Wiring Question - Working Out Which Wire Goes Where

guitarfishbay

If you don't have a wiring diagram how do you work out which wire goes where?

Scenario: 2 pickups [4 conductor] with different wiring schemes but I only have a wiring scheme for one of them.  They go to a switch with terminals for positive, negative, and ground per pickup.  I know which the ground wire is on each pickup so that's not an issue.

Neck Pickup [I do have the wiring scheme for this]

Parallel is Red+Green together to positive, Black+White together to negative
Series is Red to positive, White to negative, solder Black+Green together

Bridge pickup [I only know the parallel wiring]

Parallel is Black+White together to positive, Red+Green together to negative
Series is ???

So how do I work out what series is on the bridge pickup in order to work with the neck pickup in series?

Let me know if I need to clarify the information further.  I do have a multimeter which I assume is necessary for this, I just don't know where to start.

Funkfingers

On the neck pickup, is the end of the bare ground wire twisted around and soldered with one of the four insulated conductors?

guitarfishbay

Funkfingers said:

On the neck pickup, is the end of the bare ground wire twisted around and soldered with one of the four insulated conductors?

Not with this switch.  It's got screw terminals and the ground goes to its own terminal.

guitarfishbay

If it helps, I know that with another switch, in parallel wiring

Neck pickup ground was soldered to white and black
Bridge pickup ground was soldered to red and green

ICBM

guitarfishbay said:

Bridge pickup [I only know the parallel wiring]

Parallel is Black+White together to positive, Red+Green together to negative
Series is ???

So how do I work out what series is on the bridge pickup in order to work with the neck pickup in series?

Let me know if I need to clarify the information further.  I do have a multimeter which I assume is necessary for this, I just don't know where to start.

If you start with green as 'negative', the other end of that coil is either black or white, so you can look for a resistance reading from green to one of those wires. The one which shows resistance to green is then connected to red, and the remaining one to 'positive'.

If that makes the pickups out of phase in the middle position, swap green and whichever wire is 'positive'.

guitarfishbay

ICBM said:

guitarfishbay said:

Bridge pickup [I only know the parallel wiring]

Parallel is Black+White together to positive, Red+Green together to negative
Series is ???

So how do I work out what series is on the bridge pickup in order to work with the neck pickup in series?

Let me know if I need to clarify the information further.  I do have a multimeter which I assume is necessary for this, I just don't know where to start.

If you start with green as 'negative', the other end of that coil is either black or white, so you can look for a resistance reading from green to one of those wires. The one which shows resistance to green is then connected to red, and the remaining one to 'positive'.

If that makes the pickups out of phase in the middle position, swap green and whichever wire is 'positive'.

Excellent.  Thanks for your help!

guitarfishbay

Wired it earlier and it worked first time! Now unfortunately I think I preferred it in parallel...  but I’ll give it a bit more time before making a decision. 

Funkfingers

guitarfishbay said:

think I preferred it in parallel.

Not stacked coil P90 replacements, by any chance?

Parallel mode tends to sound insipid, leaving you wanting more.

Series mode tends to be mid heavy and lack treble detail, leaving you wanting less.

Single coil mode is also odd because of the presence of the second coil. (Better minds than mine can explain the Physics bit.)

The best option might be series mode with a partial split of the lower coil.

guitarfishbay

Dingwall FD3N was the bridge pickup, P-Tone was the neck. They’re both reverse split P type pickups, being used in a Combustion.

The P tone needs to be in series or it’s too thin, but then it overpowers the FD3N in parallel in the bridge.

I wired both neck and bridge FD3Ns in series so I could try it. Stock wiring is parallel. 

Firstly I honestly think the FD3N in series sounds better than the P tone in series. The P tone has a bit too much top end for the steel strings I’m using on the higher strings. The FD3N neck in series is pretty beefy but not muddy. 

The bridge in series is similarly thicker. 

Howeber its the in between positions that clinch it for me. Especially both pickups together in series. When the pickups are wired internally as parallel, both pickups in series is one of the best rock/metal sounds I’ve heard. A great combination of size and clarity. Wire both pickups in series and it’s just too fat. The parallel setting sounds cool but loses the option to get more glassy top end.

FWIW I also got a set of FDVs, which were too bright for me in parallel but they’re pretty cool in series. They’ve got a bit of grit to them and more of a Fender kind of vibe than the Neo pickups.

I’ve got the FDVs in series at the minute... but honestly I think I might prefer the FD3Ns in parallel which was the stock configuration. Which would mean I’ve potentialy wasted a bunch of time and money... but at least I can stop worrying about ‘upgrades’..

guitarfishbay

I guess what I might do is get some series parallel switches installed and go back to the FD3Ns. But right now I’ll leave the FDVs in for a bit