testing pickups

[whynot]

i got 2 pickups beats me what the 4 wires are how do i find out i will go get a voltage tested tomorow so what do i clip where and what reading should i watch out for

[JohnH]

The best first question is what type of pickup they are, from which manufacturer. They use different colour codes but if you can find this info, then the required standrad connections can be looked up easily.

If you have unknown ones and need to work it out from scratch, you need a multimeter which can measure resistance (they all do), and a cheap one is OK. Mostly they are digital, which are the best for most purposes, but an analogue meter (with a needle) is better for figuring out pickups, because you can use it to determine phase of a pickup.

[whynot]

so an digital 1 i cant test all the cables the pickups have been rewired and have no info what each cable is they got digital ones in the eletronics shop buy one get one free

[JohnH]

can you be a bit clearer about what set up you have with your pups? are they currently wired into a guitar? what are you actually wanting to do?
John

[whynot]

they are not in the guitar my m8 gave a columbus les paule but the wirein was destroyed and the neck wasnt attaced and damaged fixed evreythin but the wireing cand do it if i cant tell what wire is what

[whynot]

whats best for the job a digital or a neadle meater and whast the difrence

[JohnH]

If you are buying your first meter, then these days, a cheap digital would probably suit you best.

On your pickups. so they are out of the guitar and not wired to anything right now? how many and what colour wires go to each pickup? is there a bare wire? or a braided screen ariound the other wires? did the pickups come wit that guitar or did you get other ones? do you have four wires to each pickup, or four wires total?

[whynot]

there is 2 pickups 4 wires each 1 is a kent armstrong and 1 is a dimazio they have 4 wires and 1 bair dont know anythin aboput the guitar was just given to me in peaces the pickups were screwd to the guitar

[JohnH]

Different makers use different color codes

Kent armstrong have color codes as shown here. See the description for how to wire a standard humbucker:

www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-ARMSTRONG.html

Similarly, Di marzio pickups have color codes as described here:

www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-DIMARZIO.html

That should be enough info to work out how to wire them up

[whynot]

the wires arnt the orignal one and the colors are not the same

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

whynot said:

the wires arnt the orignal one and the colors are not the same

Huh? What's "not the same" about them? Even if someone soldered different colors onto stubs of the original wires, somewhere back there you should have the colors used by the pickup's maker. From there, it should be just a matter of getting the respective colors soldered where they should be for whatever you want to do. If somebody did use other colors beyond the remaining length of the original wires, you could change 'em back, so that you're always getting the right color in the right place.
Of course, it's possible that some Mad Scientist cut off the stock wiring where it exited the pickup body and soldered in something completely different, but then the pups are possibly munched, and you'd be better off with new ones. Then there would be no doubt about the color code. Maybe.

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

johnh said:

Kent armstrong have color codes as shown here. See the description for how to wire a standard humbucker:
www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-ARMSTRONG.html
Similarly, Di marzio pickups have color codes as described here:
www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-DIMARZIO.html

Cool! Just when I think I've seen all of Stew-Mac's freebie stuff, there's something more. I just changed the one above to "I-DUNCAN.html," and there was the info for Seymour Duncan (and GFS).
Thanks for the links, John.

[JohnH]

Whynot - please be clearer in your posts. It took four responses yesterday before we got an answer to my first question about the pickup manufacturer. We still dont know what colors you actually have for your wires. Are there any original stubs of wires leading into the pickups as MSM describes? We need the colors as they enter the pickups, rather than any extensions added later.

That being said, with a meter, it is possible to check that the pups coils are OK and to check which wires goes to which coil. Some listening tests may be needed to get the phasing correct. But if you can get this color info, it may all be much clearer.

[whynot]

is this meater any good www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=33064&criteria=Analogue%20Multimeters&doy=17m1

[JohnH]

Whynot. That looks good. You get all the basics, plus frequency and capacitance as well.

When you get it, read the instructions cover to cover and make sur eyou know how it all works.

Let me tell where the analogue part could help with your figuring out of pickups

What you do first (having made sure all the pup wires are disconnected from each other, switches etc) is to use a resistance setting (analogue or digital), to find which pairs of wire go with which coil ie, when you find two wires with 4-12k of resistance between them, they must connect to a coil. Two wires with infinite or much higher resistance are disconnected. On that meter, you would use a 20k Ohm setting for this.

That tells you which pairs go together, but does not tell you which of each pair of wires should go to hot and which to ground. If you get this wrong, you have an out of phase sound, which you can listen for and then swap wires to correct.

But if you have an analogue meter however, there is an easier trick - the 'screwdriver pull-off test'. You connect your pair of pup wires to the analogue meter on the lowest voltage setting. Carefully place the tip of a screwdriver on the pup pole piece, then lift it off quickly. The needle will move briefly, either up or down. You have all the pups in the right phase if you connect them so that for each one, the needle always moves the same way. You can do this on the disconnectred pups, then check it again on the finished guitar, putting the meter across the output jack and selected the pups one at a time or in combos.

