4 conductor shielded wire

[LtKojak]

The wiring code that makes most sense to me, is the following:

* Black=start South = Ground
* White=finish South
* Green=finish North
* Red=start North = Hot

However, I always assemble my pickups using the Duncan code.

HTH,

[rjb]

The Duncan code makes more sense to me anyway. One coil is black/white & the other red/green. It's easier to keep straight in my head for some reason.

To me, the Peavey code makes the most sense.
Humbucker Wire Color Translation | Seymour Duncan
North coil: Red+/Grn-
South coil: Wht+/Blk-
Series connected: Red+/Blk-

In DC power and analog signal wiring, black is always, always, always (well, usually) "cold".

Edit:
Agree with LtKojak- posted while I was writing this.

[ScottA]

I don't have two coils, but I have two sets of three coils each that I can wire in parallel.

"Splitting" doesn't make much sense in my design (as you would be left with only three strings) unless you're combining that signal with three strings from another pickup. I've had a couple of people do this kind of stuff, but not many.

Parallel wiring is a fantastic option for the higher output models though. It's like putting an HB in parallel, but with a Zexcoil, you're still only picking the string up in one place so there's no comb filtering.

Anyway, I took stock of all of the 4 conductor wiring schemes and came to the conclusion that none of them really made sense and there was no standard, so I did what made sense to me.

first set of three coils:
White - hot
Green - ground

2nd set of three coils:
Red - hot
Black - ground

That way, when hard wired in series mode, or when tied to a dpdt switch for splitting, the pickup follows the typical convention of white - hot, black - ground for 2 wire pickups. The grounds follow the convention of using black and green.

[rjb]

... so I did what made sense to me.

first set of three coils:
White - hot
Green - ground

2nd set of three coils:
Red - hot
Black - ground

That way, when hard wired in series mode, or when tied to a dpdt switch for splitting, the pickup follows the typical convention of white - hot, black - ground for 2 wire pickups. The grounds follow the convention of using black and green.

Yup. That's how I hooked up the DiMarzio Model P in my second-hand PBass.
Didn't have Google back then.
DiMarzio came so close to getting it right.

-rb

[David Schwab]

Isn't it a little late to make that decree? Should all non-conforming pickups from the last ~40 years be recalled?
Besides, if everyone copied DiMarzio's code, Larry would probably sue for infringement.

40 years? Who else besides DiMarzio was making pickups with 4-conductor cable in 1977?

[frankfalbo]

40 years? Who else besides DiMarzio was making pickups with 4-conductor cable in 1977?

rjb used the tilde to mean "approximately" and I said "about 40 years". I happen to have a double cream butyrate "The JB Model" that has original 4-conductor wiring. That's late 70s, possibly 77 but more likely 78 or 79. I'd have to ask Seymour next time I see him but I'm pretty sure he would have put 4-c on rewinds prior to that upon request.

So at that time you'd be talking about only a couple years of competition from another small business with products likely numbering in the hundreds, not even the thousands. Not what anyone would have considered industry standard at that time.

[rjb]

40 years? Who else besides DiMarzio was making pickups with 4-conductor cable in 1977?

rjb used the tilde to mean "approximately" and I said "about 40 years".

Let's say "40 years +/- 20%". Is that better?

[big_teee]

Yep, it's black +, white, red, & green -grd, SD style for me.
If Dimarzio uses another color code, that's reason enough for me, not to use it!
T

[David Schwab]

rjb used the tilde to mean "approximately" and I said "about 40 years". I happen to have a double cream butyrate "The JB Model" that has original 4-conductor wiring. That's late 70s, possibly 77 but more likely 78 or 79. I'd have to ask Seymour next time I see him but I'm pretty sure he would have put 4-c on rewinds prior to that upon request.

So at that time you'd be talking about only a couple years of competition from another small business with products likely numbering in the hundreds, not even the thousands. Not what anyone would have considered industry standard at that time.

I actually have a hand written letter from Seymour about having a Rick toaster pickup rewound from back then. But lets be honest here, DiMarzio, Hi-A and Bill Lawrence were the first three replacement pickup makers. We can probably add Dan Armstrong in there, but I don't remember seeing those as aftermarket pickups. Seymour was doing rewinds in the beginning. So the first pickup most people saw with 4 conductor wiring was the DiMarzio Dual Sound in 1974. As seen on Al DiMeola's guitar.

Interestingly I asked Seymour about making the toaster into a stacked humbucker, since it had the long magnets (I got the idea from the Les Paul Recording pickups). He said that wouldn't work. This was probably 1974 or '75. But then he patented his stacked pickup in 1983.