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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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514291 No.514291 [Reply] [Original]

picked up an old guitar and trying to make sense of the wiring and the pickups - basic guitar nub here.

What kind of pickup is on the top here? None of the pickups have any kind of branding on them that I can see.

Is it a type of humbucker?

>> No.514293
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514293

the pickups are wrapped - I assume this is aluminum?

>> No.514303

>>514291
that's a "rail". the poles are integrated into one bar. Diamond Darrel (fuck using Dimebag, I like Diamond) had a rail humbucker.

The pickups have that tin on them for shielding. single coil (one bar) pickups make a lot of magnetic noise, and specifically a hum based on the hz cycle of your wall power. The 60cycle hum in America.
humbuckers were designed to get rid of that noise by cancelling the magnetic noises of the magnets out by putting two together, poles going in different directions.

You're going to want to put that tin back on there. Or get more. Rail pickups are used primarily in rock/metal situations, so I imagine the guitar was a rocker. Hi gain amps with lots of distortion get horrifyingly loud with single coils.

>> No.514305
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514305

>>514303
thanks. I thought it was a rail - but all the ones I see online have 2 rails..

is it "single coil"?

This guitar has an added 4 position selector instead of tone, and it hurts my head trying to figure out what does what.

>> No.514307

>>514305
You might have a Seymour Duncan "Hot Stack". It's a humbucker in a single-coil size, and it's a pretty kickass pickup. Normally they do have 2 rails, yes, and they're usually humbuckers in the small sized pickup size.

The selector is either a varitone (unlikely) or the old owner never messed with the tone anyway and so it's a setup to allow to play with multiple pickups active at the same time. Like instead of the blade switch you'd normally find that allows for bridge, middle, and neck pickup, or b/m and m/n, this may also allow for BMN and BN. Also may allow them to run in parallel, which will add all of the power output instead of averaging them.

>> No.514309

>>514307
thanks - i didnt see any branding, so didnt think it was a duncan.

thanks for the insight on b/m/n - I'll have to look up more about running them series/parallel.

I see that they were grounding the pups to the tin in the cavity - so is that actual tin in there? I cant find any info about "tin" without some dude talking about using aluminum foil...

>> No.514310
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514310

>>514309
is this gold foil around the pups?

>> No.514318

>>514310
probably not. I haven't overhauled my guitar yet, so I haven't acquainted myself with the actual stuff used because I haven't had to buy it.

That selector may have different uses. May shut one side of the humbucker off as well. It's hard telling.

was there a battery clip, hole, etc in there?

>> No.514321

>>514318
no, nothing that looks like a battery or any drilling - just the swap of the tone for a 4 position selector.

>> No.514323

>>514321
the wiring is coming apart - which is the only reason I'm spending this much attention on it - I have to resolder some stuff to get it working again.

>> No.514327

>>514321
well, I'd suggest looking up some wiring diagrams on seymour duncan's site. The 4 position jobby is sort of odd to me, but I never found the 2nd tone knob on a strat to be very useful.
Make sure you recover that shielding material, and make short wire runs. Don't forget the capacitors for tone and when they say to solder ground to the back of the potentiometer, literally put a blob on the back of it.

>> No.514356

Duncans and Dimarzios do not always have brandings on them.
You can get away with leaving the Foil off the Pickups but make sure to have the cavity and the back of the pickguard shielded.
Make sure to re connect the Ground from the Trem/bridge to the ground plane and the foil in the cavity as well.
There is a million ways of wiring this type setup.
Stewart Mcdonalds has loads of info and parts for you to rebuild with.
Google images is your friend as well.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Strat+Wiring&client=firefox-a&hs=PD8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Nn8ZUsLZOuX4yQGzooG4AQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1680&bih=811

>> No.514360

Some links

http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/stratocaster-discussion-forum/36430-80-strat-wiring-digram.html

Also everything you will ever need to rebuild any Guitar.

http://www.stewmac.com/

>> No.514369

>>514291
Looks like a Bill Lawrence single coil to me, but lots of companies make blade pickups.

>> No.514504

thanks everyone - I keep trying to reply, but its flagging my individual response posts as spam

>> No.514537

Looks like a Bill Lawrence to me too. Real Bill and Becky pups usually have no branding on them. Look at Wilde Pickups for the real Bill and Becky stuff. Is the switch a Rotary selector? You turn it instead of flipping the switch? I haven't dealt with one of those for quite some time.

>> No.514666

>>514537
its a 4 way rotary selector ( you turn it ).

Any way of determining if its a bill lawrence? its epoxy filled ( they have one that matches that description ) but I don't see any PCB or other markings on it.

Any tips on IDing the other pups? they seem completely blank

>> No.515020

What brand guitar is it? There is a good chance they are just stock pickups. The previous owner may have generally only used the neck position and only upgraded what he used.