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Hi
New member here
I am new to doing mods / upgrades and as a first step bought a Dimarzio Chopper Rail Humbucker to replace the single coil in my Bridge. Initially no intention to coil split etc, just straightforward series wiring initially to see if I like it. Aware I’ll lose hum canceling at position 2 but this is a first step only.
I checked the pickup with my Multimeter prior to installation as per the Dimarzio schematic:-
RED (North Start) - Hot
BLACK (North Finish) + WHITE (South Finish) Taped together
GREEN (South Start) to Ground
BARE to Ground
RED to GREEN (Both Coils in Series) = 8.80 Kohm
RED to BLACK+WHITE (North Coil) = 3.80 Kohm
GREEN to BLACK+WHITE (South Coil) = 5.00 Kohm
However when I tie GREEN + BARE together as is (I assume?) normally required to ground to the Volume Pot, this reduces both coils in series output to 3.80 Kohm. I assume this is because it is effectively sending the South Coil to Ground?
Dimarzio does state that “...when connecting the BARE wire to ground, make sure it does not come in contact with any other connections”. How would this be practically achieved? Even if grounded separately on the Volume pot, it would still be effectively in contact with the GREEN (South Start)
As a test I switched the wiring around as follows:-
BLACK (North Finish) - Hot
RED (North Start) + GREEN (South Start) Taped together
WHITE (South Finish) to Ground
BARE to Ground
This gave me the same outputs as follows:-
BLACK to WHITE (Both Coils in Series) = 8.80 Kohm
BLACK to RED+GREEN (North Coil) = 3.80 Kohm
WHITE to RED+GREEN (South Coil) = 5.00 Kohm
But….In this instance, when I tie WHITE + BARE together, both coils in series output remains at 8.80 Kohm…?
I purchased the pickup direct from Dimarzio so I’m confident it’s genuine.
As a new modder I’m probably missing something obvious, but if not and the pickup is faulty I need to return it within 30 days, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
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Comments
The two individual coils (black to red, and green to white) should give the same reading, and the bare wire shouldn't be connected to any of the other wires or make any difference to the coil readings when it's connected to one of them.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
If the output cable has been abused, it is possible for the insulation on the output conductors to be damaged. (Usually near the hole where the 4-con + shield cable passes through the pickup baseplate.)
DiMarzio "track" pickups with a chrome finished cover have an additional solid wire connection to ground the cover. This could be touching the solder joint for one of the coil ends. (In this instance, the black one.)
•
My comments assume that your pickup has the traditional hard-wired output cable rather than the Solderless™ block and pins system.
If you have no option but to run things close together, add insulation around the bare grounding wires.
Common sense really.
I did a Continuity test between the bare wire and the other wires and got a positive for the White and Bare. All other wires returned nothing. As this is a quick connect model I disconnected the cable and this outcome was repeated when testing the connector pins on the pickup directly.
It appears then there is an internal short between the Bare and White. Would this explain why using a "BLACK (North Finish) = Hot" configuration as detailed in my initial post returns a full power Series output, as this requires the White & Bare to be sent together to ground, and as such they are connected together anyway?
Thanks
I thought it was a white-to-ground short initially, but changed my mind for some reason! Anyway, that's the problem - the pickup is faulty if there's conductivity from white to ground at the pins on the pickup. It will work if you want to use it in the white to ground configuration - but the different coil readings still seem off to me. I would return it.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein