Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

[Hank-]

Any ideas besides shielding the pickup cavity?

Would wrapping aluminium foil tape around the pickup leads & then connecting it to ground make up for the lack of bare wire connection? I dont have any copper tape with me.

The area 67 that i have tends to buzz(pickup noise) unless i'm touching the strings. It's not the wiring or the the soldering, the pickup doesn't come with a bare wire. Apparently it isn't needed according to instructions, however looks like i need it to have it

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

The official DiMarzio schematic diagrams for Area Series Stratocaster replacement pickup sets all make reference to a bare ground wire.

The exceptions referred to in the generic DiMarzio instruction sheets enclosed with the majority of their guitar pickups are specifically for Area T Telecaster replacement pickups. (Vintage Telecaster bridges are grounded by an unconventional and minimalist route.)

Your pickup should have a bare ground wire BUT there are several possible explanations for why it may not be immediately visible at the controls area end.

Is your pickup one from a set of three? Also, is it meant to go in the middle position?

A photograph of your pickup(s) would help enormously.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

You can just solder a ground wire to the blades to ground them because there should be a solder seam between the blades. If its a rail pickup.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

I want to see pics of the pickups because it will help to see how their output conductors have been dressed.

The "missing" bare ground wire could be spliced to the ground conductor and insulated close to the pickup. (The three stacked-coil DiMarzio pickups in the Ibanez Fireman are wired this way.) If the offending Area 67 pickup is meant to be the middle pickup, it may be set up as RPRW. Hence, the bare ground could be joined to the red conductor wire rather than the green.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

I want to see pics of the pickups because it will help to see how their output conductors have been dressed.

The "missing" bare ground wire could be spliced to the ground conductor and insulated close to the pickup. (The three stacked-coil DiMarzio pickups in the Ibanez Fireman are wired this way.) If the offending Area 67 pickup is meant to be the middle pickup, it may be set up as RPRW. Hence, the bare ground could be joined to the red conductor wire rather than the green.

Here are two pics of the base of the pickup:



There was no plastic insulation that holds all the wires together, like you find on a superD or even a duncan sh14. I got it from zzsounds some years back, it was a single pickup purchase, no sets involved, no special options to choose from either, so basically bone stock. I was going through the wiring diagrams on dimarzio's website & through their faq as well. Most of the strat diagrams that involve 3 singles Area pickups, link to the old virtual vintage series diagrams. But I did find one which seems to be new & involves a bridge humbucker, here's a link to it: http://www.dimarzio.com/sites/default/files/diagrams/1h2area_nbtone_trimcapres.pdf

In this diagram they specifically mention the red&bare for the bridge humbucker but the Area neck&middle are only grounded by the green wire. The instal instructions for the area series are also vague & not very model specific, mostly dealing with AreaT. Their FAQ page recommends shielding the cavities, this I don't want to do, because the other pickups (cruiser & superD) aren't giving me any issues.

Any ideas on how to proceed with this? I'm guessing they expect most strat users to have shielded their guitars or they want to sell the copper tape they make.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

Take it out, pull the cover off and you should be able to see where the ground wire has broken.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

They look something like this i believe.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

Take it out, pull the cover off and you should be able to see where the ground wire has broken.

Did that, there is no broken bare wire connection point visible. From the pics above, that rail pickup is how the cruiser pickup looks like with everything enclosed in a insulated sheath that contains the bare wire surrounding the other wires, like a shield in a instrument cable. If they have indeed spliced the bare with green(ground) wire then its a dumb decision since its gonna affect the phase wiring for the pickup. Looks like to me the purpose of the bare wire is to act as a shield to reject interference, right?

The buzz is location specific, but annoying since the other two pickups arent buzzing in same location/direction. Ah, it took a while to notice this problem, now i'm hyper tuned to its presence lol

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

I'd have to look but I don't think my Area '67s had a ground.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

With no metal screening components, there would be no point.

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

Areas do not have a "bare" wire, nor do they need one. Most guitars will buzz if you don't touch the strings, that's perfectly normal. Address the grounding in your control cavity, make sure all ground solder connections are solid. Star ground your pots/switch/jack.

Areas are the most noiseless, buzz-free pickup out there, if you have noise issues with them, it's your grounding or soldering.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

Areas do not have a "bare" wire, nor do they need one. Most guitars will buzz if you don't touch the strings, that's perfectly normal. Address the grounding in your control cavity, make sure all ground solder connections are solid. Star ground your pots/switch/jack.

Areas are the most noiseless, buzz-free pickup out there, if you have noise issues with them, it's your grounding or soldering.

Thanks.

I have star grounded this particular HSS guitar. I was getting some static electricity issues with the control cavity cover & for some reason that problem went away after star grounding scheme. Though its not the grounding thats giving me issues or the soldering since i've redone the soldering atleast five times trying to cure the problem with the A67. I think its just the environment thats giving rise to the buzz. Its not a very loud buzz either but its there when i don't touch the strings, which while being normal gives the feeling of being abnormal since thje other two arent doing it to such an extent since the a67 is way on the bright side of tone as well so i guess it picks away stray noise more easily.

Anyways, i'm wanting to move away from the single coil sound altogether lately, so i've considered getting something else and selling a67. I can get a fast track 1 and move the cruiser(bridge model) from the neck slot to the middle. Any idea if the FS1 are muddier than the cruisers?

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

If this helps settle the issue, here's a pre-wired guard with Area series pickups.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

Now, that is an exemplary Stratocaster wiring assembly.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

If this helps settle the issue, here's a pre-wired guard with Area series pickups.

That twisted pair pattern layout for the red & green wires did the trick!

I hadnt done that before but it definitely lowers the interference for being picked up a lot.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Missing BARE wire on dimarzio Area pickups, solution?

Wrap kitchen aluminium foil around the wire and ground it. Lots of DiMarzios rely on "twisted pair" for noise control, LOL. Yes it gets a bit better if you twist all those unshielded wires, but...

I do not recommend shielding pickup cavities for Fender style single coils. You should ground any metal baseplates in the pickups, and sometimes it gets you an advantage to ground the magnets if you can do so without introducing a baseplate.