IWishICouldShred Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 Ok em and my friend are installing a ZW set in my explorer. The wiring diagram doesnt say anything about what to do with the capacitors, which came connecting the vol and tone pots. I'm using the last diagram, for 2 volume and one tone w/switch. The diagram is availabe at www.emgpickups.com Someone please tell me what to do with the capacitors. Put em straight back into the same tone pot? I'll check back in 1/2 hour. If no answer, I'll try it without the caps and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWishICouldShred Posted February 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 gah never mind we figured it out... we were reading the diagram wrong. now onto the switch. wish me luck edit. 100 posts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWishICouldShred Posted February 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 ok...apparently we didnt figure it out there's three wires coming down from the switch, with 2 wires ends on each (one is a braided ground wire and the other is a regular wire.) can't seem to figure out which one goes to which pot. trial and error isnt working, so any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibreakemineedtobuildem Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 go to EMG.com Or Seymour Duncan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 Look at the switch itself (take it loose if you have to). The center terminal is the output to the tone control pot's center terminal, and the other two wires connect to the center terminal of the two volume pots. Connect all the braided wires to ground. All this assumes that you're using the 2V1T setup (Diagram 5) at the bottom of page 4 of the ZW instruction sheet. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWishICouldShred Posted February 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 ok we tried that... didnt work now i'm puzzled because we have it wired up like the diagram but we still aren't getting a sound. why is there a wire going back from the bridge vol. to the middle of the pickup selector? it doesnt make any sense. if it does, where would we solder it on the switch? can you please (like... i'll be indebted to you for life) make a list of how to install these? like what to connect where and stuff? thank you if you do!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 Only thing I can offer up is make sure there is no ground wire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 Do you have the battery hooked up? It should hook up positive (+) to the red pickup lead and negative (-) to the (braided) shield. No battery = no sound. Also make sure the switch end of the shield(s) are not connected to anything or shorting against anything. That's all I got - if you still can't get 'em to work, try again in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 I didnt think no battery = no sound? I know there internal pre-amp runs off of 9v, but they do also output in passive when the battery runs out, there just real quiet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 no battery = a VERY WEAK almost nonexistent sound. all i can say is follow the emg diagram that came with the pickups exactly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWishICouldShred Posted February 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 Alright. I messed with this for 5 hours, and slept for three. I'm ready to get back on the case. Thanks for the tips, guys. If it doesnt work I'm prolly gonna take it into the shop because I had it just like the diagram said before... or so I thought? Back to work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWishICouldShred Posted February 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 After another few hours of messing with it... we have it wired just like the diagram said. Our problem before was that one of the tone pot's prongs was still soldered back into it, it had came that way. We undid that and now we have sound on both pickups. The problem? It's really fuzzy, hums a lot, and picks up radio on some settings. Solution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 Oh boy, something's definitely wrong there. The ZW is a 81 and a 85, right? I've got the same setup in two guitars so I might be able to help. I don't care for EMG's wiring diagrams very much. I have an electrical background so maybe that's why I would prefer a bit more of a schematic than the pictorial than they try to use. Are you using their output jack? Is it a two-position switch or three? If you can pass along the type of switch (# of positions - 2 or 3) and the number of vol/tone pots you are using, I can send you a diagram that will hopefully make more sense than the EMG diagram. I'll check back later today and see if you still need help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 do like dave says...there should be NO hum or noise at all...emgs are the quietist pickups i have ever heard and you should not have to disconnect that piece from the pot.... they come almost completely wired out of the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWishICouldShred Posted February 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 do like dave says...there should be NO hum or noise at all...emgs are the quietist pickups i have ever heard and you should not have to disconnect that piece from the pot.... they come almost completely wired out of the box. Was probably a loose connection. Took everything apart again and am currently waiting for a reply from either EMG or daveq. As for what you said about the almost completely wired out of the box thing, these came pre-wired for a Les Paul setup, and I have one less tone control, so I had to disconnect a cap. from the volume and put it back into the tone and some other stuff. Basically my guitar has one less knob and its making everything too freakin complex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 I have the diagram ready if you can give me your email via PM. When you make the changes, make sure the pots are all grounded well. I don't think that's the problem you're having now but you will end up with some noise if they are not grounded well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWishICouldShred Posted February 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 I have the diagram ready if you can give me your email via PM. When you make the changes, make sure the pots are all grounded well. I don't think that's the problem you're having now but you will end up with some noise if they are not grounded well. I sent you a PM this afternoon... did you get it? I worked on the pickups more. Now I get a good sound and stuff, but the knobs don't do anything. My EMG input jack also has 2 settings... in partially and all the way in. When i put my plug all the way in, it cuts the sound off. When its in partway it works. Whats goin on there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 OK, I didn't see your email at first - I sent the diagram to you with some instructions. I think you need to start looking at the output jack first. Make sure you have identified which wires are connected to the tip and sleeve of your cable. You can do this with an OHM meter (with the battery disconnected) and a cable plugged in (leave the other end unplugged). The reason I say this is that any problems at this point would make probing further into the circuit a waste of time. Once the jack wiring is correct, you can begin to trace out the rest with confidence that everything up to that point is correct. Let me know if you don't have experiece working with a meter. I hope you can get it going soon. I think you'll love the 81/85 set. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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