I need some pickup wiring help.

[messenger]

I just wired my guitar and the pickups sound weak and bright (kinda like single coils). Any Idea what could cause that, or what to look for. Heres the diagram I followed. Also its a Blues Saraceno Trembucker in the bridge and a GFS in the neck.

 

[blackba]

If both pickups together sound really bright and thin, they are probably out of phase with each other. Otherwise it sounds like you may be coil splitting the humbuckers (IE you are shorting one coil of the humbucker to ground and have a virtual single coil) Do you have a wiring output of your humbuckers? They may be different than SD.

 

[grooveHT]

Which pickup is sounding weak? It's possible that instead of wiring the pickup in question in series, you wired it in parallel, which gives it more of a single-coil profile. It could also be a coil split, but if it's still hum free under gain, I'd suspect it's in parallel. Some of the pickup manufacturers use different color codes for their wiring, so I'd make sure which code its supposed to follow:

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/catego ... lor_codes/

GFS isn't there, but usually the smaller guys follow Dimarzio or Duncan colors.

 

[messenger]

Its bright and thin where ever I have the switch (individual pickups, or both). The bridge HB is a Duncan, and the GFS instructions says it can be installed like a SD. How might I be splitting the coils?

 

[headlessdeadguy]

If both pickups together sound really bright and thin, they are probably out of phase with each other. Otherwise it sounds like you may be coil splitting the humbuckers (IE you are shorting one coil of the humbucker to ground and have a virtual single coil) Do you have a wiring output of your humbuckers? They may be different than SD.

Could phase really be the problem Brian? If so I hope the Afwayu I got from you works well with a GFS Fat Pat, I am having them put in one of my faves as well as a fret job,new tuners,all new electronics,new bridge etc. I hope I don't run into this after all that.
GFS and SD diagrams are the same.

 

[Capulin Overdrive]

could you have got the pot too hot doing the grounds and messed the pot up?

 

[messenger]

Would that cause the same symptoms?

 

[headlessdeadguy]

I have often wondered the same.

 

[Capulin Overdrive]

maybe? far as i know, i've never fried one.


the thing that bothers me, is that you can't isolate it to just one pup or something.

 

[messenger]

Try being me I didn't have the iron in the pot that long, so I wouldn't think that I would have fried it. But anything is possible. Its such a simple circuit. Its driving me nuts. I keep looking at it, and everything seems right.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

I've mixed alot of pups over the years and haven't ever run into a phase issue but....

Never fried a pot either

 

[Capulin Overdrive]

i'd lift the 2 wires off the volume pot and tie them together and see what you got.



them if that doesn't work, lift the pup wires off the switch and try them seperately going to the jack wire.


sucks, but could be the pot, could be the switch?

 

[blackba]

If both pickups together sound really bright and thin, they are probably out of phase with each other. Otherwise it sounds like you may be coil splitting the humbuckers (IE you are shorting one coil of the humbucker to ground and have a virtual single coil) Do you have a wiring output of your humbuckers? They may be different than SD.

Could phase really be the problem Brian? If so I hope the Afwayu I got from you works well with a GFS Fat Pat, I am having them put in one of my faves as well as a fret job,new tuners,all new electronics,new bridge etc. I hope I don't run into this after all that.
GFS and SD diagrams are the same.

Since the problem is in all positions on the pickup selector, its not a phase issue between the 2 pickups. I recently had a phase issue with my fat strat, I was surprised to find the stock SC pickups in the neck and middle were a different winding than the CS'54's I got from Fender. I assumed they were the same, but the middle is out of phase with the Bridge Anderson H2+ humbucker.

messenger, do you have a meter that you can measure what the resistance you are getting on the jack in all 3 pickup positions? You can just plug a guitar cable into the jack and measure from the tip to the sleeve. This may help narrow things down a bit.

 

[messenger]

I measured the resistance at the jack. Its 8.5K at the bridge, 6K at the neck, and 3.5 at the middle. After doing some a/b with my other guitars, I think it may just be a bright guitar. It sounds close to my Samick Radio Ten (which I don't play much, and always thought the pickups sounded like single coils). I'm just so used to playing Les Pauls, and LP style guitars, that I think I need to here that big CHUNK.

 

[tehuk]

I think the bridge pup should read around 9.8k.

 

[Krinkle]

What kind of guitar is it? Is your switch a LP style like the one in the diagram?

I really don't think that it's your pot. If you damage it, it won't make the guitar sound thin, it will be dead.