Pickups: Industry Standard Quick Connection

[scottosan]

I was just looking at Mayones Velvetrone pickups and see all their models use a new kind of baseplate with an integrated multi-pin connector. So you solder a harness to your guitar electronics like you normally would with a standard pickup. And you never need to mess with it again. The pickup-end of the wiring is a quick connector. New pickups are plug and play, like what you might find on EMGs.

Why hasn't the rest of the industry moved to this? It's much like USB on computers. There should really be a universal industry standard so we don't have to solder ever again.

̶D̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ ̶e̶x̶i̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶y̶?̶ ̶W̶h̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶u̶n̶i̶v̶e̶r̶s̶a̶l̶ ̶"̶U̶S̶B̶"̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶n̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶p̶i̶c̶k̶u̶p̶s̶?̶
I see DiMarzio actually has this! But it's specific to only their pickups. But what if other pickup companies all agreed to use the same pinout? Then we could all swap pickups using the same wiring harness and never have to mess around it again.

Instead of pickups having hardwired leads, why don't they all have integrated five-pin connectors? The wiring harness stays on the guitar and you just plug and play new pickups at the pickup end instead. Additional wiring harnesses could be purchased separately. No more wires attached to the pickups themselves.

Pickup manufacturers would have to be convinced one by one to adopt a universal base plate or simply agree to use the same 5-pin connector pinout as each other. i.e. pin 1 = ground, pin 2 = hot, etc.

Swapping pickups would be as easy as a string change.

View attachment 432059

You can’t even get the industry to standardize wind direction and polarity or even color codes let alone a harness

 

[311boogieman]

You can’t even get the industry to standardize wind direction and polarity or even color codes let alone a harness

So true.

We're fucked.

 

[stratjacket]

I agree and wish there was a standard plug like that. I’ve even gone so far where I was thinking to use that plug in my guitars and have the plug always there in the Pickup cavity and cut my pickup wires short and install the female plug on them. Then I can just swap with ease. I have drawers full, maybe 60-70 pickups from over the years. But in the end I decided not to cut the pickup wires short in case I ever wanted to sell them.

 

[Findthetone1]

If someone can prove that EVH used quick connects on his pickups, I'm sure it would become industry standard in a week.

 

[rsm]

I was just looking at Mayones Velvetrone pickups and see all their models use a new kind of baseplate with an integrated multi-pin connector. So you solder a harness to your guitar electronics like you normally would with a standard pickup. And you never need to mess with it again. The pickup-end of the wiring is a quick connector. New pickups are plug and play, like what you might find on EMGs.

Why hasn't the rest of the industry moved to this? It's much like USB on computers. There should really be a universal industry standard so we don't have to solder ever again.

̶D̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ ̶e̶x̶i̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶y̶?̶ ̶W̶h̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶u̶n̶i̶v̶e̶r̶s̶a̶l̶ ̶"̶U̶S̶B̶"̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶n̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶p̶i̶c̶k̶u̶p̶s̶?̶
I see DiMarzio actually has this! But it's specific to only their pickups. But what if other pickup companies all agreed to use the same pinout? Then we could all swap pickups using the same wiring harness and never have to mess around it again.

Instead of pickups having hardwired leads, why don't they all have integrated five-pin connectors? The wiring harness stays on the guitar and you just plug and play new pickups at the pickup end instead. Additional wiring harnesses could be purchased separately. No more wires attached to the pickups themselves.

Pickup manufacturers would have to be convinced one by one to adopt a universal base plate or simply agree to use the same 5-pin connector pinout as each other. i.e. pin 1 = ground, pin 2 = hot, etc.

Swapping pickups would be as easy as a string change.

View attachment 432059

Guitar Fetish has beein doing this for many years; but not industry standard.

https://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Guitar-Pickups_c_7.html

 

[FourT6and2]

I agree and wish there was a standard plug like that. I’ve even gone so far where I was thinking to use that plug in my guitars and have the plug always there in the Pickup cavity and cut my pickup wires short and install the female plug on them. Then I can just swap with ease. I have drawers full, maybe 60-70 pickups from over the years. But in the end I decided not to cut the pickup wires short in case I ever wanted to sell them.

Yup. I had the same thought. But like you said, if you convert all your pickups to quick connect:

1. It's fine if you want to experiment with all of your pickups back and forth. But it takes more work to rewire all your pickups. And every time you buy a new pickup, you have to rewire it.

2. It will crater resale value. Unless more and more people start to adapt the same plug you choose. This wouldn't be a problem if...

