Am I crazy or does this seem backwards?

Poon · #1 06-28-2009, 08:21 PM

I just received a Lakland Darryl Jones 5 and it has some odd ground hum that only goes away if i touch something metal on the bass.
I popped open the control cavity and it looks like the Lakland Single Coils are wired with the neck pickups red going to live (center prong on the pot) and black going to ground, while the bridge pickup has green wire going to ground and the black wire going to live (center prong on the pot). Doesn't it seem like it should be green going to live and black to ground?

On a side note, doesn't the ground from the bridge wire usually go to the ground on the tone pot, not to the last (open prong) on the input jack?

**line6man** · #2 06-28-2009, 09:02 PM

This sounds like a typical case of single coil hum to me.
It is perfectly normal that the hum only goes away when touching a grounded point.

If the wiring were backwards on the one pickup, you would have a very thin and nasal sound when both pickups were on.
If the pickups sound ok when played together, then the wiring is correct.

It does not matter where the bridge ground connects to, as long as it is grounded.

Poon · #3 06-29-2009, 07:35 PM

For everyone's information:

My dialogue with Lakland...

"Hey Kirk & Dan,

I was wondering if you'd send me a wiring diagram for a Darryl Jones Bass. I'm getting some ground hum that won't go away unless I'm touching the bridge or some other metal object on the bass. I figured maybe a ground is connected wrong or the bass has the single coils wired incorrectly.

It appears that on the pickups, red and green are live, and black is ground? Or is it the other way around?"

Kirk's Response:

"Attached, please find the wiring diagram for your bass. The pickups are reversed, black is positive on one and negative on the other. It doesn't matter which one."

Still somewhat baffled by the coloring scheme(I'm used to black = ground and white = hot)...I asked if my understanding was correct, and he said "Either way will work as long as black is ground on one and positive on the other."

So there ya go. Just wanted to share my findings.