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. 

http://soundcloud.com/edwardsalexk/bkp-aftermath-problem

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

[Transcend]

can you take a photo of the wiring cavity.

To me it sounds like it could have been wired up wrong,

[alexedwards]

Hey there-

I'd be more than happy to. 
Is the wiring cavity just the hole on the back of the body that's covered up by a plate?  Sorry, i'm a bit of a newbie with this stuff.

Thanks
-Alex

[Transcend]

yeah you may have a few depending on your guitar but it will be the biggest one that is directly behind the pots.

[Kiichi]

To me it sounds like it could have been wired up wrong,

I agree, like wires were swapped due to the different color code or so.

[witeter]

The amounf of luthiers who have wired my bkp's wrong is truly frightening, its because they do what they always do instead of following the bkp instructions.

[witeter]

By the way, you are not in wales are you?..

[FELINEGUITARS]

Sounds like it has been wired up with the two coils wired out of phase to each other - like the others said - he's followed Dimarzio colour coding or copied from the pickups that were in there

It's actually really simple to fix - I do have my doubts about him if he is clueless to the problem though, unless he is pretty much an acoustic guitar maker type "luthier" and hasn't much electric experience.

If he has copied Dimarzio he will have red wires to hot and green to earth  and the black and white soldered together

To make it work for BKP - swap the black wire and green wire over - so the black goes to earth and the green is soldered to the white and taped up to insulate the join

[HTH AMPS]

Get him to check the wiring against the colour codes on the BKP wiring diagram that comes with the pickup - sounds out of phase.

[alexedwards]

Hey guys, thanks for all of your responses, I appreciate it.

Just some more background info

This is a 3-way switch config.  Also it's an ibanez, and I could be wrong but i've heard about people having to reverse their neck magnets to get it in phase?  Maybe just a myth, but i'm not too sure. 

He claimed to look at all of the schematics and that none of them worked.  He said he had to use a completely different wiring to get them to work.  So yeah, he probably did wire them wrong because according to him the schematics provided online and in the manual did not work.

I'm truly doubting these pups are defective as well, as i haven't seen anyone who's had the same problem. 

Anyways, here's a picture of the wiring.  Hope it's not too jumbled, I can re take it if needed.

By the way, you are not in wales are you?..

No, i'm not in Wales

[PhilKing]

He's used the wrong wiring.  He's taped the green and black together, and then used the red from one and the white from the other as live and vice versa as grounds.  He should have the green and while soldered together and the black and screen to ground and the red's to the switch.  Using the red and white differently for each pickup will put the pickups out of phase and give a really thin sound (unless the magnets are also reversed like in a PRS).

[Philly Q]

He's used the wrong wiring.  He's taped the green and black together, and then used the red from one and the white from the other as live and vice versa as grounds.  He should have the green and while soldered together and the black and screen to ground and the red's to the switch.  Using the red and white differently for each pickup will put the pickups out of phase and give a really thin sound (unless the magnets are also reversed like in a PRS).

Agreed, swapping the red and white wires will have put the two pickups out of phase.

I noticed the greens and blacks wired together too, but don't know what effect that will have on the sound.... is it changing the phase of the two coils within each humbucker relative to each other?  :?

[MrBump]

Does seem odd that supposedly professional guitar technicians can make mistakes like that - worse, that they hand the guitar back to the customer like it!!!

[BigB]

Does seem odd that supposedly professional guitar technicians can make mistakes like that - worse, that they hand the guitar back to the customer like it!!!

A "professional" is only someone that get paid - doesn't imply being competent. FWIW, my experience with a couple "tech" jobs (sound engineering, computer programming and guitar tech) is that a good part of the "supposedly professional" just suck - don't understand what they do, never bother reading the $%&#ing manual, try anything until it "kind of" work and call it "done".  Strange enough, the good ones are usually also very humble - but that's probably why they are good - when something doesn't work out, they first question their own understanding of the problem, re-read the manual and double-check what they've done.

FWIW, at least one third of the sound engineers and more than half of the computer programmers I met would be better doing something else. Can't tell about "guitar tech", but I suspect the ratio is even worth.

[alexedwards]

Hey everyone

Thanks for all of your help.  In a couple days a buddy and I are gonna sit down and switch those wires around.  hopefully that will fix the issue.  I'll keep you posted with results

Any fatal errors to watch out for when wiring pickups?  What NOT to do, AKA things that can permanently ruin the pups?  again sorry if i sound newb here, as I am not so experienced with guitar electronics. Just trying to be sure i'm taking all possible precautions.

Thanks again