...pickup companies did this from the get go.

 

[FourT6and2]

Guitar Fetish has beein doing this for many years; but not industry standard.

https://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Guitar-Pickups_c_7.html

View attachment 432179


View attachment 432180

Interesting! They chose a... what looks like... 3.5mm / 1/8" plug. A 5-pin like what Mayones and DiMarzio use looks to be much more simple. But yeah... there are a few companies doing this it seems. At least 4 or 5. And they all use a different method, which makes it completely useless.

For DiMarzio, it locks you into Dimarzio pickups.
For Mayones, it locks you into Mayones pickups.
For EMG, it locks you in EMG pickups.
For Guitar Fetish, you have to do the work to convert each new pickup you buy—which defeats the purpose of trying to avoid having to bust out a soldering iron and tools.

Every pickup out there uses the same basic braided 2-conductor or 5-conductor leads. So it makes no sense for every other company to develop their own proprietary system. It just hurts the entire industry as a whole.

If Duncan adopted some super easy quick connect system—even more simple than DiMarzio's—the rest of the industry would follow. All it would need to be is a 5-pin connector soldered onto the already existing baseplates they use. Then provide a $5 cable like what DiMarzio has. Boom... done.

Or... they don't even need to do that. Keep the existing 5-conductor wiring pickups already have. And offer a version that's cut short—maybe 1 inch—with a 5-pin connector on it.

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

Idk. You have so many guitars with totally different numbers of pickups on a particular guitar, say 1 to 4 if there's a piezo or on some funky guitars like DiPintos. Different volume, tone, phase switches, coil splits/taps, treble bleeds, master volumes, Varitone circuit, blends if there's a piezo, etc... control layouts on Fenders, Gibsons, Gretsches, PRS, etc..., and pickups with two or four leads. Guitars with piezos may have two output jacks.

You would need to design and produce different interfaces basically for all of those different electronics layouts and convince the entire boutique and smaller shop winders out there to buy into your idea, as well all the guitar manufacturers and builders too.

Am I over thinking this and making it to complex?

It would seem to me to be up to the guitar builder to build and install a instrument specific box with options for use with the control layout, and pickup types used on that guitar (say Strat single Tele single, P90, Dearmond, Humbucker, Filter, etc... maybe with options for two or four conductor leads incase coil split humbuckers are installed. A tiny clip where a tinned lead could be inserted and secured, like some stereo speaker jacks but much smaller might work. Maybe a set screw to secure it? Nah I would lose that little fucker for sure at some point.

All that said I think I trust the connection of a well prepped and soldered lead to a pot more than I ever would that option.

 

[FourT6and2]

Idk. You have so many guitars with totally different numbers of pickups on a particular guitar, say 1 to 4 if there's a piezo or on some funky guitars like DiPintos. Different volume, tone, phase switches, coil splits/taps, treble bleeds, master volumes, Varitone circuit, blends if there's a piezo, etc... control layouts on Fenders, Gibsons, Gretsches, PRS, etc..., and pickups with two or four leads. Guitars with piezos may have two output jacks.

Every modern humbucker or single coil uses the same 5-conductor wiring. Vintage pickups use braided 2-conductor. What you do with the bare end of wire is up to you. But the connection to the pickup is the same. So the end user wires up the guitar-end of the wiring harness the same as they normally would. There's no difference there.

You would need to design and produce different interfaces basically for all of those different electronics layouts and convince the entire boutique and smaller shop winders out there to buy into your idea, as well all the guitar manufacturers and builders too.

I don't think that's the case. The idea here is for a universal quick connect at the pickup. Not at the other end that connects to the guitar's electronics. If you can wire a normal humucker or single coil with the current industry standard 5-conductor wire (Ground, North Start, North Finish, South Start, South Finish), then this would work.

Look at the above photo. That quick connect would just attach to another one that ends in the typical 5-conductor wire that would be soldered to the guitar like normal. So you unplug the pickup from the wire that's permanently attached to the guitar, instead of busting out a soldering iron.

If you have a guitar with three pickups, then you have three wiring harnesses. No different from how it is now. If you have a H/S/H guitar... same thing. If you have one humbucker... same thing. If you have a guitar with theoretically 20 pickups... same thing.

Am I over thinking this and making it to complex?

I think so?

 

[DrewJD82]

I would LOVE this.

