Red revival (2)

I had second thoughts about these pickups but these are the fabled DiMarzio IBZUSA trio. This means very little to me as I'm not a DiMarzio fan, I will only embrace the ones that give me what I want to hear.  Also, I have no budget for replacement pickups in the mean time so they were given a thorough cleaning & left in tact. The volume & tone pots were replaced as those were dead. After Beez re-wired them, they sounded alright. In fact, they sounded good to me, the midrange & top end responded with good clarity & not rounded off like many DiMarzios out there. However, after a few days of playing, the split tones were not heard when selector position 4 was engaged. Darn. 

So back to Beez for a diagnosis. Both humbuckers were functional in split mode at position 2 but not 4. Conclusion - the 5-way selector was dysfunctional. What a relief. Replacing a 5-way selector is definitely more financially viable than getting new pickups. So as you can see above, a new GOTOH YM-50 took over proceedings (shiny new terminals) & the pickups were back in business. Yes, I only had an oversized Orange Drop cap to spare for this guitar & it was put to use as depicted above as well. Folks, the thinner S-Series body could not accommodate the Strat-type 5-way selector; the curved & extended terminal would extend beyond the cavity, the reason a GOTOH was used instead. Also new - input jack. The older one was still functional but it crackled way too much, Beez advised a replacement now would be a good idea instead of returning subsequently to get it done; it's a matter of time.

To be concluded...