pickups wiring confusion

[lazarus]

hi

can anyone tell me if this is wrong wiring bcz i cant see where the neck pickup ground.

these are the neck and middle wiring colors

here on the switch three colors mounting  and just one  grounded

i think the rednot in positionand it should replaced with the black.

what do you think?

thank you

 

 

 

[lazarus]

and the black should be grounded ofc

[curtisa]

I assume the guitar is currently not working correctly at the moment?

You have multiple wires with the same colours, so I assume you have traced them out and are satisfied that they are going to the pickups as you've labelled them in your pictures.

With the above in mind I woud have thought:

• The red wire on the middle-right terminal you have labelled 'neck pu' should be soldered to the upper-right terminal.
• The black wire on the lower-left terminal you have labelled 'neck pu' should be soldered to the nearest terminal that is ground. You could solder it to where the humbucker braid and white 'middle pu' wires are tied together.

However I haven't seen a switch quite like that before, and am making a bunch of guesses as to how it works without being able to physically handle it and inspect it. I assume the terminal in the middle with the red wire is the output of the switch to the volume pot, and that it's a 5-way?

 

1 hour ago, lazarus said:

and the black should be grounded ofc

Not necessarily. The coloured wires on the pickup are provided as a convenience to the person installing it, not an automatic designator of what function it serves. For all we know, the 'correct' way of wiring that particular pickup could be Black = hot/Red = ground.

[lazarus]

thank you for the fast comment.

this is 1991 washburn original wires, now im restoring and reparing it after not playing the guitar for years.

the switch is little different from the new that selling today but has the same functions.

the above picture showing the wires colors. red black for the neck and blue white for the middle.

middle pickup the blue attached to the switch while the white attached to the ground,

neck pickup the red and the black both attached to the switch so if i moving the switch to the 4th and 5th position

its kind of short bcz the same coil wires meeting at the switch, therefore the 4th scale at the switch which is the middle picjup, cant play as a lonely pickup bcz its not isolated.

[curtisa]

4 hours ago, lazarus said:

neck pickup the red and the black both attached to the switch so if i moving the switch to the 4th and 5th position

its kind of short bcz the same coil wires meeting at the switch, therefore the 4th scale at the switch which is the middle picjup, cant play as a lonely pickup bcz its not isolated.

Which is why I suspect that the neck pickup has been soldered to the switch incorrectly, and hence my suggestions to move the red+black wires. Although this is completely based on what the switch looks like in that photo and the pattern of the solder terminals on that brown plate.

I'm guessing that with the way it is currently wired you probably have:

• Position 1 = Bridge humbucker only
• Position 2 = Bridge humbucker + middle
• Position 3 = Middle only
• Position 4 = Middle only
• Position 5 = no sound

If my assumption is correct, modifying the neck pickup red+black wires as I've mentioned in my previous post should fix positions 4 and 5 and give you

• ...
• Position 4 = Middle + neck
• Position 5 = Neck only

[lazarus]

yes that is correct.the red should move the right up. also the blue can be move instead the red but that isnt necasery 

butthe black wire should just remove from terminals to a ground position.

so now after i figured what was wrong the years i deed play that guitar. i need to solder the new wires

then as i understand from you:

switch 1 should solder the red/white of the HB

switch 2 is  bridge  the HB  and middle (  red/white + yellow )

switch 3 should solder the yellow of the middle pickup

switch 4  bridge the middle and neck

switch 5 solder the red of the neck  pickup

all blacks to the ground, but what im doing with the green/white of the HB pickup?

[curtisa]

11 hours ago, lazarus said:

then as i understand from you:

switch 1 should solder the red/white of the HB

switch 2 is  bridge  the HB  and middle (  red/white + yellow )

switch 3 should solder the yellow of the middle pickup

switch 4  bridge the middle and neck

switch 5 solder the red of the neck  pickup

all blacks to the ground, but what im doing with the green/white of the HB pickup?

That depends entirely on what the colour codes of each of the pickup wires are. Each pickup manufacturer will use a different colour code for their pickups. You cannot assume that black automatically means 'connect to ground'.

What brand are the new pickups?

[lazarus]

ok i figured that out, just now remembered the autotronic i have learned.

indeed the black  at the HB isnt ground, its the output to the switch.the red/white is bricge and green/silver to ground.

i also misure with ohm meter. 7.4k between  black and white and the same green and red.

so its connected series.

and if i want parallel i need to connect red and black to output switch and green white silver to ground.

so waht is better? series or parellal?

 

[lazarus]

btw, chinese one.

[curtisa]

4 hours ago, lazarus said:

series or parellal?

Series is the 'standard' humbucker wiring scheme. Parallel will have lower output and a thinner sound.

 

4 hours ago, lazarus said:

so waht is better?

That depends on what sounds you're after; entirely a matter of personal preference. What kind of wiring are you trying to achieve here?

 

4 hours ago, lazarus said:

indeed the black  at the HB isnt ground, its the output to the switch.the red/white is bricge and green/silver to ground.

...

btw, chinese one.

Did the humbucker come with some kind of colour code diagram that explained how to wire it up? Were the red/white and green/braid wires already joined together, or did you do this yourself?

[lazarus]

as i mentioned,. i checked each wire with voltmeter to see the integrity of each coil.

 it is show 7.4k ohm between black/white and 7.4k ohm for green/red. so those are the singles coils.

 when it is connected in series it show 14.5k ohm between the bl;ack and the green. it count both coils

now....i assumed that as i noticed the default series connection, then i remembered how series wires are connected,

also as you can see at the 3rd image, these are the manufactorer by default. the red and white are solder together

the image here show the diagram

 

[lazarus]

here the inside mechanic of the switch

[mistermikev]

seems like you are in good hands with curtisa so forgive if I'm stealing thunder/butting in...

based on your readings sounds like you figured out the wire order.  I'd wire in series - it's more typical for a humbucker and you'll get parallel with your singles in pos 4.

1 white(bridge-as it was in orig pic), 2 blue(middle), 3 red(neck).

[lazarus]

well i allready done with the wires,.

now im facing new challnge, to overcome the tuning of the guitar.

i got very bad size of bone nut, so i had to make a new one from those i have got, but its just doesnt  sound well.

here is the guitar after i finnish her 1991 kc ltd washburn