Digital meters are not quick enough to do this, but for everything else, they are better than analogue.

John

[whynot]

i have 5 wires black red white green and bair

if i touch the green and white ones i get a reading of 1.833 if i touch the black and red i get 1.833 so i guess i got whitch 2 wirees are from the same coile but how do i find out whitch coile the are from

[JohnH]

Did you buy that analogue/digtal meter? If so read my previous post about the pull/off test, or just put those pairs of wires across a guitar chord to an amp, and tap the poles lightly with a screwdriver to hear which is active.

First, please edit your previous post to clarify what you are reading ie 1.833 what? what setting did you use on the meter?. Also please correct 8 spelling mistakes, it took three reads to figure out what you were writing.

[whynot]

yeah got that analogue/digital meter i put it on the seting with >| with a linne through the middle

put it on a seting with ohm 20k and it says 6.39
for both


sorry for bad spelling im dislexic

[JohnH]

OK, well 6.39 on a 20k resistance settng means 6.39k, which is a credible reading. 1.833 seemed very low. So, try those pull-off or tap tests? that should identify the coil which goes with each pair of wires.

[whynot]

so how does that tap test work do i conect it upm as i did before but tap the pickups thanks for helping me

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

whynot said:

yeah got that analogue/digital meter

Good start. Okay, if your meter has a needle that swings back and forth across one or more scales, it's analog. If it displays numbers, it's digital. I think yours is digital, which is fine. Each type has some things that it does better. (I have one of each.)

put it on a seting with ohm 20k and it says 6.39
for both

Okay; both what?
That reading suggests 6.39 Kilohms, a shorthand way of saying 6,390 ohms. As pickups go, that's not roaring hot, but it's not too shabby, either. But we really need to determine how much of that humbucker it takes to give you that resistance (ohms) reading.

You don't know the brand of that pickup yet, right? Just in case your pickup doesn't follow a green/white, black/red color code, could you try each of the colored wires with each of the other three, and see what you get? Maybe make yourself a chart like this
_____Black__White__Red__Green
Black | ___ | ____ | ___ | ___ |
White| ___ | ____ | ___ | ___ |
Red _ | ___ | ____ | ___ | ___ |
Green_| ___ | ____ | ___ | ___ |


and fill in the blanks. There'll be some holes where any row meets the column for that same color (hard to measure black and black), and after you've been at it for a few minutes, some duplication (red and green = green and red), but it might help. (That's my idea, and I'm stickin' to it.)

[UnklMickey]

whynot said:

...sorry for bad spelling im dislexic

i'm just a little lysdexic myself.

spell check is my best friend.



unk

[UnklMickey]

ministratmaine said:

...That reading suggests 6.39 Kilohms, a shorthand way of saying 6,390 ohms. As pickups go, that's not roaring hot, but it's not too shabby, either....

from what was written previously, it sounds like dimarzio colours, and 6.4k per coil is 12.8k when stacked in series.

that sounds medium roasty.


unk

[whynot]

its an analog and digital its a kent armstrong hro1 with green black red and white wires
put it on a seting with ohm 20k and it says 6.39
for red and black and white and green

[UnklMickey]

i may be wrong, but i think kent armstrong colors are:

red and blue (or pink and black) for the adjustable coil.

white and green for the slug coil.

maybe that red is actually pink?

[whynot]

its red as far as i can tell think its had new wires its off a columbus les paul coppy im restoring i have a wireing diogram drawn up but the person wasnt shure about this pickup so hes just done it as a guess

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

Okay, I forgot that Whynot mentioned awhile back that he has a Kent Armstrong and a DiMarzio. I was under the impression they were some kind of "mystery pups."
And I couldn't square the 1.833 measurements he mentioned with the 6.4K, for any kind of series or parallel arrangement.

I just discovered that the HAS Sound color code chart has more brands listed than GuitarElectronics.com does in theirs. (Bare Knuckle pickups, anyone?) Both are still a handy resource, anyway. www.has-sound.com/info.htm#Humbucker%20Pickup%20Wiring%20Color%20Codes

So for a K.A., Stan sez the coil with screw pole pieces starts with Black or Blue, ends with Red or Pink, and is the North. The slug pole coil starts with White, ends with Green, and is the South side. Looks like Whynot was measuring in the right places to check the individual coils, but what's the 1.833? Or was that on something other than the 20K ohm range?

And in case anyone wants to know, the DiMarzio colors are (screw pole) start: Green; end: White; polarity: South. Slug pole coil goes Red/Black/North.

[whynot]

the 1syt mesurment was on a seting with >| .))) with a line going through the middle of the >| but i played with it come more and worked out how to use it

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

whynot said:

but i played with it come more and worked out how to use it

Well done. Sometimes unwavering ("stubborn") experimentation is the way to go.

From here, you should be on your way to getting that old LP back into playin' condition.