please help me with my new 4conductor Seymour Duncan SH-1n '59 pup

[walkindaddy]

I just rcvd my new 4conductor Seymour Duncan SH-1n '59 pup which I intend to coil split into the neck only, on my Les Paul...

the bridge pup is the stock 2 conductor HB. i do not plan to change that pup at all.


before I install the new SD (with cts push pull pot) into the neck, I tested the pup directly from "the pup to the 1/4 cable on the amp" with alligator clips.

black wire as hot resulted = very very weak sounding
red/white together

alternatively by using the red wire as hot = very strong sounding pup
black/white together

green always= ground


i expected to have a strong black lead wire sound, not feeble sounding. where have I errored??

Please help me, I appreciate you all.

ps. I have a matching two conductor 59/JB pups in my other guitar for years now. It sounds Fabulous... It is my #1 go to...

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Green either goes to the ground side of your switch or to the back of a pot, according to your wiring diagram.

Back is the "hot".

Red and white get joined together.

For a not coil split just heat shrink or tape them off.

For a yes coils plot, solder both the red and white to the same central lug of three on one side of the push pull. Ground one other of the three to the back of a pot.

Which one you ground determines whether push = coil split or pull does. What you're basically doing is using the push pull to ground both ends of the south coil and one end of the north.

If, however, your wiring diagram needs the ground to go to the switch, run a wire to the corresponding lug on the switch instead. In co I l split this provides the north coil ground. In not coil split the red and white dead end at the push pull and the green is the ground for both coils. You may end up with two wires to the same lug on the switch.

The bare wire gets grounded to the back of a pot. Always.

 

[walkindaddy]

thank you three chord for your valued response...

what i experienced was green grounded, red/white soldered together, and black(+) as hot resulting in very thin weak sound.

when i "swapped" the black and red (+). I rcvd a strong signal.

why would the black hot be weak?

Why would the red wire resolve the weak sound?

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

WalkinDaddy,

I recently posted here about a used SH-1n humbucker that turned out to be Reverse Polarity pickup (magnet flip only, not also reverse wound). But even in that unusual circumstance, black & white wires would not produce any sound if joined together like you describe for your pickup. Therefore I suspect that the pickup you bought may be a counterfit pickup.

Please reply with specifics about who the seller was and pictures of the pickup, particularly the underside that shows the wires and the manufacturer's sticker.

 

[Artie]

It sounds like you may have a faulty pickup. It has been known to happen. You really need a meter at this point to measure the ohms of black-to-white, and then red-to-green.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Yep, possibly a defective pickup - you'll probably need to exchange it for another.
It happens only rarely, but they do sometimes have the leads wired wrong.

Still, try it again, just to make sure you had everything connected right when you tried it out.