Installing vintage 59's on Schecter C-1 E/a

[mikewilson129]

Hi guys, I'm having a little trouble installing my new vintage 59 pickups on my Schecter c-1 e/a. The schecter comes with what seems to be a 4 wire connection (along with some other stuff for the piezo pickup), where the 59's come with the single wire. Maybe I misunderstood something and they aren't interchangeable, but any advice would be great.

I've opened it up and it seems that with the pots being virtually inaccessible, everything is run through the switch. The pickups go straight to the switch, including what seems to be the ground. All that comes from the pickups are the white & red that are connected to each other and tied off, then a green wire which goes to one side of the switch, and a black that is attached I think to the ground on the other side of the switch. There is no gray or bare colored wire that I've seen on the diagrams. It's the same with both bridge and neck pickups.

Should I just remove the green and black wires, remove the pickups, and then install the new ones with the black inside of the new pup as the green wire of the old and the mesh outer coating of the new, as the black ground of old?

Any help would be great, I can include any pictures you need as reference

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Installing vintage 59's on Schecter C-1 E/a

The red and white wires that are connected and taped off connect the coils of the pup in series. The vintage '59 pup already has that connection inside the pup.

Just connect the black wire from the '59 to the "hot" lug of the switch and the braided outer wire of the '59 to the back of your vol pot. There should also be a wire connecting the back of the vol pot to the ground of the switch, the back of the tone pot, the bridge, and the ground (sleeve) of the output jack.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2H_3G_1V_1T.jpg

Ignore the red and white wires in the diagram. As I said, that connection is already made inside the pup. The green wire in the diagram represents the braided outer wire of the '59.

 

[mikewilson129]

Re: Installing vintage 59's on Schecter C-1 E/a

Thanks for the info GuitarDoc.

So it turns out after looking at your diagram and the diagram for the schecter wiring of this guitar (also after testing the ground with an electrical test meter), the green here for whatever reason is the hot and the black is the ground (for the original that is). So I connected my wires accordingly, with the black core going to the hot lug of the switch. However, the volume pots are essentially inaccessible, so the way it was hooked up before, is that the pickups were grounded using the same spot on the switch. I've done this again with the 59's where the braided outer wire is connected to the switch's ground.

However, I'm getting the great sound out it as I'd hoped, but I'm also getting buzz that goes away when I touch any metal on the guitar, which usually means it's not grounded correctly. I don't think I'll be able to maneuver making a connection to the back of the pots, is there anything else that I can do to help ground this better?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Installing vintage 59's on Schecter C-1 E/a

Sounds like your bridge is not grounded.