Wiring up a Squier Affinity Jaguar Bass H

JezWynd

The Affinity Jag Bass I got a short time ago has turned into a modding project. Bridge and now pickguard have been changed and I'm looking to install (or mod the existing) pickup in parallel.



The current pickup has the following:
Green and Bare to back of Tone pot (earth?)
Red to lug of Volume pot.
Black and White twisted together and sealed off.
This has left me confused as the info I've read indicates that it is Black that goes to the Volume pot lug and Red and White are sealed off together.

I had assumed from stuff I'd read over at TalkBass that the existing pickup could not be changed to parallel wiring but the fact that two wires are currently sealed off leads me think that perhaps parallel is an option using the existing pick up?

I've sourced a budget MM style pickup and am unsure of how to get it installed in parallel. Am I right in assuming the following?:
Green, White and Bare to back of Tone pot (earth)
Red and Black to Volume pot lug.

Any assistance very gratefully received, total electrical dummy here.

ICBM

JezWynd said:

I had assumed from stuff I'd read over at TalkBass that the existing pickup could not be changed to parallel wiring but the fact that two wires are currently sealed off leads me think that perhaps parallel is an option using the existing pick up?

Yes, it can be.

JezWynd said:

I've sourced a budget MM style pickup and am unsure of how to get it installed in parallel. Am I right in assuming the following?:
Green, White and Bare to back of Tone pot (earth)
Red and Black to Volume pot lug.

Any assistance very gratefully received, total electrical dummy here.

Yes - or if that doesn't work, then swap white and black.

If you have a multimeter you can check the continuity first so you get it right first time - you will find two pairs of wires with measurable resistance between them (each end of the same coil), in each pair one goes to hot and one goes to ground, so if it's (for example) green and black that are one coil it's your first option, and if it's green and white then it's the other one.

JezWynd

ICBM said:

JezWynd said:

I had assumed from stuff I'd read over at TalkBass that the existing pickup could not be changed to parallel wiring but the fact that two wires are currently sealed off leads me think that perhaps parallel is an option using the existing pick up?

Yes, it can be.

JezWynd said:

I've sourced a budget MM style pickup and am unsure of how to get it installed in parallel. Am I right in assuming the following?:
Green, White and Bare to back of Tone pot (earth)
Red and Black to Volume pot lug.

Any assistance very gratefully received, total electrical dummy here.

Yes - or if that doesn't work, then swap white and black.

If you have a multimeter you can check the continuity first so you get it right first time - you will find two pairs of wires with measurable resistance between them (each end of the same coil), in each pair one goes to hot and one goes to ground, so if it's (for example) green and black that are one coil it's your first option, and if it's green and white then it's the other one.

This is a pic of the new pickup's wiring as it arrived


Red/White and Green/Bare appear to be joined with solder, would this indicate each is a single coil? There was no info with the pickup and when I asked the vendor for info, they suggested 'the internet' 

ICBM

The coils are green to either red or white, and black to either red or white - you need to find which. Duncan wiring would have green-red as one coil and white-black as the other; this is probably likely as none of the other major makers have red and white joined for the split.



If this is the case then you need to connect green and white to ground, and red and black to hot as you thought.

JezWynd

Using the multimeter ...
Green & Red = 5.5
Black & White = 5.5
Can I therefore assume that Bare is an earth and that I can send Red and White to the volume pot lug and all others to rear of tone pot?

ICBM

JezWynd said:

Using the multimeter ...
Green & Red = 5.5
Black & White = 5.5
Can I therefore assume that Bare is an earth and that I can send Red and White to the volume pot lug and all others to rear of tone pot?

No. Bare is always ground, but you need green and white to ground, and red and black to the volume pot. Ideally you should ground the bare, green and white to the *volume* pot not the tone pot as well. (Even if Fender used the tone pot - just connect the bridge ground to that.)

If you connect red and white to hot and green and black to ground, the pickup will be out of phase with itself, hum, and sound shit .

JezWynd

Many thanks @ICBM, followed your advice (Red and Black to hot) and it's working fine. It was previously strung with some used nickel flats I had knocking about but I wasn't able to reuse them again so had to use some part used LaBella Tapewounds, so judging change in tone is difficult but I can definitely say that it's now brighter in tone, so very pleased.

If I can pick your brains one more time - when I measured each coil of the new pickup individually, they each measured 5.5 but when I measured the pickup again after installation, using the jack socket tip and sleeve, I got a measurement of 19.7 (the original pickup, wired in series, measured 12.4). I had expected a figure of about 11 (5.5+5.5), why is it so much greater?
And lastly, if I'm not stretching your patience  , I sort of understand about the phase issue, but how do you tell North from South on each coil, is it simply the colour coding or can the multimeter give you the info?

ICBM

JezWynd said:

If I can pick your brains one more time - when I measured each coil of the new pickup individually, they each measured 5.5 but when I measured the pickup again after installation, using the jack socket tip and sleeve, I got a measurement of 19.7 (the original pickup, wired in series, measured 12.4). I had expected a figure of about 11 (5.5+5.5), why is it so much greater?

You haven't got the volume control full up .

If each coil is 5.5K, the reading in parallel should be 2.75K, and in series 11K. Even when full up the volume pot resistance will reduce each of these very slightly, but not much.

(It's just possible there's a bit of unwanted resistance in the pot which could be confusing things, but make sure it's turned up full and check again.)

JezWynd said:

And lastly, if I'm not stretching your patience  , I sort of understand about the phase issue, but how do you tell North from South on each coil, is it simply the colour coding or can the multimeter give you the info?

I didn't need to know the polarity - because red and white were connected in series, they must be the start of one coil and the end of the other, with green and black being the other start and end. By using the multimeter to find which are the two coils, you can then work out which to use.

JezWynd

Thanks again @ICBM, I think I understand most of that.

Funkfingers

In series hum-cancelling mode, the convention is to link the same end of both coils together. (See the Seymour Duncan Color Codes reference chart posted by ICBM on June 24.)