Never really installed pickups or anything, but when you buy pickups do you have to buy new pots/etc. with them or can you use your old ones or what? Im switching out my stock INF1 to Dizmario Evo's.








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the stock pots should be 500k's so they will be fine .

if you want to get more power and tone out of your pickups you can always try 1 meg pots instead of the standard 500k.

check out www.torresengineering.com for more info on 1 and 2 meg pots.

this site is guitar tone heaven .








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You don't have to, but it's always a good idea. Dirt can build up inside of them. They only cost a couple dollars. Just do it.

yea...that is a good point.
i assumed that the old pots were in proper working order.

another good idea is to give the pots a shot of cleaner/lube to keep them working like they should.








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contact cleaner..you can get it at home depot in electronics..








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None of these "opinions" are representative of Great Southern Music.
They are my personal opinions.

...or GC in the pro audio department. Or Radio Shack. Or Fry's Electronics.

Sweet thanks for the replies, would it just have to be pots to buy? I have all the knobs etc.








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is anything wrong with your old ones ?
if they are not noisy...if they dont crackle when you turn the knobs , i would leave them alone.
a shot of cleaner wouldnt hurt...but use ONLY the contact cleaner designed for pots.

if this is your first time doing a pickup swap...KEEP IT SIMPLE.

make a diagram of EVERYTHING ...leave out no detail.
take good,clear photo's , take notes ....leave nothing to chance.

i know it sounds goofy , but attention to detail can really save you a lot of frustration








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Good point chuck... another to be wary of is that Ibanez use different coloured wires than DiMarzio do, so try and get a wiring diagram of your guitar (they're downloadable as PDFs from the Ibanez website (the Japanese one if not the US one) and compare it to the one that comes with the pickups. It's mostly in relation to which wires are soldered together, and what's connected where for the coil taps. When I bought my red JS100, the previous owner had fitted PAF Pros, but he'd fitted them wrongly, so it sounded awful when coil tapped or when both pickups were on. A bit of rewiring (not too easy as he'd also cut the pickup wires a bit short) and it sounds awesome, but it was a fiddly job.








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and yet another good point you added spacehog .... wow, this mutual admiration scociety is great !

the diagram from Ibanez ( how your guitar SHOULD be ) , the one you make / photograph ( what you actually have ), and the one from the pickup manufacturer (what you are changing) can all work together to make it a fun ,easy job

just read EVERYTHING several times before starting the job , and take your time , focus on the task at hand , and you will have those new pickups singing in no time !

piece o cake








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Ok I gotcha guys, now I just gotta wait for my bridge pickup to come in! Is the difference between 500k and 1 meg just more tone coming out of your pickups?








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the torres engineering sit has the full scoop ...but here is the readers digest version.

the higher the value /resistance of the pot , the less of your signal gets sent to ground and the more of your signal makes it to your amp.

i found this out for myself years ago ....i put a set of Duncan Classic Livewires (active pickups) in my Ibanez RG760.
Duncan includes a set of 100K pots with the L/W's , but they wouldnt fit my Ibanez ...so i said to heck with it , and used the stock 500k pots in the Ibanez.
it sounded AWESOME. .... i had just stumbled onto something, but didnt know it.

skip forward many years.... i am putting a set of L/W's in a Charvel Model 6.
this time i buy a pile of those hard to find 100k pots that fit the Japanese guitars...i am doing THIS one the right way !!!!

well , i get everything wired up all nice and neat ....plug into my amp , and .....it sounded fine.
.....not AWESOME like they did in my Ibanez RG760 , OR my Gibson SG.
i was stumped.
i did everything by the book ....why do these p/u's sound lifeless compared to my other ones ?
i called Duncan's tech line and talked with a tech ....i explained what i did with my other guitars ,and asked if the 500k pots were ok to use with the L/W's.....he couldnt understand WHY i would want to do that , but he said it wouldnt hurt anything...he actually laughed when he said it.
soooo...i grabbed a set of 500K's and put them in ....
AWESOME !!!
i didnt understand WHY the 500K's worked better than the recommended 100K's untill i found the torres engineering site a few years ago.

those guys know tone !!!








_________________
"That is not dead which can eternal lie
.... Yet with strange aeons even death may die"


proud member of G.A.U.P , and C.G.A.A

chuck wrote:

the torres engineering sit has the full scoop ...but here is the readers digest version.

the higher the value /resistance of the pot , the less of your signal gets sent to ground and the more of your signal makes it to your amp.

i found this out for myself years ago ....i put a set of Duncan Classic Livewires (active pickups) in my Ibanez RG760.
Duncan includes a set of 100K pots with the L/W's , but they wouldnt fit my Ibanez ...so i said to heck with it , and used the stock 500k pots in the Ibanez.
it sounded AWESOME. .... i had just stumbled onto something, but didnt know it.

skip forward many years.... i am putting a set of L/W's in a Charvel Model 6.
this time i buy a pile of those hard to find 100k pots that fit the Japanese guitars...i am doing THIS one the right way !!!!

well , i get everything wired up all nice and neat ....plug into my amp , and .....it sounded fine.
.....not AWESOME like they did in my Ibanez RG760 , OR my Gibson SG.
i was stumped.
i did everything by the book ....why do these p/u's sound lifeless compared to my other ones ?
i called Duncan's tech line and talked with a tech ....i explained what i did with my other guitars ,and asked if the 500k pots were ok to use with the L/W's.....he couldnt understand WHY i would want to do that , but he said it wouldnt hurt anything...he actually laughed when he said it.
soooo...i grabbed a set of 500K's and put them in ....
AWESOME !!!
i didnt understand WHY the 500K's worked better than the recommended 100K's untill i found the torres engineering site a few years ago.

those guys know tone !!!

Ah!! Ok, thank mang!








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I put a 1meg volume pot in my white JS100, and it gave it a little more output, but for some reason the volume drops down a lot quicker when you move the knob. So it's a balancing act, it's harder to do the smooth violin style playing approach, but it's enhanced the bite. All my other guitars have 500k pots. It's also worth bearing in mind you might need to drill the hole a little bit bigger to fit a new pot in a hole... I found a 9.5mm drill bit was required for the DiMarzio pots I fitted. I have a volume pedal anyway, so the volume pot issue is not a big deal








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Spacehog wrote:

I put a 1meg volume pot in my white JS100, and it gave it a little more output, but for some reason the volume drops down a lot quicker when you move the knob. So it's a balancing act, it's harder to do the smooth violin style playing approach, but it's enhanced the bite. All my other guitars have 500k pots. It's also worth bearing in mind you might need to drill the hole a little bit bigger to fit a new pot in a hole... I found a 9.5mm drill bit was required for the DiMarzio pots I fitted. I have a volume pedal anyway, so the volume pot issue is not a big deal

Sounds like you may have gotten a linear taper pot instead of a audio taper pot.