How to wire this up?

[xypher]

I am changing pickups on my friends strat.. Putting a hot rails in the bridge position.. When i go to the Duncan wiring diagrams page, there are so many combinations that im quite confused..

Which combination should i choose for the regular sounds.. no mods.. Just full humbucker at bridge, split Hb+mid at the 4th pos.

[ArtieToo]

You want to use this one:

1h_2s_1v_2t_5w_auto-split

But nothing is ever as it seems. If you're using the two stock singles, there's a good chance they'll be out of phase with the Duncan. So, you should reverse the wires coming off of the singles. I know it may sound weird to reverse the two that are already there, rather than reversing the black and green of the Duncan, but here's why I say that.

If you reverse the black and green of the Duncan, then when you split, you'll have the "wrong" coil active. There's nothing wrong with that per se, it will just be the weaker coil as its closer to the bridge.

Also, once you hear the Duncan, its inevitable that you'll change the two singles later. Might as well get the wiring straight now.

[xypher]

Another thing, The 5-way on this guitar is the type that has 8 lugs in a row instead of 4/4..

How do i properly determine which lug goes to which wire etc? Shd i go and buy a dimarzio 5way switch?


Artie, are u saying i should connect the hot wire for the singles to the ground and the ground wires to the 5way? Because at the factory, they kinda cut the wires just nice,so the black isnt long enough to reach the 5way..

[ArtieToo]

Shd i go and buy a dimarzio 5way switch?

Either that, or give me a sec. I'll post the translation diagram.

Like this:



Obviously, don't connect anything where it says "Neck red/white."

[xypher]

Thx artie.. You da man.

About the out of phase thing, are u saying i should connect the hot wire for the singles to the ground and the ground wires to the 5way? Because at the factory, they kinda cut the wires just nice,so the black isnt long enough to reach the 5way..

Therefore i dont know how to solve the out of phase single coils problem that may happen.

[ArtieToo]

Ok, no prob. In my diagram above, where it says "bridge hot", put the Hot Rails white wire. Where it says "bridge red/white", put the Hot Rails black and green, tied together. Then put red and bare to ground.

That will put the Hot Rails in phase with the singles and give you the "inside" coil when split. This assumes, of course, that the Duncan is out-of-phase with the singles to begin with. If it turns out not to be, then you'ld have to revert back to the standard wiring.

[xypher]

Is there anyway to determine if its gonna be out of phase? It wud be a b1tch to remove strings and rewire it if it isnt out of phase in the 1st place..

BTW,i got a Gotoh 5way switch.. Its better quality then the one i have now.. And it has 4/4 lugs instead of 8 in a row.

[ArtieToo]

Its a little tricky, and it requires a friend, but it might save you wiring the guitar twice.

Lay the guitar down on its back on something soft. Like a blanket, towel or your bed. Unscrew the metal cover from the 1/4" jack that goes into the guitar. (Hopefully, you have that type of jack.) Plug the guitar into an amp, set the volume not too loud, and select the neck pickup. Volume and tone on the guitar up all the way.

Now have a friend hold the Duncan white wire against the ground side of the jack and the black wire against the middle hot lug. If, by chance, the pickup already has red and white soldered together, then hold green against ground and black against hot. Now strum the guitar with one hand as you bring the Duncan pup up close to the strings. Listen to see if the sound gets louder and beefier, or thinner and weaker.

Thinner and weaker means the pups out of phase. There's an easier way to do this if you own, or can borrow, a meter.

[xypher]

I have a meter..

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/pickupwiring.htm

Artie are you talking about this method?

[ArtieToo]

I have a meter..

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/pickupwiring.htm

Artie are you talking about this method?

Yup. Thats how I do it. But he's left out one important thing. He's only testing to see if a pickup is in-phase with a Seymour Duncan. We already know which way will generate the negative spike on the Duncan. Black positive, green negative.

What you need to find out is which way your singles are wired. So, when you remove the pickgaurd, attach the red meter lead to the "tip" of the output jack and the black meter lead to the sleeve. (I make a 1/4" jack with leads attached.) Then do the screwdriver test on one of your singles. More than likely, you'll get a positive voltage as you yank the screwdriver away. If you do, then wire up the Duncan as I said above, where you use the white wire for hot. If, on the other hand, you get a negative voltage as you yank the screwdriver away, wire the Duncan as normal.

[xypher]

Its positive when i yank it away..

Hope i dun do anything wrong...

[ArtieToo]

Thats cool. Just wire up the Hot Rails the way I said in the first paragraph of my post #6 in this thread.

[xypher]

I think i did it wrong. When the switch is all the way down, neck is selected.. All the way up and neck is selected.. Is this a sign that i chose the wrong method? Shd i use duncans normal method?

[ArtieToo]

I think i did it wrong. When the switch is all the way down, neck is selected.. All the way up and neck is selected.. Is this a sign that i chose the wrong method? Shd i use duncans normal method?

Do you have enough slack in the wire to just rotate the switch in its mount 180 deg's? If not . . . fire up that ole soldering iron again.

[xypher]

What do i have to do? Revert to duncans schematic? Is this a sign that i did the wrong method?

Hotrails + mid not noise cancelling also. Im pretty screwed!

I have guitar lesson in 12 hours time

[xypher]

OK i just got back from school.. Im gonna get down to fixing it up now..