Inflames626
New member
So a while back I wrote about an LTD EX that I paired with some EMG HZ H1s (basically ceramic PAF-inspired pickups at around 14k--I'd say similar to a Duncan Custom but with an EMG 60ish sound) with Triple Shots. The pairing sounds really great aside from the EMG quick connector AND the Triple Shot board making for a crowded back of the pickup. Combining this with a neck phase switch and a .047 tone knob makes for something more flexible than your traditional 3 tone Explorer, especially with both pickups out of phase in parallel for great clean sounds.
One thing I didn't notice until months later is the wiring colors for the HZ pickups differ depending upon whether it is a neck or bridge pickup.
In its color code chart for the HZ, SD has red for north start, black for north finish, white for south start, green for south finish. This matches EMG's diagram, but this works for the bridge pickup only.
For the neck pickup, EMG has white/green for the screw coil and black/red for the slug coil.
I thought the wire colors stayed the same and only the position of the screws changed.
So, I wired both pickups as the bridge coil should be wired. I don't think this has any effect in practice except the switches on the neck pickup work the opposite of how they do on the bridge pickup.
Then again what SD calls its "standard wiring" that comes with the Triple Shot instructions seems a little backward to me. The switches go forward to activate a rear screw coil on a bridge pickup, but go backward to activate the inner slug coil on a bridge pickup. So the active coil is always opposite of your switch position. This takes a little getting used to visually.
The reverse wiring diagram makes more sense to me. The switches move toward the active coil instead of away from it. In a bridge position pickup, switches moved back activate the rear screw coil, and switches moved forward activate the inner slug coil.
Anyway, brief summary: if you are using EMG HZs with Triple Shots, you will need to translate wiring colors differently for the neck and bridge pickups.
In this case, if I am correct on the *neck* HZ pickup only:
EMG's white will go to SD's black.
EMG's green will go to SD's white.
EMG's black will go to SD's red.
EMG's red will go to SD's green.
Keep this in mind when you're soldering to the Triple Shot board.
If SD redoes their color code wiring chart, they should keep in mind the colors swap on EMG's HZs depending upon whether it's a bridge or neck pickup. I only caught this when I read EMG's instructions and realized the wire colors were different for each coil based on position.
Please notify me if I'm incorrect, as I'll be going back over Christmas break to redo the wiring and those fragile TS boards can't take many swaps due to the soldering iron heat.
EMG's instructions:
https://www.emgpickups.com/pub/media/Mageants/h/z/hz_h1_h2_b245_0230-0295e.pdf
SD's wiring diagram translation chart:
Again, SD needs to note their diagram is for the bridge position HZ only, and/or they need to also include an HZ neck pickup picture with the wire colors swapped.
For EMG's part, it makes more sense to me to keep the wire colors the same and simply swap the position of screw and slug coils.
Thanks.
One thing I didn't notice until months later is the wiring colors for the HZ pickups differ depending upon whether it is a neck or bridge pickup.
In its color code chart for the HZ, SD has red for north start, black for north finish, white for south start, green for south finish. This matches EMG's diagram, but this works for the bridge pickup only.
For the neck pickup, EMG has white/green for the screw coil and black/red for the slug coil.
I thought the wire colors stayed the same and only the position of the screws changed.
So, I wired both pickups as the bridge coil should be wired. I don't think this has any effect in practice except the switches on the neck pickup work the opposite of how they do on the bridge pickup.
Then again what SD calls its "standard wiring" that comes with the Triple Shot instructions seems a little backward to me. The switches go forward to activate a rear screw coil on a bridge pickup, but go backward to activate the inner slug coil on a bridge pickup. So the active coil is always opposite of your switch position. This takes a little getting used to visually.
The reverse wiring diagram makes more sense to me. The switches move toward the active coil instead of away from it. In a bridge position pickup, switches moved back activate the rear screw coil, and switches moved forward activate the inner slug coil.
Anyway, brief summary: if you are using EMG HZs with Triple Shots, you will need to translate wiring colors differently for the neck and bridge pickups.
In this case, if I am correct on the *neck* HZ pickup only:
EMG's white will go to SD's black.
EMG's green will go to SD's white.
EMG's black will go to SD's red.
EMG's red will go to SD's green.
Keep this in mind when you're soldering to the Triple Shot board.
If SD redoes their color code wiring chart, they should keep in mind the colors swap on EMG's HZs depending upon whether it's a bridge or neck pickup. I only caught this when I read EMG's instructions and realized the wire colors were different for each coil based on position.
Please notify me if I'm incorrect, as I'll be going back over Christmas break to redo the wiring and those fragile TS boards can't take many swaps due to the soldering iron heat.
EMG's instructions:
https://www.emgpickups.com/pub/media/Mageants/h/z/hz_h1_h2_b245_0230-0295e.pdf
SD's wiring diagram translation chart:
Again, SD needs to note their diagram is for the bridge position HZ only, and/or they need to also include an HZ neck pickup picture with the wire colors swapped.
For EMG's part, it makes more sense to me to keep the wire colors the same and simply swap the position of screw and slug coils.
Thanks.
