Clarification on how leads are connected inside the pup.

[Phil Gerke]

Hey guys,

I just spent about an hour geeking out reading the 59/Custom Hybrid thread. This does not directly relate or I would have posted there, but it got me thinking.

Why are the leads off the bobbins connected inside the pickup? I was under the impression that the 4 leads coming coming out of the pickup to go to controls were simply extensions of the beginning and ends of the copper coils. If that is the case why are connections being made in the pickup? And where are the leads coming out to the controls coming from exactly? Is there some splicing going on?

I realize this is probably fairly obvious, but I am not getting it. I stole a photo from the hybrid thread to illustrate. On the screw coil of the custom (on the right) there are a total of 4 connections happening. What is going on there? The bobbin only has a start and a finish right? The green and red are going out to controls I assume, what are they connected to? What about the black and white leads, where are they coming from and what are they connecting to the other bobbin? I thought when we soldered and taped off the finish leads in the control cavity that was where the two coils become connected. What is it that I am not understanding?

Sorry for all the question marks! I just thought I had a better understanding of the construction of humbuckers.

Thanks a lot!

Phil

 

[jeremy]

Re: Clarification on how leads are connected inside the pup.

two coils, each with a start and finish = four wires

the coil wire itself is tiny, similar to the size of human hair. the short white and black wires you see in the pic are soldered to the start and finish of the actual coil wire. those four wires (stud coil start and finish, screw coil start and finish) are attached to the black/white/red/green wires.

 

[Phil Gerke]

Re: Clarification on how leads are connected inside the pup.

Ok, yeah it totally makes sense. I was letting the photograph confuse me way more than it should have. Because its hard to see whats going where, I was thinking that this photo was showing that the two coils were connected internally which was pretty much turning my world upside down. Actually the black, white, red and green leads that we use in the control cavity are in fact just extensions of the 2 start and finish leads. Just as my understanding has been, I just need to stop looking at pictures

Thanks Jeremy!

Phil