Is a Humbucking Singlecoil wired/Soldered different from a humbucker?

[Kain VKail]

Ive got a PUP set that is DiMarzio Cruiser (neck), Chopper (middle), and a Suhr Doug Alrdich Bridge model. i was wondering since ive never done this before, is wiring any of these pickups going to be compeletly different?

ive never installed PUPs before so this is the test to see if i can do it. if anyone could help me with some sort of like a video or maybe a resource to help me out. i just really dont have the money to get someone else to do it thats all. i know i still need the extra wiring also.

 

[line6man]

No, it's the same as a single coil, there is still just a hot and a ground. Though there will be an extra series link connection made between the two coils.

 

[stubhead]

I don't know what you're using for a wiring diagram, but different brands use different colors for the wiring, it's willfully perverse. Many, many moons ago (Cagey was just a li'l 'un, bouncing on my knee) we collected up the wiring info from the entire universe and "stuck" it in a stickie here:
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=281.0
There's one wiring code-translator diagram here:
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiring_resources_guitar_wiring_diagrams.humbucker_wiring_color_codes/

It doesn't have Suhr, he was just a li'l 'un bouncing... well never mind. Umm, maybe the pickup has an instruction sheet with the code? Or you could ask them for the hot and ground for the north & south coils.

You're really going to want to re-draw the entire wiring setup with the right-colored wires; trying to translate them on the fly is confusing.

Seymour Duncan's site is sort of a motherlode for various rigs, you go through and pick out the needed diagram by filling in the variables:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/
But of course, all the colors are for Duncans, so you get to translate them. Whee! Stew-Mac also has a lot of info about the "whats" of what you're doing but you don't really have to purchase everything they order you to.
http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Electronics.html
And another good "why" site:
http://www.guitarhotrod.com/introwiring.html
If you've never soldered anything before, there's some info here:
http://www.guitarhotrod.com/wiringsoldering.html

You're really going to want someone who's done this to help, if you can find anyone? You learn by doing it, but most of us started by changing one pickup on an old guitar, and built up from there.

Still no Suhr codes....

 

[Kain VKail]

This is awesome thanks for being so helpful. the thing is my local luthier Preaches help, but when i need it they just want to do it for me instead of just showing me.

But thats why these kinds of sites are around. again i cant thank you enough. i have most of the stuff i need to do it, its really just getting the know-how. and im kind of stranded at my house for another week or so because i just had major surgery and im not allowed to drive. so the only people that COULD help me are now out of reach.

But yah ill take a look at all of this stuff. im deffinitly going to get it done this week.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Since all those pickups you mentioned are "in-phase" with each other, they just wire like normal. If you were mixing single-coils with humbuckers, or stacked humbuckers with regular humbuckers, they would be out-of-phase with each other, and you would need to reverse the hot & ground on one of the pickups.

There are many pickup installation videos on YouTube. Just do a search and you should find lots.

 

[jlegnor]

The only real hard thing with replacing pickups is doing it without burning a few fingers.  Also be aware of where ALL the wires are when you are soldering.  My first few I did, I'd be paying so much attention to the end of the wire I was soldering, that I wouldn't notice the middle of the wire was touching the upper part of the soldering iron shaft until I saw the smoke from the insulation melting.  

 

[Strat Avenger]

The only real hard thing with replacing pickups is doing it without burning a few fingers.  Also be aware of where ALL the wires are when you are soldering.  My first few I did, I'd be paying so much attention to the end of the wire I was soldering, that I wouldn't notice the middle of the wire was touching the upper part of the soldering iron shaft until I saw the smoke from the insulation melting.  

Yeah, the hardest part for me is I need three hands, but I was born with only two.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, the hardest part for me is I need three hands, but I was born with only two.

Remember the secret to a good solder joint is a good mechanical joint. If the wire or part won't stay in place without solder, it's unlikely to stay in place for long with it. And if it'll stay in place without solder, you only need two hands.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Yeah, the hardest part for me is I need three hands, but I was born with only two.

Remember the secret to a good solder joint is a good mechanical joint. If the wire or part won't stay in place without solder, it's unlikely to stay in place for long with it. And if it'll stay in place without solder, you only need two hands.

I was referring more to soldering to backs of pots, and the Ernie Ball/Music Man 3-way switch, which has a circuit board and solder pads.
There is nothing to hold those wires to the pads other than the solder.

 

[Cagey]

I've seen that stuff. Soldering to the backs of pots is poor practice, and the 3 or 5 way switches that use PC boards are junk. Do yourself a favor and get some soldering lugs for the pots, and a switch that's designed to last more than a week. We're talking really small money here for dramatic improvements in quality and longevity.

 

[stubhead]

I didn't quite know what to tell the original poster. Just about every wiring diagram you'll ever see has the grounds on the back of the pots - because that's the way it's done in production-line factories where people put together "units" without even needing to know what they're building. So anyone can look in the back of a $400,000 1959 Les Paul and see the "right" way to do it... which is ground to the back of the pots. And those PC board switches are almost certainly stuck into a jig where an automated soldering rig attaches all the wires... I'd only seen those on low-end Asian guitars, hmmm yet another reason to avoid Ernie Ball/MM guitars!

But if somebody wants a diagram that works, without putting on your professor uniform and trying to teach them the "Theory of Grounding" - it would seem that pot grounding is one of those skills you need to know, even though you know it's dumb? There's a metaphor there, related to conduct with the opposite sex, but I'm not going to say it.

