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Hardwiring Model J's in Series

Discussion in 'Pickups & Electronics [BG]' started by jfenderp, Jan 14, 2009.

  1. Jan 14, 2009 #1
    jfenderp

    jfenderp Guest

    Mar 17, 2008
    Southeast Missouri
    I hate to start a thread like this since the series/parrellel discussion has been brought up tons of time but Dimarzio isn't replying to my email and they aren't answering their phones until next Tuesday, SO........

    I wired up my Model J's in parallel using the diagram on the Fender website...Like This and I do not like the way it sounds at all. So I would like to hardwire them in series to see if I like that any better. If I do like it then I plan on ordering all new pots and a push/pull so in case I ever want to go to parallel then I can.

    Is it as simple as taking the ground from the neck pickup off and the hot from the bridge pickup off and then solder them together? I saw that is how it would be done with stock 2 wired pickup but since the Model J's are 4 wires I thought there may be a difference. Id that's all it requires then why do you have the black and white wires? I cannot find any diagrams on the dimarzio and the only diagrams I can find on Seymour Duncan use the push/pull.

    Thanks-J
     
  2. Jan 14, 2009 #2
    fender3x

    fender3x

    Mar 12, 2006
    Not surprised. I did not like the parallel only setting with mine either. The settings I like best are neck-only/parallel, both/parallel or neck/series-bridge/parallel. Until I discovered that last one, I thought the series setting was useless. As it is, I probably won't ever switch the bridge pup out of parallel.

    Here are two ways to wire it...
    [​IMG]

    or

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Jan 14, 2009 #3
    jfenderp

    jfenderp Guest

    Mar 17, 2008
    Southeast Missouri
    Those look interesting, but how would I wire it in series with just the stock pots for now until I can get some more hardware to work with?
     
  4. Jan 14, 2009 #4
    fender3x

    fender3x

    Mar 12, 2006
    Then I think you should probably do it the way they say at the Dimarzio site:

    http://www.dimarzio.com//media/diagrams/ModelJ.pdf

    The standard wiring is serial, but the colors of the wire colors vary with different brands of pups. DiMarzios are simple, at least... Red to hot, green to ground, black and white to each other for series.
     
  5. Jan 14, 2009 #5
    fender3x

    fender3x

    Mar 12, 2006
    I just saw this... I have a feeling that you may only have one coil per pup working. That's bad with these since they are a side-by-side humbucker...sort of like a precision pickup.

    That's also why there are four wires. Two coils per pickup, rather than just one as in a standard J pickup.

    For series, the red wire on your DiMarzio is like the yellow wire in the Fender diagram. The DiMarzio green wire is like the Fender black wire. The black and white wires need to be connected to each other to connect the two coils.

    Whether you decide to do the switching or not, you should consider getting new pots. The common wisdom is that single coil pots use 250K pots, but humbuckers use 500K pots--which is what DiMarzio recommends. With or without the new pots, I love my Js. There are hotter pickups on the market, but these are way hotter than standard, and have a really nice voice.

    Hope this helps!
     
  6. Jan 15, 2009 #6
    jfenderp

    jfenderp Guest

    Mar 17, 2008
    Southeast Missouri
    My Bad. I wired them the way that Dimarzio said to, when I wrote the post I meant to refer to the dimarzio link. I took the Model J's out and wired up my old fender pups and I wired the ground coming off the neck to the hott coming off the bridge, then i wired the hot from the neck to the neck volume and the ground of the bridge to the back of the neck volume to ground it. Did I wire these correctly for series? I am wanting both pickups wired in series together, so in the dimarzio I would: Wire neck green to bridge red-then neck red to neck volume and bridge green to the back of the pot for ground and leave both white/black wires soldered together? Would this make both pups in series with each other so I will only have the neck volume control both pickups?

    I think I have it figured out but I'm not completely for sure. If this is correct I'm going to just get some new pots and wire them both is series since I really enjoy the sound the old pups have wired like this and just having the one volume. I know this would limit me in sound but I'm a meat and taters kinda guy.
     
  7. Jan 15, 2009 #7
    fender3x

    fender3x

    Mar 12, 2006
    I think this is right.

    I think it would put them in series...but I have no idea what that would sound like... Regular J's are single coil. So with both on, you can wire to have either series or parallel, or, with a switch, both.

    The DiMarzios are already humbucking. I think the configuration your are suggesting would take two pickups that are already in series and put them in series with each other. That would be four coils in series with each other rather than the normal two. What that would sound like? No idea.

    I think I am now officially out of my depth...
     
  8. Jan 15, 2009 #8
    jfenderp

    jfenderp Guest

    Mar 17, 2008
    Southeast Missouri

    Thanks for the help. I guess when I get my new pots I'll wire it up like this and find out what it sounds like. I'll let you know.
     
  9. Jan 16, 2009 #9
    Eilif

    Eilif Grooving under the MDW runway.

    Oct 1, 2001
    Chicago
    I'm not sure what the problem is here. Model J's sound great in Series with each other. Here's what you do.

    1) Orient the pickups as they would be in your bass.
    2) Locate the two leads that face away from the control cavity on each pickup.
    3) On each pickup, wire those leads to each other. You now have two leads left on each jazz pickup, just as you would for a regular jazz setup.
    4) The Hot from the neck pickup will be your hot. The ground from the bridge pickup will be your ground. Wire hot from bridge and ground from neck together.
    5) Get a standard p-bass wiring diagram and wire up the pups as though they were each half of a p-bass pickup Here's a good diagram to follow. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=std_pbass
    6) you're going to have an extra hole on your jazz bass control plate. I would just put a pot in there for looks but not wired to anything.

    Later...when the parts you order arrive, use the Semour duncan diagram for wiring them up series/parallel, leaving the leads mentioned in step 3 wired together.