Humbucker pickup wrapping wire role (The one that wraps the four wires together)

[giorashc]

Might be a dumb one but I have to ask :

I was wondering if this wrapping can be removed as it is very hard to stack all the wires so that the pickguard will be easily placed inside the guitar (I rather separate each wire). Does it shield noises for the four wires coming from the pickup or is it just for packing nicely these wires ?

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Humbucker pickup wrapping wire role (The one that wraps the four wires together)

The bare wire grounds the metal screening parts of pickup. The shiny, light blue foil is part of the screening. The black plastic insulation layer is partly for neatness but mainly to prevent short circuits.

Cable runs can be kept tidy with masking tape, with heat shrink tubing or, strangely enough, with cable ties.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Humbucker pickup wrapping wire role (The one that wraps the four wires together)

I assume this is for a Strat-alike?

You'll get hum if you remove the shield. You could replace this shield by shielding the cavity it goes through. Or take the noise, it's not that a regular Strat pickup has a shielded wire. However, I would still keep the bare wire (even if you drop the shield) so that the pickup base is grounded.

Obviously the amount of noise depends on whether you at least have a shielded pickguard. The the resell value of the pickup will be NIL.

 

[giorashc]

Re: Humbucker pickup wrapping wire role (The one that wraps the four wires together)

I assume this is for a Strat-alike?

You'll get hum if you remove the shield. You could replace this shield by shielding the cavity it goes through. Or take the noise, it's not that a regular Strat pickup has a shielded wire. However, I would still keep the bare wire (even if you drop the shield) so that the pickup base is grounded.

Obviously the amount of noise depends on whether you at least have a shielded pickguard. The the resell value of the pickup will be NIL.

Hmm, the pickup I am speaking about is a Tom Anderson H3. It does not seem to have the big brassplate some humbuckers have but this is a professional manufacturer so I do not think this is a cheap/purely manufactured pickup (cost me 130$ to be exact and it sounds awesome). It does have a bare wire (connected to the pot ground) so I am guessing the pickup base is shielded as well.

I'll take your advice and keep the wrapping as I do not want to make it even worse .

I'll try rearranging the wires more properly ...

 

[uOpt]

Re: Humbucker pickup wrapping wire role (The one that wraps the four wires together)

Oh so it has a bare wire to the pickup base but the wire is unshielded?

Yeah some manufacturers do that. You can use some aluminium foil wrapped around. If not can try tristing the wires a lot which helps, but nowhere close to a proper shield.

It is essentially to ground the metal pickup base, otherwise it causes more damage than good.