What is going on with these pickups?

[rmackowsky]

Wilkinson Low Gauss Hotrail pickups. Wire colors are as follows:

North Pole: Black +, White -
South Pole: Red +, Yellow -

There is no bare wire, and I was wondering why? Took these pics and noticed that on the bottom there is a silver stranded wire soldered to the copper strip. On two of the pickups it appears to be cut, with frayed strands of the same color wire showing on the edge of the grey shielding containing the four pickup wire. On one of the pickups, that silver wire is NOT cut and seems to enter the grey shielding along with the four pickup wires. Again, there is NO silver wire that exits the other end of the grey shielding - only the four colored wires.

Here is a link to the pickups on Amazon. If you look at the pictures, is shows two of the pickups with the silver wire uncut and entering the tube, but the third one appears cut.

So:

- What the heck is the silver wire, and why is it cut on two of my three pickups?
- On the one that isn't cut, since it doesn't exit at the end, where does it go?
- Why is there no bare wire exiting along with the 4 colored wires?

 

[beaubrummels]

Looks to be copper base plate shield like Tele pickups have. Don't know why someone would cut it, unless they needed to wire out of phase and it was increasing the noise unless cut (e.g. like when mixing Duncans and Fenders, or other manufacturers that are out of phase to each other). I would assume either that stranded wire connects directly to the ground wire of the pickup conductor (if it doesn't exit the other end of the pickup conductor) or you might have to just strip back the conductor insulation a bit to find the bare strands at the other end, if it actually runs the length of the pickup conductor wire.

 

[rmackowsky]

So I pulled back the casing at the other end, and it’s obvious that the bare wire is coupled with the black wire. So clearly that is the ground wire. So why would it be cut at the top? Should I resolder it?

 

[beaubrummels]

So I pulled back the casing at the other end, and it’s obvious that the bare wire is coupled with the black wire. So clearly that is the ground wire. So why would it be cut at the top? Should I resolder it?

I already answered this question. If someone needed to wire the pickups in reverse phase, it would increase the noise, so they would cut that wire.

 

[rmackowsky]

I already answered this question. If someone needed to wire the pickups in reverse phase, it would increase the noise, so they would cut that wire.

So will it work as is when wiring for series/parallel in a push/pull pot?

 

[beaubrummels]

Yes. Whether the shield is connected or not does not affect the audio signal operation of a pickup;.

 

[rmackowsky]

So I wired it to the push/pull like this for series/parallel. I then connected yellow to ground and black to the blade switch thinking yellow was ground. Do I need to change it so black is connected to ground and yellow to the blade? If so, do I also need to reverse the yellow and black wires on the push/pull switch?

 

[beaubrummels]

On Wilkinson Low Gauss Hotrail pickups, I'm reading that black is ground, yellow is hot, and white/red are the series link. What I don't know is which of the red/white go with which coil.

Right now, the way you have the switch wired, if the switch is down, the pickup would work normally, provided you also connect the black lug to ground and the yellow lug to hot before trying it. But when you pull up, I don't know what it's going to do. You may have to switch the white and red if pulling up doesn't put it in parallel coils.

 

[rmackowsky]

North Pole: Black +, White -
South Pole: Red +, Yellow -

Confirmed this with MM. With that info, will my wiring work? Appreciate your help.

 

[beaubrummels]

I don't know who MM is, but all the references from sellers of these pickups show black as ground and yellow as hot. You seem to have that reversed, though the pickup will work, just reverse phase. You would need to switch the white and red wires, however, to get parallel when the switch is up. And none of it's going to work until you connect yellow to hot and black to ground.

 

[rmackowsky]

I don't know who MM is, but all the references from sellers of these pickups show black as ground and yellow as hot. You seem to have that reversed, though the pickup will work, just reverse phase. You would need to switch the white and red wires, however, to get parallel when the switch is up. And none of it's going to work until you connect yellow to hot and black to ground.

MM = multimeter

Yes, yellow is hot, black is ground, so I will fix that. So, assuming the following is correct:

North Pole: Black +, White -
South Pole: Red +, Yellow -

... you are saying that I need to switch the red and white wires, correct? If so, would the white wire now be the one that is jumpered to the opposite lower lug, or still red?

