Humbucker Wiring?

I'll say that a 4-conductor humbucker (which has 4 wires coming from it)has many wiring and tonal options. Here's a link to a site with many different Guitar & Bass Wiring Resources. if you look through them you'll find one that match's you pickup wiring.

joe

Thanks for the link Joe. I don't really think mine can be done, but I'm not to informed on the tech aspecet of guitars. ?MdToken=224246149158901 theres a picutre of the wiring of my guitar. Its a Les Paul copy, two humbuckers, two tone, volume, three way switch. Can anyone tell from the wiring if it can be done?
Thanks
Paul

Your Welcome.

How many wires do the pickups have coming off them? the more wires will allow you more options. You will also need to add a switch or push/pull pots. I've always liked the mini toggles, when you see a guitar with a few of them on it kind-of says I Rock.

Joe

Well each pickup has one big wire coming out of it, which then branches off into serveral tiny wires. How many I'm not exactly sure.

How many wires are inside the big wire?---Do you see any of these colored wires below.

---------------------------A----------B---------C---------D
Anderson-------------red-----green----black----white
DiMarzio--------------red------black----green----white
Gibson----------------black---green----red------white
Jackson--------------green----white----black----red
Lawrence------------black----green----red------white
Schaller--------------green----white---yellow---brown
Seymour Duncan --black----white----green----red

Added thoughts:

A bit of trial and error is sometimes necessary when using pickups from varied manufacturers. Humbucker wiring instructions usually assume that a bridge humbucker has the coil nearest the neck connected to ground on one end and the coil nearest the bridge connected to the hot output. the other ends of each coil are connected together. if you follow this and all the other color codes listed.

Another thought: To wire 2 humbuckers to split and combine coils. the two pickups have to be arranged the same way, with both "hot" coils pointing in the same direction to make the middle two coils have opposite polarities.

There are plenty of options.

joe

Alright I may have new set of pickups about to come my way. However, I called the music store, and they charge a pretty penny for split-coil installation. A bit more then I was planniong on spending. The pickups are four conductor, so split coil will work. BUt I won't to know if its hard to do it myself?

Electric guitar pickups, while fairly simple in basic principle, are very complicated in their design and application. The number of variables available to slightly or drastically alter the signal produced is tremendous, and so the overall result of the combination of all of the variables is beyond this simple explanation.

It does take some work and research, nothing that can't be overcome with some planning and practice. There are some tools and parts needed for this adventure, which every guitar player should have anyway, they're called "Just Cause tools", Just cause you never know when you may need to repair something (my opinion). Basic tools: Soldering kit, needle nose pliers, small screw drivers, voltmeter, etc..

Here's a few sites to get you started.

Build Your Guitar

Guitar Electronics

Easy Modifications

The quest for the ultimate tone has been driven to apply new concepts and ideas into improving guitars or creating entirely new means of controlling and generating musical sounds. The design of appropriate interfaces is therefore in a continual state of revolution, always driven by new methods of sound generation that enable expression and control over new degrees of freedom.

The electric guitar now became part of a complex driven system.

Joe