Yamaha RGX421DM wiring...?

Alfredima · #1 06-06-2020, 03:22 AM

PREMISE..I DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH SO SORRY FOR MY BAD ENGLISH. THE SECOND THING IS THAT I'VE BEEN PLAYING GUITAR FOR THREE MONTH!

Hi! A month ago my father's cousin give me his Yamaha RGX421DM...I was so happy to finally start playing an electric guitar. Unfortunately the guitar was old and not so well cared for. I started some searching and found that this guitar has the "HSH" configuration with a neck hambucker, a center single coil and a bridge hambucker.

The volume potentiometer was broken (it works only at the end of the round and sometimes it looked like it had to be locked to keep the volume). The tone potentiometer just didn't work! The pickup switch, instead, was working very well...even the three pickups was working well!

I took it apart, every single piece, and repainted the body. Once the painting was over I start searching on internet how to wire my guitar. The problems started when I noticed that one hambucker is branded Fender and the other hambucker is branded DiMarzio and I have no idea of what's the single coil pickup (simply there are no writing or numbers on it). So I tried first the Fender website but the wiring diagrams wasn't adapt to my situation. On the DiMarzio website, instead, I found what was I looking for!

After other searching I added some information to this wiring diagram just to remember how to rebuild again the guitar. I found what kind of potentiometer I had to use for volume and tone (linear or logarithmic) and finally my guitar was ready! (Well...it was what I thought...)

The volume works finally perfect! But tone doesn't work and now even the pickup switch doesn't work. It is a 5 way switch and when I put it at the center the guitar don't produce any sound...someone can help me with some other wiring diagram?

If you need any other information I will be happy to give it to you.

Dru Edwards · #2 06-06-2020, 05:31 AM

Hi Alfredima, Welcome to the AGF and a great first post. Your English is very good and I understand what you are asking.

The problem is most likely related to different companies having different colored wires, although you could also have a soldering problem or a broken component but I'm guessing that's not the case. Guessing your pots still won't operate smoothly either.

DiMarzio:
Red - Hot
Black & White - Center tap
Green - Ground

Fender
Green - Hot
White & Black - Center tap (not Black & White like DiMarzio)
Red - Ground

Here's a site I found which has multiple pickup manufacturers and their color coding:
https://madhatterguitarproducts.com/...ets-references

So, if you use the DiMarzio diagram, change the colored wires for your Fender pickup to be what's above. Where the diagram shows a "red" wire for the DiMarzio use the "green" wire instead for the Fender. Does this make sense?

Here's your pic (I can't see it in your post):

Alfredima · #3 06-07-2020, 06:33 AM

Thank you so much for the reply!!! I'll try this soon and I will let you know if it works!

Dru Edwards · #4 06-07-2020, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alfredima

Thank you so much for the reply!!! I'll try this soon and I will let you know if it works!

Yes, please keep us posted. Also, about the unknown middle single coil pickup, you'll need a multimeter to determine what's the hot wire. There are YouTube videos which show you how.

If you don't have a multimeter and want to get this wired today you can always choose the 2 humbucker wiring scheme and leave out the middle for now. That will at least let you know whether your pots and switch work.

Alfredima · #5 06-09-2020, 06:57 AM

Hi! I tried but nothing has changed . About the single coil there's something "strange"...when I put the switch for example on the second position, if I dab on the singl coil, it actually produce sound in the amplifier. Is it possible a problem of the switch? Of course when I put it on the third position (the center) of the switch the guitar look like "OFF"!

Dru Edwards · #6 06-13-2020, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alfredima

Hi! I tried but nothing has changed . About the single coil there's something "strange"...when I put the switch for example on the second position, if I dab on the singl coil, it actually produce sound in the amplifier. Is it possible a problem of the switch? Of course when I put it on the third position (the center) of the switch the guitar look like "OFF"!

It could be the switch and it could be the pickup. It could also be a bad solder joint. I would try to wire the guitar just with the neck and bridge (H-H) and leave the single coil out of the mix just to see if that all works correctly. Actually, does the neck and bridge pickups work correctly now on their own?

Alfredima · #7 06-16-2020, 08:04 AM

SOLVED! SOLVED! SOLVED!!! I'm very happy...after controlled all solder point and if I followed the wiring diagram correctly, I tried to reverse the single coil pick up white wire with the black one and now my guitar works perfectly! Thanks for all the help! THANK YOU!!!

Dru Edwards · #8 06-16-2020, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alfredima

SOLVED! SOLVED! SOLVED!!! I'm very happy...after controlled all solder point and if I followed the wiring diagram correctly, I tried to reverse the single coil pick up white wire with the black one and now my guitar works perfectly! Thanks for all the help! THANK YOU!!!

Excellent! And thank-you for the follow-up. I had an issue about 13 years back with the H-S-H Frankenstrat I assembled from parts I bought. It had a Fender Texas Special in the middle and a couple Seymour Duncan in the neck/bridge. First wiring attempt didn't work well. Second one did. I think it was just a single wire.

How do you like the guitar/pickups?