 

[rmackowsky]

Now that I think about it, I could leave red and white alone and just switch yellow and red, correct? So when pulled, black would pair with white, and yellow with red. Is that accurate?

 

[beaubrummels]

Yes, yellow is hot, black is ground, so I will fix that. So, assuming the following is correct:

North Pole: Black +, White -
South Pole: Red +, Yellow -

You contradicted yourself in two sentences. You acknowledged yellow is hot, but then wrote "Yellow -"

... you are saying that I need to switch the red and white wires, correct? If so, would the white wire now be the one that is jumpered to the opposite lower lug, or still red?

Technically, yeah, it's the same amount of work - you need to swap two of the wires; either the black/yellow, or the red/white.

 

[rmackowsky]

You contradicted yourself in two sentences. You acknowledged yellow is hot, but then wrote "Yellow -"

.

Ok now I'm confused. You are right of course. But that is what I determined with the MM. I used this video as a guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UfxQBhqen8

Here is exactly what I did:

(pickups came with red and white wire combined, which I separated before testing)

- Testing for continuity: black and white wires combined showed continuity, as did red and yellow.
- Touching screwdriver to coils (around 6:40 in the video) showed the results I posted earlier:

North Pole: Black +, White -
South Pole: Red +, Yellow -

I triple checked myself. So if this is correct, is that possible given that black is clearly combined with the bare wire AND red and white are combined when in series? I mean, yellow HAS to be hot - how can it also be negative? Is polarity different when disconnecting the red and white wires?

I really appreciate your help. This is driving me nuts. This all started because the wire color diagram that came with the pickups(below) is apparently wrong - it says:

North: Black +, Red -
South: Yellow +, White -



It also states that black is ground and yellow is hot, and that red and white are combined for series wiring. I had read from someone else that this was wrong and they found exactly what I did with the MM.

At this point, I am at a loss. I don't know enough about this to be certain how to wire these pickups for series/parallel split. Any help is much appreciated. I can't find any wire color codes online for these pickups.

 

[Artie]

I'm looking at this and the other diagram I made now. Just having some morning coffee first.

 

[rmackowsky]

I desoldered the bridge pickup. Re-tested with MM: black/white are one coil, yellow and red the other. Ground wire is coupled with black. 100 % certain. No time right now to retest polarity - will do later. I also soldered that cut bare wire back together.

 

[beaubrummels]

Ok now I'm confused. You are right of course. But that is what I determined with the MM. I used this video as a guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UfxQBhqen8

Here is exactly what I did:

(pickups came with red and white wire combined, which I separated before testing)

- Testing for continuity: black and white wires combined showed continuity, as did red and yellow.
- Touching screwdriver to coils (around 6:40 in the video) showed the results I posted earlier:

North Pole: Black +, White -
South Pole: Red +, Yellow -

I triple checked myself. So if this is correct, is that possible given that black is clearly combined with the bare wire AND red and white are combined when in series? I mean, yellow HAS to be hot - how can it also be negative? Is polarity different when disconnecting the red and white wires?

I really appreciate your help. This is driving me nuts. This all started because the wire color diagram that came with the pickups(below) is apparently wrong - it says:

North: Black +, Red -
South: Yellow +, White -



It also states that black is ground and yellow is hot, and that red and white are combined for series wiring. I had read from someone else that this was wrong and they found exactly what I did with the MM.

At this point, I am at a loss. I don't know enough about this to be certain how to wire these pickups for series/parallel split. Any help is much appreciated. I can't find any wire color codes online for these pickups.

I think what is confusing is their diagram is using +/- on the individual coils, but I think that is really indicating the wind direction; or just a plain mistake on their part. The fact that the shield is joined to the black says black has to go to ground or the shield won't work.

 

[rmackowsky]

So assuming my polarity findings are correct, how the heck do I wire this thing for series/parallel? I’m just about ready to give up and spring for some Seymour Duncans.

 

[beaubrummels]

We've covered what you need to do already. Yellow to hot. Black to ground. White needs to be on the same side of the switch as the black. Red needs to be on the same side of the switch as the Yellow.

 

[rmackowsky]

We've covered what you need to do already. Yellow to hot. Black to ground. White needs to be on the same side of the switch as the black. Red needs to be on the same side of the switch as the Yellow.

Ok, thanks. Just wasn’t sure if my polarity findings mattered. Apparently not.