@rodzilla74, this is probably the best pic to compare with...
... @jhm2112, do you have three wires for each pickup?
... @jhm2112, do you have three wires for each pickup?
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Help! I’m new!
- Thread starter rodzilla74
- Start date
Yeah that’s the best I seen. I was just intimidated to use it as a diagram because I will have to undo almost everything and rewire to match this one. Funny I’ve seen several pics of this model same setup but wired completely different. Is this common to find in a bass? And I still have that orange connected to the bass cut that haven’t seen anywhere else.
- Apr 18, 2008
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Wire colors can change from manufacturer to manufacturer, and with a big OEM like Gibson/Epiphone, it wouldn’t surprise me if they switched mid-production. So you shouldn’t blindly follow the colors alone. Best to understand which wire is pickup hot and which is (are) pickup ground. Often a 3-wire setup is one hot, one ground, and one shield; the ground and shield are both connected to ground in the cavity. But the only way to know for sure is to put a multimeter on it. Or just trial and error, if you don’t mind soldering and un-soldering a lot...
I think trial and error will be the way to go. Got v/v/t/t pots yesterday but decided I want to fix this setup instead.
If the pickups have three wires then it suggests that they simply went to another manufacturer during production, who gave them pickups with this spec. The wires are almost certainly connected to the start of one pickup coil, the end of that coil (if its a single coil pickup) or the end of the other coil (if a humbucker) and the shielding. This is handy for reversing the phase without making the shielding of the hookup wire and pickup 'live'.
That’s what I was thinking also when I looked at your pictures. The three wires are hot, ground and shield. The shield may have been left out of the schematic as “understood” it should go to ground. A few minutes with a meter would confirm what’s hooked to what inside the pickups. However, as others have said, things can change during production. “We’re out of black wire! Hey Bob, hand me that roll of blue!”
Now we're getting somewhere... if you get a chance, maybe a description of where they attach to, in the control cavity?
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As far as I can tell, the pickup wires are all connected to the 2nd pot which is the pickup blend. I’m still at work though and not physically looking at the cavity.
Using the pic and the wiring diagram together, it looks as though the white jacket (3 wire bundle) is the neck pickup, with the black jacket (3wire also) being the bridge pickup.
It looks as though the white wire of each pickup bundle does indeed go to the blend pot. As you look at the pic, the bridge jacket/white wire goes to the center lug of the pot, closest to you (what I consider the bottom of the stacked pot). The neck jacket/white wire goes to the center lug of the pot, farthest away from you (the pot which is closest to the shaft).
The red wires (as well as the shields, as far as I can see) of both neck and bridge culminate together in a common spot on the blend pickup, in the pic (@jhm2112 can confirm). The schematic though, shows this common connection being made at the volume pot. Electrically, as long as all components are using the same ground potential, it shouldn't matter which pot casing they're connected to.
Gibson also confirmed (serial number) this a '13, and was part of a Tobias pack. The schematic provided earlier in this thread is the only schematic they have for a Tobias IV Standard.
Good luck!
It looks as though the white wire of each pickup bundle does indeed go to the blend pot. As you look at the pic, the bridge jacket/white wire goes to the center lug of the pot, closest to you (what I consider the bottom of the stacked pot). The neck jacket/white wire goes to the center lug of the pot, farthest away from you (the pot which is closest to the shaft).
The red wires (as well as the shields, as far as I can see) of both neck and bridge culminate together in a common spot on the blend pickup, in the pic (@jhm2112 can confirm). The schematic though, shows this common connection being made at the volume pot. Electrically, as long as all components are using the same ground potential, it shouldn't matter which pot casing they're connected to.
Gibson also confirmed (serial number) this a '13, and was part of a Tobias pack. The schematic provided earlier in this thread is the only schematic they have for a Tobias IV Standard.
Good luck!
