4 conductor wiring diagram

[sunburst kid]

Does anyone have a schematic or a picture of 4 conductor wiring? I am wondering where to put the grounds. I have the silver wire to the frame but I don't know if I should put the finish of the north side to the frame as well.

[big_teee]

Does anyone have a schematic or a picture of 4 conductor wiring? I am wondering where to put the grounds. I have the silver wire to the frame but I don't know if I should put the finish of the north side to the frame as well.

Wiring Diagram
most of us I think use the gibson color code if your building your own pickup.
Good Luck
Terry

[sunburst kid]

Thanks Terry,

What do I solder to the chassis for grounds?

[copperheadroads]

you take your bare wire & you green wire , i usually twist them together & solder them to your to a pot

[David Schwab]

most of us I think use the gibson color code if your building your own pickup.

I use the DiMarzio color codes. I figure they did it first so...

[David Schwab]

Does anyone have a schematic or a picture of 4 conductor wiring? I am wondering where to put the grounds. I have the silver wire to the frame but I don't know if I should put the finish of the north side to the frame as well.

By "frame", I assume you mean the pickup's baseplate? Only the bare wire goes there. The four wires from the coils go to the four conductor wiring. When you wire up the pickup one of those will go to ground along with the bare (drain) wire.

[sunburst kid]

Thanks now I get it. The pup wasn't reading right when I tested it because I didn't ground the lead wire. I'll run a wire back to the baseplate for testing.

[big_teee]

I use the DiMarzio color codes. I figure they did it first so...

I'm an old telephone man, and done lots of auto work.
I like Red to be Hot, Black to be Return or grd.
In phone offices the bare would only be grounded on one end.
That would make it a shield.
Tieing it down on both ends makes it a conductor, (possibly for noise).
I've tried it both ways in a guitar, and not much difference.
Later,
Terry

[RedHouse]

I have my own color code and have a chart based on the Duncan one that I give to the client so they can interface to other brands.

WOW! one of the Blue Angels just buzzed my house, windows are rattling and everything. They are in town for Seafair this week, damn those guys are cool, I feel like a little kid when I run out on the deck just to see them fly by.

[David Schwab]

I'm an old telephone man, and done lots of auto work.
I like Red to be Hot, Black to be Return or grd.
In phone offices the bare would only be grounded on one end.
That would make it a shield.
Tieing it down on both ends makes it a conductor, (possibly for noise).
I've tried it both ways in a guitar, and not much difference.
Later,
Terry

I always remember green being ground, and black being hot. I think red being hot and green being ground makes sense though... red is a hot color, and the ground is often green.

I also think one less pickup maker using something totally different can't hurt. if everyone used the same colors it would make life easier. I mostly deal with Duncan and Dimarzio pickups when Im doing repairs. Then you have Gibson (who buys aftermarket Gibson pickups? I have not seen a single one), and Schaller, who doesn't even use the same colors!

So I settled on the Dimarzio colors which also matches EMG-HZ pickups.

It's less confusing for me.

[big_teee]

I always remember green being ground, and black being hot. I think red being hot and green being ground makes sense though... red is a hot color, and the ground is often green.

I also think one less pickup maker using something totally different can't hurt. if everyone used the same colors it would make life easier. I mostly deal with Duncan and Dimarzio pickups when Im doing repairs. Then you have Gibson (who buys aftermarket Gibson pickups? I have not seen a single one), and Schaller, who doesn't even use the same colors!

So I settled on the Dimarzio colors which also matches EMG-HZ pickups.

It's less confusing for me.

It depends if your talking AC or DC
AC black is your hot, white is Neutral, and green is ground
In DC Red is Hot Black is Return (Grded)
There usually no green in DC
Sometimes Bare or Green for Frame Ground.
Anyway just what ever you can remember, and get used to.
To me the Gibson colors make more sense.
Terry

[David Schwab]

To me the Gibson colors make more sense.

My first pickups used Gibson colors. But there are a lot more DiMarzios out there, so it's easy for people to find wiring diagrams. DiMarzio pretty much started the 4 conductor wiring thing with the Dual Sound Humbucker.

[RedHouse]

...DiMarzio pretty much started the 4 conductor wiring thing with the Dual Sound Humbucker...

Yep, and I was one of those who bought one back in the day. It was a "Super Distortion" with 4-conductor wire.

Just for nostalgia, here's a (bad) scan of the actual instruction sheet that came with my Dual-Sound back in '78:

[David Schwab]

Yep, and I was one of those who bought one back in the day. It was a "Super Distortion" with 4-conductor wire.

I still have an old one. That started the whole mini switch thing too. I remember a guy I played with had a custom "Alex Axe" from a music store in NYC. It had two Dual Sounds with switches, and a phase switch. He could get a whole bunch of tones from that thing. Back then it was like the coolest thing!

I just looked up Alex Axe and it seems the bodies and necks were made by Gretsch. They weren't DiMarzios, but looked just like them. DiMarzio worked for LoBue at one time.