HELP!!!! Live Wire Metal 18 volt pickup location question!!!

[Chuckie3666]

I'm in the process of installing a LW-ML1S HB set into a vintage Ibanez RG220B. The instruction sheet that was included hasn't any notation to which pickup is the neck or the bridge. Was just wondering if there is a difference between the two pickups,or if it makes any difference at all.they both look identical!!!
Any and all feedback is welcome.
Thanks ahead of time,
Chuck

 

[Scott Olson]

Re: HELP!!!! Live Wire Metal 18 volt pickup location question!!!

Do you have a blue and yellow wire at the end of them? I believe blue is bridge and yellow is neck.

 

[Chuckie3666]

Re: HELP!!!! Live Wire Metal 18 volt pickup location question!!!

Do you have a blue and yellow wire at the end of them? I believe blue is bridge and yellow is neck.

Both pups have a red/a white and a bare wire,both look identical. I did notice that one of the pups has a small black band around the insulation the other doesn't have. Looks like a small piece of heat shrink approx. 3/16-1/8". I bought these new a few years ago and decided to go ahead and use them.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: HELP!!!! Live Wire Metal 18 volt pickup location question!!!

Old Duncan active bass guitar pickups came with a little coloured band around the output cable. On a Jazz or PJ set, telling the two positions apart is simple. If you can wait ten hours, I shall be able to confirm which colour code is which pickup position. Alternatively, try to take DC resistance readings. The bridge/Treble pickup should give a higher reading than the neck/Rhythm unit.

 

[Chuckie3666]

Re: HELP!!!! Live Wire Metal 18 volt pickup location question!!!

Old Duncan active bass guitar pickups came with a little coloured band around the output cable. On a Jazz or PJ set, telling the two positions apart is simple. If you can wait ten hours, I shall be able to confirm which colour code is which pickup position. Alternatively, try to take DC resistance readings. The bridge/Treble pickup should give a higher reading than the neck/Rhythm unit.

Thanks I appreciate that!! At this moment there is no power to the pups to take DC readings,not sure which caps to use. LWHM came w/ .1k caps, instructions picture .47k caps. Would you know which ones to use?

 

[Multi Angle Vise]

Re: HELP!!!! Live Wire Metal 18 volt pickup location question!!!

There's a few things confusing me about this:

LW-ML1S is the code for the set that has one humbucker and two single coils, not two humbuckers...

When they're new, they have stickers on the back saying whether they are bridge or neck. I'm wondering what happened to the stickers. I *think* my bridge one had a yellow heatshrink band on the cable, but I'd have to open the guitar to check, I may well be wrong.

The 18V models I'm familiar with had a molded Seymour Duncan logo, not a silver printed logo. These look like the newer 9V pickups to me, but maybe they changed the cosmetics before they changed the internals, someone else may know?

Was this all sealed when you got it?

You won't be able to measure the DC resistance of the coil as there's no connection between the coil and the outside world, you're only seeing the arse end of the preamp.

The HM LW Bridge pickup is an unmistakeable and brutal sound. I think you'll be uncomfortably aware if you've got them swapped.

(Examples of stickers:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/Sprinter92/Rampage/IMG_2584.jpg
http://medias.audiofanzine.com/imag...n-lw-hmet-livewire-metal-humbucker-492983.jpg)

 

[Chuckie3666]

Re: HELP!!!! Live Wire Metal 18 volt pickup location question!!!

There's a few things confusing me about this:

LW-ML1S is the code for the set that has one humbucker and two single coils, not two humbuckers...

When they're new, they have stickers on the back saying whether they are bridge or neck. I'm wondering what happened to the stickers. I *think* my bridge one had a yellow heatshrink band on the cable, but I'd have to open the guitar to check, I may well be wrong.

The 18V models I'm familiar with had a molded Seymour Duncan logo, not a silver printed logo. These look like the newer 9V pickups to me, but maybe they changed the cosmetics before they changed the internals, someone else may know?

Was this all sealed when you got it?

You won't be able to measure the DC resistance of the coil as there's no connection between the coil and the outside world, you're only seeing the arse end of the preamp.

The HM LW Bridge pickup is an unmistakeable and brutal sound. I think you'll be uncomfortably aware if you've got them swapped.

(Examples of stickers:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/Sprinter92/Rampage/IMG_2584.jpg
http://medias.audiofanzine.com/imag...n-lw-hmet-livewire-metal-humbucker-492983.jpg)

I believe I've got it figured out!! I went ahead and took the guitar apart and noticed 1 pup has a blue collar(Neck?) on it's lead wire(which was in the pup cavity!!! ) I've included 2 pics of them out of the body and see that there are differences in the stickers on them. One has a "B",the other has a "N" in the model number. Yes I bought them new and sealed almost 4 years ago from a Guitar Center in Overland Park,Kansas(along w/a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail for another project)
Do I use the included .1k caps or the suggested .47 caps the installation sheet shows?

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: HELP!!!! Live Wire Metal 18 volt pickup location question!!!

You can use either cap, the .1 will remove a little more treble than a .47.
These were from a brief time period (4/17 and 7/16/2007) where they got rid of the raised logo and used the silver pad print like Blackouts. The blue and black bands were supposed to tell the difference but the stickers are your dead giveaway.

 

[Multi Angle Vise]

Re: HELP!!!! Live Wire Metal 18 volt pickup location question!!!

...These were from a brief time period (4/17 and 7/16/2007) where they got rid of the raised logo and used the silver pad print like Blackouts. The blue and black bands were supposed to tell the difference but the stickers are your dead giveaway...

Well there you go, it all makes sense now.


(Also I had a peek inside guitar, my bridge heatshrink band was indeed black not yellow.)