Blazer 3.0

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:29 pm

Not sure how many are interested in stuff like this here, but I just got my Ibanez Blazer back from the shop. I hate wiring and I always fuck up on something so I just bit the bullet and had it done. The pickups are an SD '59 in the neck, SD phat cat in the middle, and an SD P-Rails in the bridge, with the dpdt 3-way switch to switch between the rails/humbucker/p-90. It'll take a while to get used to all the options but I'm digging my choices, especially the phat cat and p-rails. The single coil in the rails sounds way surfier and authentic than I'd imagined.

It still has a minor grounding issue, since the tech that wired it used the existing wire to the trem claw I had in there, which I don't think is shielded (probably where my problems were coming from in the first place). He probably didn't realize this because I set it up myself and only had him do the wiring so he probably didn't test it. No big deal, I have to wait til saturday and I doubt he'll charge for the fix, but I'll probably end up eating the set of strings I just put on.

Also, after the pickups and strings are all in place it's apparent just how bad Jeannie Pickguards fucked this up. Even the neck pickup is crooked, and you can see for yourself how great the screw holes line up. I'm sure I've told everyone time and time again how bad they fucked up the middle hole and the bad attitude that came with it. See for yourself. And do not give these dudes your money, no matter how desperate you are.

And yes, this is the guitar that's been in the classifieds more times than I can count. Mainly because I was frustrated with it as it's never been fully operational in years. I'm glad I held onto it, I still like it better than most full scale fenders.

william · Post by **william** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:04 pm

fucked up or no, thats still a really neat and good looking guitfiddle. id like to have a guitar like that just to be a catchall on the tones i cant get with my other guitars. i think thats the real reason ive lusted after robroes rivers strat.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:17 pm

Yeah, it looks good Nick. Grounding issues are a real pain, i dont recall now but one guitar i owned i could have thrown through the window. I never found the fault and tried everything.
Are you going to demo the sonds?

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:03 pm

I might do a clean demo tonight, for heavy distortion though it's probably best to wait for the grounding issue to be resolved

jcyphe · Post by **jcyphe** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:37 pm

Much Ibanez like.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:43 am

HE GOTS THE P-RAILS!!!!!

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:10 pm

how does one wire a guitar and not test it?

especially a guitar that obviously doesn't come with any kind of schematic ?

from my own experience of wiring guitars with parts not meant to be on the guitar in the first place you start with putting the wires where they *should* go from the pickups to the terminals. that usually never works the first time so you dick around with it some more until buzzing stops or the pickups start working.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:13 pm

I'm sorry but that guy did shit work. No way you should give something to a paying customer without testing it.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:57 pm

all you gotta do is plug it in and take a screw driver to the top of the poll pieces and do the tap/scrape test over the pickup while hitting the toggley / wiggi switches

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:31 pm

Have i missed something here? I got the impression it all works but it is picking up some noise, more along the lines of a RF problem than anything else.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:12 pm

robroe wrote:wiggi switches

hahaha WIGGI SWITCHES

I always loved the Blazer, but the pickup config you have now is fucking epic.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:18 am

Fran wrote:Have i missed something here? I got the impression it all works but it is picking up some noise, more along the lines of a RF problem than anything else.

This guy does great work and can fix nearly anything, however he's also probably the busiest luthier in the area, so he only does exactly what his customers tell him to and nothing more. He did a VERY clean job with the wiring. I only asked him to wire up the pickups and not string it up, since I didn't want to pay him for a set up and I needed to screw holes in the body anyway. He did the job right, but used the existing wire I had going to the bridge claw which he probably didn't know wasn't shielded. Also the pickguard has no shielding tape on it which might be the cause. I know this guy through working at the shop and he's alright, like I said I'm sure he won't charge to fix whatever is causing the buzz.

To recap, it was tested and works fine. It has a noise issue, like something isn't shielded right. All the pickups work how they're supposed to. I did tap the poles in the store through an amp and it sounded fine. Maybe it's a different problem entirely. We'll see saturday.

Post by **Mike** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 8:46 am

The ground wire to the bridge doesn't need to be shielded. It's ground. There is no signal on it.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:57 am

If non-signal parts don't need to be shielded to reduce hum then why all the tape and plates in most guitars?

I'm still sort of a n00b when it comes to how this shit actually works.

Post by **Mike** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:06 pm

Tape and Plates are just conducting ground. They form a Faraday Cage around the signal conducting components (pickups et al) which rejects radio frequencies and other interference from monitors etc. Same way a Fuzz pedal out of it's case is noisy as fuck and picking up talk radio but when in a metal box (where the box itself is grounded by the jacks) is quiet.

Basically the tape and plates are connected to ground, same as the metal parts of your guitar (bridge and therefore strings) so nothing is acting as an antenna for noise. Also you need to ground the elements of the circuit (pots, pickups etc) so that they function correctly in reference to ground and are not just floating - which will give you buzz.

Your buzz will be caused most likely by an ungrounded element of the system (a pot, a pickup, something...) and it could be the bridge ground is not connected to the bridge properly (does the buzz go away when you touch the strings/bridge?) but it's not the unshielded nature of the bridge ground wire.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:54 am

I'm starting to think it's not a problem with the guitar at all as even my Les Paul has a similar hum now through the same amp and settings.

It gets quieter when I touch the strings/tuners/etc....is it possibly something wrong with my house or the amp?