Dumb pickup wiring question...

Wesogkan · July 12, 2011, 02:36:51 PM

*sigh* I've put all of my pickups in my guitars and I'm stumped. I'm trying to take an EMG 60 out of an '84 Gibson V and replace it with the Duncan it came with from whoever...all of the wiring diagrams say there should be a black wire, a green wire, a white wire, and a red one...mine has only black, white, and exposed ground. And the other Duncan just has one wire coming out of a braided shield. I tried 4 wiring diagrams online to the best of my guesswork with no good result. I've got 2 volume knobs and 1 tone with a 3 way switch. No idea what model the pickups are are, both humbuckers, one black (bridge), one creme (neck).

LogicalFrank · July 12, 2011, 03:30:20 PM

Well, the wire coming out of the braided shield is hot and the shield itself is ground. On the other, I'd guess the black is ground and the white is hot or else it's the other way around. You might be able to figure out which is which using a multimeter or just trial and error. Use a two wire pickup wiring diagram. You'll attach the bare ground to the same point as whichever wire turns out to be the ground.

Hemisaurus · July 12, 2011, 03:32:30 PM

OK, black is hot, white is ground, unless you only have a braid, and then braid is ground.

Wire pickup 1 to volume 1 to selector switch
pickup 2 to volume 2 to selector switch
selector switch out to master tone to output jack.

Oh and here's a diagram to help

Hemisaurus · July 12, 2011, 04:21:34 PM

On the 2 wire pickup ground the white wire AND the braid.

spookstrickland · July 13, 2011, 04:18:14 AM

Quote from: Hemisaurus on July 12, 2011, 03:32:30 PM
OK, black is hot, white is ground, unless you only have a braid, and then braid is ground.

Wire pickup 1 to volume 1 to selector switch
pickup 2 to volume 2 to selector switch
selector switch out to master tone to output jack.

Oh and here's a diagram to help

Hemi,

Is there anyway around the big blob of solder on the back of the pots for ground? it always seems to take way too much heat to stick and burns up my pots.

Hemisaurus · July 13, 2011, 07:16:27 AM

You don't have to use the back of the pot as ground. Especially as on most potsthe back is not connected to the front, so it's not helping as a chassis ground of any sort, it may aid a little in noise reduction.

Wesogkan · July 13, 2011, 01:57:16 PM

Yeah, that's what I figured, and still nothing but dead air...think the pots I used were fried.

Wesogkan · July 13, 2011, 02:50:40 PM

Got it working finally, thanks guys!

Hemisaurus · July 13, 2011, 05:53:58 PM

Remember you can always just hook the pickup to the output jack, or onto the end of an instrument lead, hook it to the amp, and check if it's working. Just hold it on with your fingers (and it will buzz) or use a bit of duct tape, or if your really fancy some test clip leads.

chille01 · July 13, 2011, 11:41:58 PM

If you don't solder grounds to the pots, what DO you solder it too?

Hemisaurus · July 14, 2011, 07:11:17 AM

Together. Including the ground on the output jack. You can either twist all the wires together and coat them with solder, or you can install some kind of ground lug and solder to that. Especially if you have a foil coated cavity, screwing a lug to it will ground it too.

chille01 · July 14, 2011, 04:23:37 PM

Well don't THAT seem a fuck of allot easier ! Will try it on my next pickup wiring (which will only be my second).

LogicalFrank · July 14, 2011, 04:27:28 PM

If you have trouble getting the solder to stick to the back of pots, try some flux. You can get little round plastic tins of electronics flux at Radio Shack for pretty cheap. It makes it way easier. Also, kind of counter intuitively, a higher wattage soldering iron is less likely to burn up your pots. It heats up the spot where the solder sticks faster so just one isolated area gets hot. A five watt iron or whatever might take to long to heat the spot so you wind up having to hold it to the pot longer and it's enough time for the heat to dissipate throughout the thing and cause damage.