Old Matsumoku MMK 45, Seymour Duncan equivalent?

[Tripi]

Re: Old Matsumoku MMK 45, Seymour Duncan equivalent?

Sorry a little late on the follow up.

I just installed the MMK45 in an alder body DK2 just to try something different than the HB102B, and it had gold poles (to answer Axewall's question a year and a half late). It goes with the gold hardware on my Purple DK2.

The pickup coils measure about 5.78K each. With mine, I have a black and red for one coil, an orange and brown for the other coil, and a ground. I took a guess at the wiring and went red hot, black + orange, then brown to ground.

Wow, talk about bright! Very clear and clean. But no balls at all. It's actually very different from the Screamin Demon in my "similar" alder body Aria Pro II. The SD has growl and balls, the MMK45 sounds like it would be a great clean bright neck pickup, but just not enough meat for the bridge IMO.

All of my talk above about the MMK45 was incorrect. I was actually using an MMK53. This pickup (from my memory before I replaced it with the SD in the Aria) was a great pickup with more balls than the MMK45.

BTW, both of these (45 and 53) are "wide spaced" - not as wide as trem spaced Duncans, but wider than regular spaced Duncans.

edit: Ok, I played it some more for before pulling it. Maybe it does have some balls but damn that high end makes me laugh at anyone who complains the JB is too bright.

The MMK53 I have measures 11K, so maybe a 500 ohms less than the MMK45. I'm pretty sure the 53 has a ceramic magnet.

I've swapped in an Invader but didn't get to string it up yet.

Hi

I'm not sure, but I think your MMK45 wiring is incorrect.

It should be

output- brown
coil tap- orange/red
ground- black
cable shield is connected to the baseplate
That is the way I wire this pickup with 4 conductors.

You can see an explanation at the end of this thread http://www.rivercityamps.com/electraforum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6621
It may be the reason why your mmk45 has no balls.
I hope it helps, sorry for my bad english.