 

[Kain VKail]

Yah id say its pretty safe for me to just solder to the back of the pots. ALL of my other guitars are like that. even when ive had work done at the local Luthier.

So is just to understand what MY singlecoil PUPs are would they be Humbucking S's or Stacked Hum's even though the coils are next to each other. im looking on Duncans pick your own setup thing and im not sure which one to pick its slightly dissorienting. or maybe i should just use dimarzios. IDK hahaha

 

[Kain VKail]

Sorry to Double post but this is wat my wiring setup is going to be, maybe some of you can help me better this way so i can choose the proper diagram to help cause i dont see it anywhere.

2 double coiled Singlecoils Dimarzio-
   (neck) Cruiser
   (Middle) Chopper
 1 volume
 1 tone
1 Humbucker -
   (Bridge) Suhr Doug Aldrich bridge
 1Volume
 1 Tone

So 2 volumes 2 tones HSS setup and i think a regular 5 Way switch. I dont really need the super switch

Someone give me a little boost hahaha i promise i wont ask for anymore help unless i absolutly need it.

(I feel like this is a lot easier than im making it  )

 

[tfarny]

That's simple but actually very unusual and I can't think of a wiring diagram out there. You can do it with a normal 5-way though; put the pickups into the switch first, then use the dummy side of the switch to control which set of vol / tone goes to ground.
Note that in "bridge + middle on" position, ALL of the controls will work and there is no way around it.

 

[Kain VKail]

Well the only reason i want it that way is so that when i find that sweet spot for my bridge  and then i go to the singles i can do the same, and then just switch back and forth from there. so to get around that would i need a super switch or its just not possible because im using BOTH volumes at that point.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I've seen that stuff. Soldering to the backs of pots is poor practice, and the 3 or 5 way switches that use PC boards are junk. Do yourself a favor and get some soldering lugs for the pots, and a switch that's designed to last more than a week. We're talking really small money here for dramatic improvements in quality and longevity.

I agree about the pots, but this switch will out-last Me. It is no cheap piece of junk (cost me $30). It's a heavy-duty 3-way toggle that is the same as what comes on the Music Man John Petrucci signature model. The "circuit board" is just for the routing for the center-position coil-split. I won't be getting rid of it.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Yah id say its pretty safe for me to just solder to the back of the pots. ALL of my other guitars are like that. even when ive had work done at the local Luthier.

So is just to understand what MY singlecoil PUPs are would they be Humbucking S's or Stacked Hum's even though the coils are next to each other. im looking on Duncans pick your own setup thing and im not sure which one to pick its slightly dissorienting. or maybe i should just use dimarzios. IDK hahaha

Side-by-side coils (such as dual rail pickups that fit in a single-coil rout) are IN-PHASE with full-size humbuckers. They are not in-phase with single-coils or stacked humbucking single-coils.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Sorry to Double post but this is wat my wiring setup is going to be, maybe some of you can help me better this way so i can choose the proper diagram to help cause i dont see it anywhere.

2 double coiled Singlecoils Dimarzio-
   (neck) Cruiser
   (Middle) Chopper
 1 volume
 1 tone
1 Humbucker -
   (Bridge) Suhr Doug Aldrich bridge
 1Volume
 1 Tone

So 2 volumes 2 tones HSS setup and i think a regular 5 Way switch. I dont really need the super switch

Someone give me a little boost hahaha i promise i wont ask for anymore help unless i absolutly need it.

(I feel like this is a lot easier than im making it  )

Just so you know, if you like the Strat "quack" from the 2 and 4 positions, you won't get that at all with a Chopper, and very little with the Cruiser. They just have too much mid-range, and not enough high-end. Especially the Chopper.

 

[Cagey]

I agree about the pots, but this switch will out-last Me. It is no cheap piece of junk (cost me $30). It's a heavy-duty 3-way toggle that is the same as what comes on the Music Man John Petrucci signature model. The "circuit board" is just for the routing for the center-position coil-split. I won't be getting rid of it.

I see. I was under the impression you were using one of those $.10 cent Pacific-rim specials they put in cheap OEM wiring harnesses that aren't worth the powder to blow 'em to hell.

 

[Kain VKail]

Sorry to Double post but this is wat my wiring setup is going to be, maybe some of you can help me better this way so i can choose the proper diagram to help cause i dont see it anywhere.

2 double coiled Singlecoils Dimarzio-
   (neck) Cruiser
   (Middle) Chopper
 1 volume
 1 tone
1 Humbucker -
   (Bridge) Suhr Doug Aldrich bridge
 1Volume
 1 Tone

So 2 volumes 2 tones HSS setup and i think a regular 5 Way switch. I dont really need the super switch

Someone give me a little boost hahaha i promise i wont ask for anymore help unless i absolutly need it.

(I feel like this is a lot easier than im making it  )

Just so you know, if you like the Strat "quack" from the 2 and 4 positions, you won't get that at all with a Chopper, and very little with the Cruiser. They just have too much mid-range, and not enough high-end. Especially the Chopper.

Yah i dont really know what im looking for considering ive never used single coils at all. i may even go a tad hotter and get the injector neck for the middle position. but i really dont know what im gonna get out of this. im just playin with stuff at this point.