JB and Jazz set to upgrade Cort G290 FAT - issues?

[GibStrat_UK]

I've bought a JB and Jazz set to upgrade the pickups in my Cort G290 FAT, which is a great all round guitar but I found the stock pickups a bit dull. My question is, can the SD set be wired ok to emulate the wiring in the Cort which has five positions, 1, 3 and 5 being what you'd expect but 2 being inside coils only and four outside coils only. I've given the job to my usual guitar tech but he's struggling. Thanks!

The Cort schematic PDF link can be seen on this page:
Cort G290 FAT | G Series Electric Guitar (cortguitars.com)

 

[JamesPaul]

They can if they are 4-conductor lead wire.

The Hot Rodded Humbucker Set should be 4-conductor by default.

 

[GibStrat_UK]

Excellent, thanks!

 

[JamesPaul]

This should also help your tech with the SD wire colors.

Bare = Shield/Ground
Black = Stud/North coil start
White = Stud/North coil finish
Red = Screw/South coil finish
Green = Screw/South coil start

I also refer to this advice given by one of our wiring gurus, ArtieToo.

It's better if you don't think in terms of "inside/outside", but stud and screw. Because you can rotate a pup 180 deg's and it won't affect the wiring. So, for instance, on a Duncan pup, red/white shorted to ground will always give you the stud coil, while R/W shorted to hot, or black, will always give you the screw coil.

 

[Spaghetti Bolo]

You can use a trim pot to balance out the middle position as described in this link. Worked great for me at least.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/forum/the-pickup-lounge/323658-new-sound-jb-jazz-middle-position

 

[Artie]

Note also that inside and outside won't be hum-cancelling unless you flip the mag on one pickup, and reverse its' wiring. If you, or your tech, want to mess with that, I can show you the modified wiring diagram.

 

[Mincer]

Yes, this is the 'Do It All' wiring, which I use on several guitars. Artie helped me out with it. As he said, you must flip one of the magnets if hum-cancellation in all positions is important to you (it was for me).

 

[Artie]

I was just looking over that wiring diagram again, and noticed something. If you just wire up the Duncan's just like the original diagram, you'll have the same functionality with just a slight difference. Instead of inside/outside coils, you'd have neck-side / bridge-side coils, with the advantage that all positions would be humbucking. I would, however, recommend one little mod. Add the two additional jumpers that I show in the blue circles. This will prevent hanging a coil out on the "hot" side of the circuit when split.

I'm working on the other variations, but slowly. (Dealing with more old-guy problems.)

 

[GibStrat_UK]

I left it all to my guitar tech in the end, as I don't really understand what goes on 'under the bonnet'. I've got the guitar back now and it sounds much better with the SD pickups, compared to the Cort ones. And they're shiny too, unlike the Cort dull finish ones! The five sounds seem right, but I wouldn't know for sure. I'll be using 1, 3 and 5 positions almost all the time anyway.

I asked SD Support about the wiring, and they were prompt in responding. But I confess I don't understand the technicalities of the response:
"The JB/Jazz set would be compatible with your guitar. The colour coding of the stock pickups is slightly different, you'll want to swap the placement of the Green and Black leads with the SD pickups to keep the switching." Black is now the hot to the selector switch and Green goes to ground with the bare. The White/Red pair would connect to the same positions on the switch."

I assume that's what my tech did.

Thanks for all the help, much appreciated!

 

[Mincer]

You can 'test' what coils are actually on in positions 2 & 4 by lightly tapping on the top of the pickup covers (tap on the screws, but also then tap where the other coil would be).
Also, you might want to check out the Pickup Installation Course to better understand how guitars are wired for future reference.

 

[Artie]

And that is correct. Just as an FYI, it doesn't matter if you use black or green for hot, as long as you do the same for both. Duncan typically selects black for hot. And again, if it was done like that, you'll get neck-side and bridge-side coils rather than inside and outside. It will just be the opposite of what my diagram shows for #2 and #4.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Myself, I'd choose to flip a magnet and stay with the outside-coils & inside-coils pairings.
Inside-coils-parallel is Stratlike castle magic.

 

[WDeeGee]

Hello OP?

How does the hot rodded set sound in the guitar?

I have one too, I like the pups but they're very mid-range, and the guitar itself sounds rather bright acoustically, so the electric sound is a bit on the thin side.
Lacks a bit of beef. I bet the stock pups sound good in a darker sounding guitar.
I was wondering which SD's to take.
So, happy with your choice?

 

[Artie]

Myself, I'd choose to flip a magnet and stay with the outside-coils & inside-coils pairings.

I agree with this. Hopefully, your tech should be able to do a mag flip. If he does, let us know. It will slightly change how one pickup is wired.

 

[Mincer]

I also like the sound of outside/inside rather than neck/neck and bridge/bridge coils. It sounds more Stratty to me, I think.

 

[Artie]

BTW . . . that's a nice Cort. I'm a Cort fan. I've had two, and still have one with Jazz's.