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Ibanez Roadstar II RB950 wiring

M

MattBass87

Jul 22, 2022
13
14
#1
I'm pretty new to bass and was given an old MIJ Ibanez Roadstar II 950 made in 1984

The bass worked briefly, but I noticed the knobs were loose (should have tightened them) one day the blend knob was only giving the neck pickup and turning it other way gives no volume whatsoever instead of the bridge. I opened the back up, and a black wire fell out I'm guessing it got pulled out from being loose.


Are there any diagrams for this old bass? going to see if I can repair myself before sending it to a shop.

Or maybe similar bass where wiring would be identical?


Its double humbucker, 1st knob is blend, 2nd knob is volume + coil tap on one of the pickups (i think) the 3rd is tone and coil tap.

Same bass as this

SOLD - 1984 Ibanez Roadstar II RB950

Thanks :)
 
#2
I don't have experience with that model, but this might help.

Order of operations for circuits are generally: Pickup>Blend>Volume>Tone
Coil tap can be thought of as a parallel circuit. It probably just switches the tap wire to ground. Switch open equals untapped. Switch closed to ground equals tapped.

Use an alligator clip to attach that wire to any ground and see if it works. If that does not work, look for a pot with a terminal that has solder, but no wire.
 
#4
Nothing related I think, but there are red wires connected to the tone and volume pot, 1 of them had some tape over it, the 2nd the tape covering the end just fell off are those wires not in use I take it or why else would there be tape over the end?




That grey thing is a pad the previous owner stuck on, for comfort.

There's a small black wire that fell out, I believe it connected from the blend going to volume but I'm not sure..

Might just be better to pay for it to be repaired.

It's a nice bass.
 
#7
My number one bass is an '85 RB 850. Best of the dozen vintage Ibanezes that I own. Congrats on snagging this treasure -- I think the 950 is just a cosmetic step up from the 850 and should have the same pickups and wiring. Don't forget that the bass is set up BLEND / VOLUME / TONE --- that can get confusing, and also the Volume and Tone pots are push/push and do a phase or coil tap thing.

If you don't get it sorted based on the advice here, I can take a photo of mine for you. Tag me in a message if you need me to get out the screwdriver and camera.
 
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#9
Thanks everyone especially AaronBass4 I couldn't find 950, but 850 seems to be same. Google wouldn't translate the pdf, so I just removed the old German text and added it in English not that translation was really needed just wanted to know what it said.

wiring.png
 
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#13
I'm completely illiterate to these things so excuse my terminology.


On the wriing digram the bottom left shows a black wire connected but mine is missing.
Also that part is bent inwards and soldered onto the pot?

The white wire on the bottom right is missing too, I'm guessing thats what the unwired white wire on left is for?
123.jpg
 
#15
From an RB850 harness I have left over from a tragic mod attempt . . .
upload_2022-9-1_21-39-18.png


CAUTION! I checked this about 5 times and found an error each time and edited each time. I think its all good now. Sorry 'bout that!

Top left terminal is connected to the bottom right with a short black wire, like on the diagram but on the diagram its white, not black. The 2 middle terminals are the hot/red from the pickups. The lower left is bent over and soldered to the housing (grounded). The upper right is connected with short black wire that is soldered to the bottom housing (ground) . . . electrically the same but not quite as shown in the diagram.

EDIT - so, I'd say you are completely missing the short black jumper that connects top left to bottom right. And, that loose white wire needs to go the the bottom right terminal also
 

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#16
Thats a huge help thanks so much.

Only problem is I have no soldering equipment, but have some on order that should get here in few days.. comes with iron, soldering wire, stripper, 2 x electronic wires (one black and one red im guessing I'll use the black one) and other bits..
:hyper:
 
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#18
It might not be a bad idea to get some extra wire and even a potentiometer or two and practice soldering before you dive into your bass if you’ve never done it before. It’s not difficult but some practice on parts you’re not worried about messing up doesn’t hurt.

I didn’t see if you had a solder remover (sucker) on the list but that could be helpful with old parts too.
 

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