SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

[SamusChief]

Hi,

Details: I own an ESP, LTD FX-260 that I got as a project guitar. We wired in the SH-2 in the neck, and the SH-6 in the bridge, but we wired it wrong. When the coil tap is active, its actually a humbucker, and inactive it becomes single coil. We figured out that this is because we put a few wires in the wrong places, as the colors did not correspond. The single coil sounds like crap, and with any gain on either mode it sounds like its running through a soft effects filter, although it sounds much stronger on single coil mode. (keep in mind the modes are reversed: pulled out means humbucker and pushed means single coil.)

Problem: My dad insists that we have to re-wire the entire guitar because ESP wires their guitars differently. Is this true? Or can we just swap the wires? I'd really like to keep the cost down so I would rather not get any wires. I've never heard anyone have wiring issues with an ESP guitar, so I think we just have to swap out the colors for what they should be.

[ehdwuld]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

how are you trying to wire it

with a push pull?

with a five way switch?

a toogle?

maybe a picture is what is called for

if they are Duncan pickups then the color codes should be standard
and the electronics aren't vastly different

little more detail and we will find you a diagram or you can look up one for yourself
here

[SamusChief]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

The guitar is an LTD FX-260, and so here are the specs for the guitar:
* Top: Spalted Maple Top
* Body: Mahogany Body
* Neck: Set-Neck
* Neck Contour: Thin U Neck Contour
* Scale Length: 24.75 inch Scale
* Neck: 5 Piece Mahogany-Maple Neck
* Fingerboard: Rosewood Fingerboard
* Nut Width: 42mm Standard Nut
* Frets: 22 XJ Frets
* Hardware: Black Nickel
* Tuners: ESP Tuners
* Bridge: TOM Bridge and Tail
* Pickups: ESP LH-301 Pickups (Push-Pull Coil Tap on Tone Control)

The pots/switches are as follows:
1 volume
1 tone w/ push/pull coil tap
1 3 way pickup selector, as is standard on most ESP guitars.

Already looked at diagrams, and the only one close to it has the push pull on the volume, not the tone. The wiring between the pots, output jack, and 3 way toggle are different than in my guitar, so my dad insists that we have to buy wire and re wire the whole guitar, which I believe to be false information, as I have done research and haven't seen any wiring problems this huge. If the wiring is different between pots and electronics in the diagram, do we have to re-wire the whole guitar???

[ehdwuld]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

where the push pull is, either the tone or the volume, really isn't important
as the push pull acts independently of the pot
just wire the push pull as described
I don't have your guitar to see what is so drastically different between this diagram and yours

could you open the control cavity and post a picture?

[SamusChief]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

I tried to upload a photo, but the battery died. Looking for the charger. I can say that my guitar does not have the thin wire connecting the volume and tone. There is only one wire going to the jack as well. Not two like in that diagram. I have a theory. Since the modes are reversed, like the pulled is coil tapped mode, the coil tap is looking to the wrong coil to lead the humbucking tone, and it looks to the center coil for single coil, which is why it sounds like an effects filter. Its probably getting all the bite from the pick attack. It would explain the effect filter-like bite, and the reversed push/pull. Does this mean that I only have to re-wire it?

GUH I JUST WANT TO PLAY MY GUITAR!

[ehdwuld]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

mine uses a two conductor cable to the jack also

[SamusChief]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

That's an awesome looking guitar even from the back with all the plates off. Is that a floyd rose? How much did it run you for?

Mine is wired almost word for word like that, just with a coil tap of course. Its a triangle of cords, and then one leading to the output jack. If you've got duncans in that there guitar then we'll just re-solder the wires from the pickups into the right spots rather than re-do every wire.

Cheers!

[Advanzn]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

This post is propably pretty late, but here goes. I have ESP LTD FX-260SM too, and I want to swap the pickups. First picture is seymour duncan's propably. The picture below it is how the wires go in my guitar. You can see that red and white wires in the upper picture goes to different place than green and white wires in the lower picture. So, which one is right?

[Edgecrusher]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

Your best bet would probably be to make your own new thread rather than resurrecting one. But Ill ask this question first. What pickups are you tyring to split?

[Advanzn]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

..Split?
Either I'll buy SH-4 or SH-6 for bridge, about the neck PU I don't know

[GuitarDoc]

Re: SH-2, SH-6 coil tapped installation

If you end up using Duncan pups, use the first diagram. Black is lead/hot; red and white go together on the p/p for split; green and plain go to ground.

The second diagram is for Gibson and Lawrence pups.