Hey folks
I posted the below on the TDPRI (Tele) forum, hoping someone would have some experience with Duncan pickups, but haven't had much luck.
Perhaps someone here could help, since you're more familiar with SD. I've gotten the pickup to play, but now have this horrible grounding thing going on, no matter which pickup is currently selected. Find below my feeble attempt at trying to wire the sucker in. I couldn't find a single wiring diagram for my guitar anywhere on the net, and I have zero electronics experience. Trial and error was order of the day.... Can someone tell me if i wired it all wrong?
My first ever attempt at installing a pickup, but I'm hoping to learn fast....
The reversed control plate of the Blacktop tele just makes life difficult - else I guess would've been able to follow the 'Tele 2 Humbucker' Wiring Diagram from the SD site. In the case of my blacktop the original pickup was soldered to the underside of the tone pot, and had a small white wire (see pic attached) leading from the same joint to the switch.
I removed the insulation of the SD pickup about two inches from the end to find another insulation layer (blueish foil type?) which I further removed to expose 5 small wires. (Red, White, Black, Green and a plain one with no plastic at all.) The instructions that came with the pickup are pretty useless - only providing a diagram for LP type setups (ie. 2 volume, 2 tone pots).
I tried to desolder the original pickups connection from the bottom of the tone pot but to no avail. I held the iron to the joint for ages with not much happening so decided to use my wire-cutters to try and clip the wires as close to the joint as possible. Not ideal but I think the soldering iron I bought is of an inferior quality (even though it's 60w). More like my skills are inferior
I then proceeded to twist the red and white wires together and soldered them (or tried to anyway). I twisted the green and bare wires together and soldered them to the joint that I cut the original wiring away from (bottom of tone pot). The reason for twisting is again the lack of faith I have in my own soldering. And I figured If they get soldered together they're part of the same connection right? So why not twist them for good measure n00b logic perhaps. I'm not sure.
The black wire I connected to the switch. With another slight catch Instead of trying to desolder the original white wire from the switch (the one that ran from the joint) I cut it about an inch from the switch and connected the black wire to the end. Should be the same thing right?
I did all of the above based mainly on the aforementioned diagram of a 2 humbucker tele setup from the SD site.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...atic=tele_2hum
This is honestly the closest diagram to my guitar that I could find. And still it's completely different. In the picture the green and bare wires of the bridge pickup get soldered to the bottom of the volume pot. So it was a complete guess on my part to just solder them to the bottom of the tone pot instead (based on the fact that the original pup was wire there.) The diagram shows the black wire leading to the switch, so that's why I hooked it up to what was left of the small white wire which once led from the tone pot joint to the switch.
As I say, the guitar plays (a miracle in itself) but makes a horrible hum when gain is added (via my BOSS ME-70, even when the gain is mild). It does this in both the bridge and neck positions - which is strange because I didn't do anything to the neck pup
The interesting thing is that when I touch the top of the control plate (And various other places) the hum diminishes substantially but is still pretty noticeable. Is my dodgy soldering to blame? or ALL of the above lol.
Could the cap (or lack thereof) be causing the problem? The diagram shows a .047 cap running across the tone pot. But the original setup on my guitar only had a cap running between the two pots (see pic again). It's still there obviously. Does this mean i have to install another cap on the tone pot?
I did all of the above on gut feel, but that can only take one so far. But 10 points for bravery, right?
I would've taken the guitar to a guitar tech by now, but those are hard to come by on the southern tip of Africa The only one I found wanted R450!!! (+- $65) That's half of what I paid for the pup dammit! I wasn't keen.
Any and all advice will be very very very very much appreciated.
Has no one swapped out the pup of their Blacktop yet?
Just to let you know what's happening with the pic I attached... (stock/before I did anything)
From left to right we have - Volume Pot... Tone Pot... Switch. And lots of confusing wires
Black circle = Solder on tone pot where I removed the old pup and put the Green and Bare wires of the new pup.
Yellow arrow = Small white wire that ran from the black circle to the point on the switch (yellow circle) but now joins the black wire of the new pup to the switch.
Cheers guys - you rule!
