Duckbucker wiring in parallel with liberator

[ThomasP]

Hi everybody,

I want to put a duckbucker as the middle pickup in my strat. I have a liberator and I don't know how to wire the duckbucker in parallel in the liberator. Could someone help me please with a diagram or some very precise indications since I'm a beginner.

Thank you!!

[ArtieToo]

The parallel wiring of the Duckbucker is independent of the Liberator pre se. If your Duck is the newer 4-wire + bare version, then twist and solder bare, green and white together and treat that as ground. Twist and solder black and red together and treat that as the "hot" wire. Now, you effectively have a 2-conductor cable: hot and ground. Connect them to one half of one side of the Liberator.

Edit: Can you tell us what other pups you'll be using, what guitar type this is, (Strat, Tele, LP, etc.), and what position the Duck will be used in? That will help with what Liberator terminals to use.

Edit 2: Is the Liberator already installed? Are you, or a tech, going to install it? These things all matter in how you approach this There are quite a few options.

[ThomasP]

Thank you for your response,

My guitar is a strat and there is a single coil in the bridge and neck. The duckbucker would go in middle position. The liberator is already installed.

[ArtieToo]

Ok, good. A Liberator is designed to manage 4 coils. Typically, they'd be two of one humbucker and two of another. However, it can accommodate almost any pup configuration. Do you know which wires of the Liberator are connected where, in the guitar? Can you take a clear pic?

Or, approach it like this: if two of the terminals are dedicated to the hot and ground of the middle pup, then simply twist bare, green, and white together, and insert them into the middle "ground" terminal. Then twist red and black together, and insert them into themiddle "hot" screw terminal. The exact terminals use will be determined by whomever installed the Liberator.

When I say "middle", I don't mean the physical middle screws. I mean, the terminals that correspond to the middle pickup.

[ArtieToo]

Note also, in this pic, the 4 terminals in the red circles are hard wired internally to ground. The two terminals in the green circle are hard wired to the input and wiper of the Liberator pot. The other 8 terminals, (4 on each side), are simple connected to the wires underneath. They become what ever you want them to be depending on how the Liberator was installed.

[ThomasP]

Thank you it is now very clear for me how the liberator works.
I will do as you say, make one "hot" and one "ground" wire with the duckbucker by soldering the wires together. I will put them exactly where the "hot" and "ground" wire of my previous middle pickup are, since they're already connected on the liberator, and it should do the trick!

[ArtieToo]

Cool. Let us know how it works out. And, what you think of the Duck. We were just talking about it in another thread.

[Mincer]

The Duckbucker is 'normally' wired in parallel, right?

[ArtieToo]

Yup. The old one's were done that way from the factory, like VR's. Now both are 4-cond so you have a choice. The VR doesn't sound that great in series. Kinda muffled and dull. In parallel it's like a "warm" single coil.

[Mincer]

Yeah, I don't think either would sound good in series.

[ThomasP]

For the record the installation with the liberator went well even if the pickup came already wired in series. I now have a parallel wired duckbucker in the middle position with an quarter pounder in the bridge and a ssl-1 in the neck. The neck pickup is RWRP so I don't have hum when neck and bridge is engaged simultaneously and don't have hum in position 2, 3 and 4 because of the humbucker in the middle. Only hum is in position 1&5.

The quack in positon 2&4 with the duckbucker is quite intense!! I am very happy with it I can't put my guitar down now I just want to play.

[hamerfan]

Great!

[ArtieToo]

Sweet. The Duck and VR don't get a lot of attention around here.

[Mincer]

Sweet. The Duck and VR don't get a lot of attention around here.

they should! But when most people want quieter singles, they got for the Classic Stacks.

[ArtieToo]

they should! But when most people want quieter singles, they got for the Classic Stacks.

If I had to do a scale of "single-coil tone", from 1 to 10, and an SSL-1 was a "10", then I'd probably do something like:

10: SSL-1 or 2
9: STK-4
7: Vintage Rails
4-5: Distortion Split.

The lower the number, the warmer, and less high-end sparkle. IMHO.