Can Someone Help Me Fix My Wiring?

[Ken Kaniff]

Hey Everyone.

I just bought a soldering iron to fix my guitar, and realized I have no idea which wire goes where. I have pictures for the working idea of what im facing. If someone is able to help me or draw a diagram for how to wire this particular guitar, that would be really helpful. I looked online but didn't trust the other pictures.

It's kind of hard to see what wires are missing in this picture. I might just rip them all out and start over.

Also, does anyone know what kind of pickups I have? I know this guitar is a piece of crap, but I'm going to fix it up nice.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks so much!

Edited April 21, 2010 by Ken Kaniff

[WezV]

depends what you want the switch to do

if its a coil split use this

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/W...ingle_Coil.html

it shows a push/pull but the wiring is identical whetehr the switch is on the back of a pot or seperate like yours

first thing is to establish the colour code for the pickup - looks like its got 3 coloured wires and a bare. So i would go with red as the 'north start' or 'hot', white or 'north finish & south finish' as the 'coil split' that goes to the switch and the black ('south start') and bare as the 'ground' going to the back of a pot

thats best guess though, hard to be sure without knowing the make of the pickup or using a mutlimeter to test it

but whats the guitar! - tele custom ish plate with trimmed down dimarzio model one EB-0 style bass pickup - except that pickup wire looks wrong for a dimarzio

[ShadesOfGrey]

That pickup looks..odd.. Is that a bass pickup or something? Or a weird cover?

And is that also the only pickup in the guitar? If so, what is the switch for.. coil tap?

Switches are.. one volume and one tone?

[Ken Kaniff]

Its a Fender Jazz bass guitar and a pass pickup.

I just bought it from a kid for $5.

I have no idea what the stuff does, so thats why im on the forum.

[WezV]

Its a Fender Jazz bass guitar and a pass pickup.

i reckon we need a pic - because that is not a jazz bass scratchplate or a p-bass pickup ??? either way it cant be bad for $5, but it could be good

the plate is the shape of the 72 telecaster basses,

but the pickup would be a replacement

thats a pic of a dimarzio model one - but the ones i have seen had a black 4 conducter wire coming from the pickup rather than a braided wire

[Paul Marossy]

Sounds like a mangled Jazz Bass if it has a Telecaster Bass pickgaurd and wiring that looks like that.

[ShadesOfGrey]

Its a Fender Jazz bass guitar and a pass pickup.

I just bought it from a kid for $5.

I have no idea what the stuff does, so thats why im on the forum.

So it *is* a bass guitar. I was getting confused by the weird pickguard & pickup combo.

But.. did you pay $5 for the bass or the pickup?

thats a pic of a dimarzio model one - but the ones i have seen had a black 4 conducter wire coming from the pickup rather than a braided wire

Can't say I'm knowledgable on Dimarzio's pickups, and no idea how old the specific model is. I've seen a lot different pickups where if the model was older, some newer of that model were slightly different than older ones. Different forms of shield wire like this example, different plastic of the coil 'housing', sometimes serial / model number is punched into the baseplate and sometimes on a sticker. Cant expect a production process to remain unchanged for decades I guess.

And the shielding looks weird btw.. why do a small area of the pickguard under the pots but leave the switch uncovered? If they didnt even do the whole pickguard, I can gamble the cavity itself is not shielded either

[WezV]

Can't say I'm knowledgable on Dimarzio's pickups, and no idea how old the specific model is. I've seen a lot different pickups where if the model was older, some newer of that model were slightly different than older ones. Different forms of shield wire like this example, different plastic of the coil 'housing', sometimes serial / model number is punched into the baseplate and sometimes on a sticker. Cant expect a production process to remain unchanged for decades I guess.

i did consider those things, but i think its odd because of the dimarzio's, both old and new, that i have come across before -actually, quite recently an early model one.

It is possible that what we see in the pic is a fix where the usual dimarzio wire (4-conductor + bare, black plastic outer) is attached to the wire we see (3 conducter + braided outer ??? )

or its equally possible that this is just a similar looking pickup.

From my experience i would say both are more likely options than this being a dimarzio which left the factory with that wire - more pics are needed to be sure, but i suppose ken may not even be bothered

give us a pic of the whole of the guitar and the whole of the back of the scratchplate with pickup and i am fairly sure i could confirm if it was a model one or not

[Ken Kaniff]

I have more pics.

I bought the whole, non-working guitar from a kid. As I said, I'm just trying to fool around with this until my good parts come in.

Hopefully you're able to see this well enough. This pix aren't that great, I'll try to get some better ones when I find a camera. The headstock Just says Fender Jazz Bass, the patent logo, and a couple pat. numbers.

[WezV]

i think you may have a great deal here!

the whole thing isnt worth much - but it seems to be a bit of a frankenstien and some of the parts may have value on their own

So first off, you have a jazz bass neck and it looks to be old at first glance... you need to check for any markings or serial numbers around the heel. If its vintage it could be worth a bit, but even if its new its still worth a lot more away from that bass than it is attached - as long as its a genuine fender neck

The rest appears to be a home build in the style of a 72 tele bass. it could be a much abused original tele bass body but i think its more likely to be a home build.

if you get a pic of the back of the pickup i will be able to tell you if it is or is not a dimarzio model one. and more detail pics of the headstock and any markings/construction details will help us tell you if the neck is worth any money

[Samba Pa Ti]

it definately looks like a dimarzio pickup to me, ive got a similar pickup but its not got the red wire, it could be an OEM one.

[ShadesOfGrey]

Wow, that body looks pretty beat up. Still, $5 is a steal.

I cant realy tell, but is there any kind of finish on it?

[Paul Marossy]

Yeah, looks like a frankenjazz bass to me. It looks like it could be turned into a decent instrument with some work. The body could be refinished and it might actually look good when it's done.

[Ken Kaniff]

There is no finish on. The kid i got it from was a dumbass. He scraped all the paint off. Thats also how it broke, I somehow "scraped" the wires off. And the neck is really warped. I'm willing to spend lots of work to make it nice though.

[Paul Marossy]

There is no finish on. The kid i got it from was a dumbass. He scraped all the paint off. Thats also how it broke, I somehow "scraped" the wires off. And the neck is really warped. I'm willing to spend lots of work to make it nice though.

Oh boy, I know the type.

Good luck with it. I hope you have something nice to show us when you get done with it.

[ShadesOfGrey]

There is no finish on. The kid i got it from was a dumbass. He scraped all the paint off. Thats also how it broke, I somehow "scraped" the wires off. And the neck is really warped. I'm willing to spend lots of work to make it nice though.

Any idea what wood the body is?

[Paul Marossy]

It kind of looks like the same wood they use for the "blonde" Fender guitars. Isn't that ash, or "swamp ash"? Something like that.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Paul Marossy