I posted the below on the TDPRI (Tele) forum, hoping someone would have some experience with Duncan pickups, but haven't had much luck.
Perhaps someone here could help, since you're more familiar with SD. I've gotten the pickup to play, but now have this horrible grounding thing going on, no matter which pickup is currently selected. Find below my feeble attempt at trying to wire the sucker in. I couldn't find a single wiring diagram for my guitar anywhere on the net, and I have zero electronics experience. Trial and error was order of the day.... Can someone tell me if i wired it all wrong?
My first ever attempt at installing a pickup, but I'm hoping to learn fast....
The reversed control plate of the Blacktop tele just makes life difficult - else I guess would've been able to follow the 'Tele 2 Humbucker' Wiring Diagram from the SD site. In the case of my blacktop the original pickup was soldered to the underside of the tone pot, and had a small white wire (see pic attached) leading from the same joint to the switch.
I removed the insulation of the SD pickup about two inches from the end to find another insulation layer (blueish foil type?) which I further removed to expose 5 small wires. (Red, White, Black, Green and a plain one with no plastic at all.) The instructions that came with the pickup are pretty useless - only providing a diagram for LP type setups (ie. 2 volume, 2 tone pots).
I tried to desolder the original pickups connection from the bottom of the tone pot but to no avail. I held the iron to the joint for ages with not much happening so decided to use my wire-cutters to try and clip the wires as close to the joint as possible. Not ideal but I think the soldering iron I bought is of an inferior quality (even though it's 60w). More like my skills are inferior
I then proceeded to twist the red and white wires together and soldered them (or tried to anyway). I twisted the green and bare wires together and soldered them to the joint that I cut the original wiring away from (bottom of tone pot). The reason for twisting is again the lack of faith I have in my own soldering. And I figured If they get soldered together they're part of the same connection right? So why not twist them for good measure
n00b logic perhaps. I'm not sure. The black wire I connected to the switch. With another slight catch Instead of trying to desolder the original white wire from the switch (the one that ran from the joint) I cut it about an inch from the switch and connected the black wire to the end. Should be the same thing right?
I did all of the above based mainly on the aforementioned diagram of a 2 humbucker tele setup from the SD site.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...atic=tele_2hum
This is honestly the closest diagram to my guitar that I could find. And still it's completely different. In the picture the green and bare wires of the bridge pickup get soldered to the bottom of the volume pot. So it was a complete guess on my part to just solder them to the bottom of the tone pot instead (based on the fact that the original pup was wire there.) The diagram shows the black wire leading to the switch, so that's why I hooked it up to what was left of the small white wire which once led from the tone pot joint to the switch.
As I say, the guitar plays (a miracle in itself) but makes a horrible hum when gain is added (via my BOSS ME-70, even when the gain is mild). It does this in both the bridge and neck positions - which is strange because I didn't do anything to the neck pup
The interesting thing is that when I touch the top of the control plate (And various other places) the hum diminishes substantially but is still pretty noticeable. Is my dodgy soldering to blame? or ALL of the above lol.
Could the cap (or lack thereof) be causing the problem? The diagram shows a .047 cap running across the tone pot. But the original setup on my guitar only had a cap running between the two pots (see pic again). It's still there obviously. Does this mean i have to install another cap on the tone pot?
I did all of the above on gut feel, but that can only take one so far. But 10 points for bravery, right?
I would've taken the guitar to a guitar tech by now, but those are hard to come by on the southern tip of Africa
The only one I found wanted R450!!! (+- $65) That's half of what I paid for the pup dammit! I wasn't keen.Any and all advice will be very very very very much appreciated.
Has no one swapped out the pup of their Blacktop yet?
Just to let you know what's happening with the pic I attached... (stock/before I did anything)
From left to right we have - Volume Pot... Tone Pot... Switch. And lots of confusing wires
Black circle = Solder on tone pot where I removed the old pup and put the Green and Bare wires of the new pup.
Yellow arrow = Small white wire that ran from the black circle to the point on the switch (yellow circle) but now joins the black wire of the new pup to the switch.
Cheers guys - you rule!
