CA Guitar Repair Blog: Ibanez RG370DX Overhaul

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Getting the Pickups Ready

As has been painfully obvious since Part 1, the three pickups on this 2007 Ibanez RG370DX are in dire need of deep cleaning. This I have done to the best of my ability with the aid of naphtha, Waxco plastic polish, a toothbrush, and lots of paper towels. Was not able to do much about the hex pole pieces, but at least they can now be raised or lowered with greater ease. Plus, it warms the cockles of my heart to see them relatively free of grime and crud. The white stuff? That's just potting wax, folks.

Pickups After Cleaning

That being taken care of, we can shift our focus to pickup wiring, starting with the INFS3 middle single-coil. Removing the cover, and cleaning off all the crud and cobwebs from around the black plastic base plate has uncovered cause for alarm. One, the hot lead [white] has damaged insulation, and this could cause a short at any time. Two, looking closely, you'll notice that the solder points for both the hot and ground [black] leads are dull and dark. So dull, in fact, that you can hardly make them out.

Coverless INFS3

Damaged Insulation/Dull Solder Points

Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I've gone ahead and desoldered the existing leads from their respective base plate eyelets. Talking about desoldering, I really wish pickup manufacturers would stop making base plates out of plastic and go back to using fiber. These plastic base plates tend to overheat and melt a little too easily, making a mess of things. Anyhow, both leads have been replaced, the only visible difference being a yellow lead for the hot.

Hot/Ground Leads Replaced

Right now, everything has been taken care of, and I can breathe a sigh of relief. The pickups have been serviced, the plastic pickup surrounds for the INF3 and INF4 cleaned and polished, the INFS3 rewired, and all three treated to new screws and springs. Components have been reassembled and all that remains is to reinstall them into the body.

Pickup Screws/Springs Replaced

One final check, and the INF3 is dead in the water. No output at all. Rechecking the wiring repeatedly with various multimeters has yielded the same heartbreaking results. Having no other choice, I've unwrapped the black tape protecting the coils, carefully disentangled the rat's nest of wires within, and identified the culprit. It's the bare ground wire [labeled "1" in Fig. 1 below] that is soldered to the brass base plate of the INF3.

Fig. 1: Stock INF3 Coaxial Cable

The solder joint is there, all right. The problem is that the ground wire has snapped off completely from this solder joint, breaking the ground connection between the base plate and control cavity circuitry. In short, no ground connection means an open circuit, which translates into a dead pickup. Right, resoldering the ground wire to the base plate should solve the problem. What the heck, I might as well go the whole hog and replace the red coaxial cable. That's what you see in Fig. 2 below. I've soldered on a new black coaxial cable, and the INF3 has come back to life. With pickup issues all sorted out, the INF3, INFS3, and INF4 are back in the body of our RG370DX.

Fig. 2: INF3 Coaxial Cable Replaced

Pickups Reinstalled in Body

Taking Care of Wiring

I've started off wiring chores by soldering a grey coaxial [shielded] cable to the owner's output jack of choice, a Switchcraft. The other end of this cable will be soldered to the volume pot when I'm dealing with control cavity wiring. I cannot stress enough on the importance of using shielded cable for longer cable runs, such as the volume pot to the output jack. Taking the easy way out and simply soldering on two lengths of unshielded cable will not minimize electromagnetic field [EMF] interference; and you'll most probably end up with an unbearably noisy signal.

Switchcraft Output Jack/Shielded Cable

When dealing with control cavity-mounted electronics, I prefer wiring as many components as possible outside the cavity, on a purpose-built board. In essence, one is putting together a "wiring harness," which, once completed, will be easily soldered to the pickup and output jack cables. Here, I'm wiring in the volume and tone pots on a repurposed plywood board built for an Ibanez GIO.

Wiring Harness/Alpha A500K Pots

Now, the pots have been unfastened from the plywood board, and a pair of "helping hands" is being utilized to keep the volume pot immobile while I solder the pickup grounds to its back. Believe me, it's way safer than trying to do this with the pot already installed deep inside the control cavity. For one, there is much less risk of accidentally burning wiring insulation with your soldering iron, and ending up with an unsightly mess.

Soldering Pickup Grounds

Folks, control cavity wiring has finally been completed, and the only task left undone is to solder the black ground wire from the back of the tone pot to the tremolo claw. Yes, you read me right. I've soldered the grounds for both the selector switch housing and tremolo claw to the back of the tone, and not volume, pot. This is because the back of the volume pot has just about taken as many solder connections as it can, while there's still lots of empty space on the back of the tone pot. Makes sense, doesn't it? Moving on, Fig. 3 is a simple representation of the wiring scheme employed in this RG370DX.

Control Cavity Wiring Completed

Fig. 3: Ibanez RG370DX Wiring Diagram

Well, wiring has been taken care of, so what's left? Oh yes, we should attach the black selector switch tip, as well as the stock black metal dome knobs. These knobs have been cleaned and serviced along with the rest of the hardware, and look much better than when received. Oh yes, we also need to fasten the output jack to the shiny new chrome-plated output jack plate, and screw the latter onto the body. Here's what it all looks like, then.

Pickups/Electronics Fully Installed

Chrome-Plated Output Jack Plate

Reattaching the Neck

As received, the neck pitch on this RG370DX was off, and that's putting it mildly. Truth be told, the neck was actually angled upwards, resulting in unnecessarily high action in the upper reaches of the fretboard. To correct this, I've decided to install a very thin blackwood neck shim. Now, the neck's been reattached, and is ever so slightly angled downwards, thank goodness. Oh yes, I might as well glue some black EVA foam to the floor of the tremolo recess now.

Blackwood Neck Shim

Desired Neck Pitch Achieved

EVA Foam Lining Replaced

Overhaul Completed

I've reinstalled the Edge III, and attached the new tremolo claw and springs. No, I have not forgotten about soldering the ground wire to the claw. Fast forward to November 25, this guitar has just been set up with Dunlop DEN 0942s, and put through its paces. Everything's working as it should, and I'm one happy repairman. I'll end this post with a few pics of the overhauled 2007 Ibanez RG370DX.