Need help wiring the Gibson Tony Iommi pickup!

[Sludgenutz]

Thanks in advance, Seymour's Army! This pickup came packed in a sealed acrylic box with no instructions whatsoever. I am an electronic tech by trade, so I do know my way around a soldering iron.

Anyhow, the pickup has a "face-less", no-pole-pieces-showing chrome cover, and four conductors w/ground wire coming out of it. The underside is completely filled with black epoxy! The conductors are red, and black...and the white and green are conductors are already soldered together at the end of the foot long shielded cable. A ground is included, of course. I can tell which color of wire pairs show continuity with a multimeter. No big deal.

I know how to wire this pickup in its present form. My question deals with mounting the pickup so I can "undo" the soldered white and green conductors, and install a coil-splitter arrangement in the near future.

My question is: Is there an easy way to tell which coil of the two is going to be split before I mount it? In other words, I would like to know whether I am going to be splitting the front (neck side) coil of the rear pickup...or the rear (bridge-side) coil of the rear pickup.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Need help wiring the Gibson Tony Iommi pickup!

The red is hot and the black is ground. If you short the green/white wires to ground to split the HB, the north bobbin (closest to neck) should be left on. Shorting the green/white to the pickups red lead will leave the bobbin closest to the neck on.

 

[SoCalSteve]

Re: Need help wiring the Gibson Tony Iommi pickup!

You're gonna love that p/up.

 

[Sludgenutz]

Re: Need help wiring the Gibson Tony Iommi pickup!

Thanks Robert, I understant that part.

Now part two: Is the RED coil always the North/neck end bobbin on Gibson Pickup?

I still can't tell which end of this faceless/formless is North. Maybe I just need to install it, and see if it is in-phase with the neck pickup? :scratchc

The only other pickup clue is the wiring harness that comes out ot the epoxy. Turned over (cover side down) the harness exits the epoxy horizontally along one of the long sides of the pickup at around 10'oclock.

 

[Sludgenutz]

Re: Need help wiring the Gibson Tony Iommi pickup!

Yup, SoCalSteve, the initial sound is AWESOME! My flat-sounding Epi LP is now a supercharged beast in the bridge position. The tone in the mirange is tight and very broad, and does not favor any particular frequency. It is not ice-picky at all, the highs are all there, but stops before being obnoxios! The bass tone is tight, and has better clarity and volume!

This pickup NAILS Tony Iommi's "Heaven and Hell" tone with a stud-gun. Is this your experience?

The tone when combined with the stock Epi alnico neck pickup mixes nicely. It sounds like a tone thickener, and is not overpowering because the Iommi pickup is so much louder. I plan on getting a "rounder" louder neck pickup when finances permit.

This Iommi pickup has transformed this Epi LP sound so much, you can hear the maple cap...instead of the lazy, shrunken, forgettable tone of the stock Epi bridge pickup.