BKP Aftermath BIG problem..

[AlexEdwards]

So, the luthier calls me today telling me he's gotten in my calibrated set of aftermaths into my Ibanez RGD321. I ran down to the shop and picked her up, plugged her in, in to my dismay this is what I heard.

Bkp aftermath problem by edwardsalexk on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

I can post a clean DI later if nessescary, but this is a distorted tone. I'm in tune, but the way these sound it sounds like i'm out of tune because these nasty frequencies..

Also, this is not the way i have dialed in the tone..it sounds like this across all rigs.

The tone sounds very nasaly, hollow, and honky. I know these aren't supposed to sound this way. I gave the luthier a call and told him my issue, he said he had no idea how to fix it and that it sounded that way because "they are just very hot pick ups"

Can anyone help me out here? thank you in advance.

-Alex

 

[Razzy]

Hmm, how close to the strings are they?

 

[AlexEdwards]

Hmm, how close to the strings are they?

Hey man, thanks for the reply.
The strings sit about roughly 6 or 7 centimeters from the pickups

 

[TRENCHLORD]

Hey man, thanks for the reply.
The strings sit about roughly 6 or 7 centimeters from the pickups

you mean mm?

 

[ras1988]

Should start out at 2 millimeters then get closer/further from there to taste....6-7 cm doesn't even make sense that is >2 in. think your meant mm right?

 

[AlexEdwards]

Woops sorry, yes I meant millimeters. lol sorry about that.

 

[AlexEdwards]

Well, wouldn't making the pickups closer only increase the problem in this case? to me it sounds like that they're coming in a little too hot as they already are sitting at ~7mm. But then again I don't know so much about pups and guitar electronics.

 

[TRENCHLORD]

How high you have the pickups will depend to a large degree on your guitar's setup (tuning, tension, string gauges, action, relief, ect.,) and your pick attack/muting touch.

Really take the time to get your setup and pickups calibrated to your own liking.
Many players (speaking in general, not about you personally) will spend countless hours jamming out, while really never taking the time for setup and pickup tweeking.

 

[Levi79]

Dude these are probably wired wrong. Take some pics of the wiring and we can see if thats the issue. (please take pics of which wires are going where, not just a mess of wires)

 

[AlexEdwards]

Hey guys

Thanks for all your responses.

I'm truly convinced this is a wiring issue, so are the folks down at the BKP forums. The luthier claimed that the schematics he went by both online and in the manual did not work. He said he had tried a different wiring combination that was not listed anywhere to get them to work.

And although they work, yes, they sound like total ass and I think it might be due to a phasing issue.

Just some more background info: This is a 3-way switch config and it's also an ibanez RGD321. I've heard people with some guitars have had to reverse the neck magnet to get these into phase properly? Could be wrong, but that's what i've heard and I figure it's worth mentioning.

Anyway, here's a photo of the wiring cavity. If needed I can take more pictures. Thanks again.

 

[Alex_IBZ]

Just seeing these messed up heat shrinks makes want to puke. Gosh, luthiers and techs should know their way around this kind of stuff.

Personally, I cannot quite figure out the problem only by looking at this pic. You could make it easier for us by making an accurate description about which wire (color!) goes where, or better: make another picture but this time unscrew the switch so we can see it from both sides.

 

[JaeSwift]

Just seeing these messed up heat shrinks makes want to puke. Gosh, luthiers and techs should know their way around this kind of stuff.

Don't really care for the cosmetic state of the heatshrink tubes, but the amount of times he could have cooked one of the pots (just looking at the amount of solder) is a bit alarming.

 

[Lon]

sounds like its on permanent singlecoil-mode, maybe the guy assumed the color-coding was dimarzio-style, then exactly this happens.

this is why i always do my own tech, damnit

 

[ESPImperium]

Cooked pot, wiring colours wrong, also wrongly wired into the tone pot can be the problem.

I do all my own wiring more or less all the time, however when it comes to Ibanez wiring, thats where i need a Tech.

 

[Konfyouzd]

I can't really see what's going on in there exactly, but I know that if you want them wired in series Green and white get tied together and black and bare go to ground. He may have done like Dimarzios as someone else already pointed out. With those, green and bare go to ground and black and white get tied together.

 

[Larrikin666]

I've also had Bareknuckle tell me that their pickups don't always get along with Ibanez switches. They didn't really elaborate at the time, so I'm not sure exactly what they were talking about.

 

[rippedflesh89]

I've also had Bareknuckle tell me that their pickups don't always get along with Ibanez switches. They didn't really elaborate at the time, so I'm not sure exactly what they were talking about.

thats weird, ive never had any issues w/bareknuckles and ibanez 5-ways

 

[sessionswan]

I had an issue trying to wire a Painkiller bridge up to a UV, specifically wiring it to be coil split on the 2nd (or would it be 4th?) position of the 5 way. Even in the bridge position, it sounded thinner than I expected, not unlike how yours sounds. Once I rewired it the way Konfyouzd mentioned, I never looked back. I agree with everyone, check yo' wiring!