbucker coils it's paired with.

Hope this helps!

[Maverick Wolfe]

You certainly can upgrade/change the switch if you want, but I have no experience with the Kaish ones so can't comment. I have used some hardware of some kind from them, but I don't remember what it was (a bridge maybe???) and I don't recall being disappointed (fwtw). CRL and Oak Grigsby are high quality USA-made ones but will cost more than MIC units.

I found this diagram for an Ibanez using an 8-lug import switch that gives their standard auto-split selections:


I modified the drawing to remove the wire colours as they vary across different brands to avoid confusion. However it will be conceptually the same using positive, ground and series connections as shown. You can print out and write in your own colour codes for clarity if it helps.

One note, the middle single coil leads may or may not need to flipped around depending on the phase of the humbucker coils it's paired with.

Hope this helps!

This is straight forward, however I'm a bit confused as to what pin is what. my soldiered pair on the Wilkinsons are white and red for both neck and bridge. I have a yellow for the South hot, and north Hot neck and bridge respectively. Middle hot is Red, ground is typical black. where would those two yellows be on the switch position? Would it be okay to put them both to one, or would it give me too gritty of a sound?

[McCreed]

Ok, let me know if this is what your pickup wires look like:


If this is correct, do this:
(and refer to my earlier "Fender to Import" drawing. Lug numbers go from 1-8, Left to Right with metal casing toward YOU)

Bridge Pickup:
Red & White to Lug #8
Yellow to Lug#3
Black & Bare to Ground

Middle SC*:
Red wire to Lug #2
Black to Ground

*See my note in post #8

Neck Pickup:
Red & White to Lug #6
Yellow to Lug #1
Black & Bare to Ground

Switch Lug #7 wire to Ground

Switch Lug #4 wire to Volume Pot as shown.