Chris Posted August 20, 2008 Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 Right we installed some new pickups on my guitar (http://www.aberdeen-music.com/galleries/showimage.php?i=8166&original=1&c=member&imageuser=45) last night.The neck pickup was fine but after we wired up the humbucker according to the instructions it didn't work. The wires it has are green, black, red and white (which we soldered together and taped) and there was an unexpected bare wire which wasn't present on the pickup it replaced. It was mentioned in the instructions though so it got soldered according to the bit of paper.Once we removed the bare wire the pickup started working. So has anyone had this problem before? Should the bare wire be soldered onto the pickup selector (on the same point as the green wire according to the instructions) or can I just leave it off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted August 20, 2008 Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 Seem to remember the green going with the bare wire on an EMG I had, but different companies use different colours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted August 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 Anyone got a more definitive answer? It's a Seymour Duncan JB, fairly common so someone here must have fitted one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted August 20, 2008 Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 Ah, I actually fitted a JB Jr last year but I can't remember what was what. Have you been on the SD site, they have zillions of diagrams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted August 20, 2008 Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 OK according to this the bare wire should always go with the ground, which in the case of a Seymour Duncan, is green, so wrap it round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted August 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 Right, when we did that it didn't work.What's the effect of leaving the bare wire unconnected (but taped)? The pickup works but am I losing something by doing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 Right, when we did that it didn't work.What's the effect of leaving the bare wire unconnected (but taped)? The pickup works but am I losing something by doing this?The bare wire acts as a shield to get rid of hum, so you may get some unwanted hum if you don't use it.You could try swapping the black and green wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lame Guitarist Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 chrisi have a seymour duncan JB in one of my guitars, it was fitted quite a while ago but i will have a look and let you know how i wired it up. cant remember if i used the instructions or not but its fine and pretty powerful in my guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted August 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2008 So I had another look at this today. Soldered the bare wire to the same contact that the green wire was connected to, as per the instructions and got no sound when I tried the guitar. Disconnected the bare wire again and it works.But, as suggested earlier, there is an unwanted level of background hiss. Most notable when I hit the distortion or a delay pedal.I'd like to get this sorted before the 11th Sep ideally...I'm a complete novice when it comes to soldering and electronics. All we did was connect the coloured wires on the new humbucker to where the matching colours were connected on the old one. However the old (duncan designed) pickup did not have a bare wire visible.Surely someone has come across this before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted August 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2008 Just a thought, which I'll check tomorrow (not going to look at it again tonight). What would the effect be if the green was connected to hot and the black connected to ground? Would the pickup still work? That might explain the sudden death if the bare wire is being connected to hot instead of ground. Perhaps that's what's happened.I found a 3 way switch circuit diagram on the seymour duncan site that looks like the same wiring as mine. So I'll compare it tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sloth Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 on a 3 way switch you would wire the green and bare wire to 'ground' which is the back of the switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH Posted September 1, 2008 Report Share Posted September 1, 2008 Chris, did you get this sorted out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted September 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2008 Haven't had a chance. Will have a look at it before the gig though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted September 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Now sorted.Jan soldered it to the wrong contacts on the selector switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsby Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Now sorted.Jan soldered it to the wrong contacts on the selector switch.lol, nice arse covering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH Posted September 5, 2008 Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 Now sorted.Jan soldered it to the wrong contacts on the selector switch.Cheers for that. Last time I offer to give you a hand with something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted September 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2008 Cheers for that. Last time I offer to give you a hand with something!No problem To be fair your soldering looks a fuckload better than my soldering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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