I’ve been installing Mad Hatter Terminators in my guitars for the last few years, but it looks like he stopped making them. They’re drop-in solderless kits with a ton of different options pre-wired up, from start to finish they’d take me 15 minutes to install and you spend more time pulling pickguards and removing screws than the actual pickup change after.

I’ve tried the Obsidian one for a Strat and threw it in the trash after 3 hours of trying to get the wires into the jacks, but the connector Mad Hatter used was perfect.

While I can solder cables all day long and do a pretty clean/tidy/sturdy job, I’ll hit every wire in a wiring cavity when doing pickups and I’m happy paying a little extra to not bother with it.

 

[Geo]

Funny, many years ago, I would have loved this idea. Now, not so much.

I have many different guitars and amps and really don't do the pickup swaps that much anymore.

I have learned that chasing something that may not exist is futile.

Every pickup, guitar, amp and effect work differently, not better or worse.

Too many options take away from crafting what you already have.

 

[FourT6and2]

Funny, many years ago, I would have loved this idea. Now, not so much.

I have many different guitars and amps and really don't do the pickup swaps that much anymore.

I have learned that chasing something that may not exist is futile.

Every pickup, guitar, amp and effect work differently, not better or worse.

Too many options take away from crafting what you already have.

It's all about making things easier. If you don't want to take advantage of something, then don't.

 

[Geo]

It's all about making things easier. If you don't want to take advantage of something, then don't.

Do you solder your speaker connections or use push connectors?

 

[valve]

The shielding is brocken with these regular plugs like you see with EMGs. coax or something covering the whole connection would avoid that

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

Every modern humbucker or single coil uses the same 5-conductor wiring. Vintage pickups use braided 2-conductor. What you do with the bare end of wire is up to you. But the connection to the pickup is the same. So the end user wires up the guitar-end of the wiring harness the same as they normally would. There's no difference there.


I don't think that's the case. The idea here is for a universal quick connect at the pickup. Not at the other end that connects to the guitar's electronics. If you can wire a normal humucker or single coil with the current industry standard 5-conductor wire (Ground, North Start, North Finish, South Start, South Finish), then this would work.

Look at the above photo. That quick connect would just attach to another one that ends in the typical 5-conductor wire that would be soldered to the guitar like normal. So you unplug the pickup from the wire that's permanently attached to the guitar, instead of busting out a soldering iron.

If you have a guitar with three pickups, then you have three wiring harnesses. No different from how it is now. If you have a H/S/H guitar... same thing. If you have one humbucker... same thing. If you have a guitar with theoretically 20 pickups... same thing.


I think so?

Why would a single coil have five leads? That makes zero sense to me? Seems like a lot of wasted wire.

In the past few years I've bought single coils (P90's, Dynasonics, Staples, and Goldfoils) from TV Jones, Duncan, Lollar. BKP, and BG, and swapped multiple Gibsons from one guitar to another. None had five leads. It's always two or three.

 

[FourT6and2]

Do you solder your speaker connections or use push connectors?

Depends. I've done both.

 

[FourT6and2]

The shielding is brocken with these regular plugs like you see with EMGs. coax or something covering the whole connection would avoid that

Seems to work fine for DiMarzio and Mayones

 

[FourT6and2]

Why would a single coil have five leads? That makes zero sense to me? Seems like a lot of wasted wire.

They don't...

In the past few years I've bought single coils (P90's, Dynasonics, Staples, and Goldfoils) from TV Jones, Duncan, Lollar. BKP, and BG, and swapped multiple Gibsons from one guitar to another. None had five leads. It's always two or three.

I'm not saying single coils have five. Humbuckers do. A single coil could still use the same plug... some of the pins would just be unused, which isn't a problem and simplifies everything. And this is exactly how DiMarzio does it. Did you see the link I provided earlier in the thread?

Here: https://d2emr0qhzqfj88.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/2025-01/ALTERNATE 4CON PLUG-IN INSTRUCTIONS.PDF

The only difference I'm talking about here is instead of every pickup manufacturer using their own proprietary quick-connect system... why not lobby the "big four" to adopt an open-source standard so consumers have more choices, have an easier time experimenting with different pickups, and pickup manufacturers sell more product.

 

[ners]

You gotta get the builders (Fender/Gibson/etc) to do it too with all their stock stuff, otherwise switching to such a system is still too much work for the average person who'd need this.

 

[FourT6and2]

You gotta get the builders (Fender/Gibson/etc) to do it too with all their stock stuff, otherwise switching to such a system is still too much work for the average person who'd need this.

Right. The big four = Gibson, Fender, Duncan, DiMarzio.