wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

80's_Metal

80's_Metal

Underglazed Hair Metalologist
I've got this old dean pup that only has three wires. Going into neck spot.

Has bare wire i am assuming ground.

Red wire? ?

White wire? ?

Where do i solder those? It's not a 4 wire pup so I'm lost.

Regular 2 buckers with 2 separate volume/tone/3way toggle.
 
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Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

When you say "bare wire" do you mean the shield around the red and white wires, or a separate bare ground wire?

If the bare wire is the shield then you probably have a 2-wire (probably wired in series) humbucker. If that is the case then try Red to the selector switch and White to ground.
 
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Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

Hmm... I pulled the plastic shielding back and i think yes... The bare wire goes around both white and red.

So I'll put red to signal, (separate volume pot) and white and bare to ground?
 
Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

If the pickup is out of phase with the bridge pickup, you can swap the red and white wires. You'll know if it's out of phase if, when using both pickups, there is a sudden volume drop. This assumes that the pickup height is correctly set.
 
Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

I don't know what out of phase means...but it definitely IS.
Super squeaky and weak noise...and huge volume drop.


Ill try swapping them, but i may just put a duncan in the neck. At least i know how to write those lol!
Plus if i ever actually used the neck pup it would sound good too!
 
Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

PunkKitty said:
If the pickup is out of phase with the bridge pickup, you can swap the red and white wires. You'll know if it's out of phase if, when using both pickups, there is a sudden volume drop. This assumes that the pickup height is correctly set.
Click to expand...

well I finally got ten free minutes to re-wire the pup like you said... PERFECT!
I don't really know what out of phase means, but you were correct, and I'm so glad you posted that!
It was out of phase....
Now it sounds great, same volumes front and rear, and a useable sound! (before it was flat, and weak, and had a much lower volume)

Genius of the week award goes to PunkKitty
Thanks bro!
 
Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

I'm glad to hear you got it wired right and you're putting that old Dean pickup to some good use.
 
Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

I know it sounds like you have this sorted out, but I'd offer another thought. My OEM Peavey pickups are like yours: red / white / bare. White and bare are the hot and ground, and red is the tap. So, yours, would of course work with red and white, but you might only be getting half of the pickups potential. If you don't have, or can't borrow, a meter, I'd get one. They can be found as low as $3 - $5 for a cheapy. Measure resistance between bare and red, and then bare and white. If one reading is about half the other, the higher measurement are your true hot and ground wires. Then you have the other wire for "split" mode.

Its worth the trouble to realize the possible full potential of your pup.
 
Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

Artie is correct BUT how many Dean guitar models boast of having a factory coil split option?

Two con + shield can only be;
1) Ground + either end of the two (series-connected) coils
2) Ground, split, hot.
 
Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

Couldn't a 3 conductor humbucker have the two coils grounded to the single ground wire and then two coil hot outs? MY Modern Player Telecaster Plus came with 3 wires and a grounded shield. Green was ground, red was always connected to the 5-way switch, white was isolated or connected to the red at a coil split switch. I assumed when the red and white were both sent to the 5-way switch I was getting parallel output.
 
Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

robrob2 said:
Couldn't a 3 conductor humbucker have the two coils grounded to the single ground wire and then two coil hot outs? MY Modern Player Telecaster Plus came with 3 wires and a grounded shield. Green was ground, red was always connected to the 5-way switch, white was isolated or connected to the red at a coil split switch. I assumed when the red and white were both sent to the 5-way switch I was getting parallel output.
Click to expand...

Theoretically 2 leads + shield could mean ground+beginning on one lead, end of pickup on another and split or tap on the third. That's rare, though.
 
Re: wiring guys need help with 3 wire pup

Here's the original wiring for my 3 conductor + shield Fender Modern Player Tele Plus humbucker. Green and shield grounded at the pot, red and white to coil split switch. The pickup's red wire and the red output to the 5-way switch are both connected to the lower right terminal of the coil split switch. Resistance between red & green and white & green were approximately 7k each. Wouldn't this have to be switch selectable single coil or parallel?

StockHumbuckerWiring.jpg
 
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