I just purchased a pair of Wilkinson Music Man style pickups from ebay and they arrived without a wiring diagram. There a 4 wire (white, red, yellow & black). Can anyone help me out?
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Wilkinson Musicman Pickup Wiring Diagram
- Thread starter vanern
- Start date
Well, if you have an ohm meter and some patience, you can figure it out the hard way...
Use an ohm meter to identify the two pairs of coils.
Now wire up the leads from one of the coils (polarity doesn't matter at this point) and, with your amplifier on, tap on each coil with a screwdriver to see which one makes noise. You should be able to identify which coil relates to which pair of leads.
Now wire both pairs of leads in parallel and play the bass for a little bit. If it sounds thin and nasaly, pick one coil and invert it's two leads.
Now wire up the second pickup and connect it in parallel with the first pickup and see how that sounds. If it's thin and nasaly, invert the leads from both coils of one pickup.
At this point, the four leads that are connected to ground are the - phase leads from each coil, and the four leads that are connected to the output are the + phase leads from each coil.
Use an ohm meter to identify the two pairs of coils.
Now wire up the leads from one of the coils (polarity doesn't matter at this point) and, with your amplifier on, tap on each coil with a screwdriver to see which one makes noise. You should be able to identify which coil relates to which pair of leads.
Now wire both pairs of leads in parallel and play the bass for a little bit. If it sounds thin and nasaly, pick one coil and invert it's two leads.
Now wire up the second pickup and connect it in parallel with the first pickup and see how that sounds. If it's thin and nasaly, invert the leads from both coils of one pickup.
At this point, the four leads that are connected to ground are the - phase leads from each coil, and the four leads that are connected to the output are the + phase leads from each coil.
Just bought 2 pieces of this Trev Wilkinson MM Pickups from eBay. The pickups did'nt come with any diagram whatsover, just the pickup itself. 
Luckily, i came to know Line6Man
who helped me figure out what the leads are...
to help the other guys out there.
the white and red lead are for series connection. I received the unit with the two lead wires soldered together, i taped them so it wont touch anything inside the bass as per instruction of Line6Man. then the last two pieces will be a fat black lead and yellow lead.
The black is the (-) lead while the yellow will be the (+).
With this knowledge, i was able to replace the 2 jazz bass pickups of my SX Jazz bazz with 2 MM pickups..
Sound is awesome...
Thanks a lot Line6man.
Luckily, i came to know Line6Man
who helped me figure out what the leads are... to help the other guys out there.
the white and red lead are for series connection. I received the unit with the two lead wires soldered together, i taped them so it wont touch anything inside the bass as per instruction of Line6Man. then the last two pieces will be a fat black lead and yellow lead.
The black is the (-) lead while the yellow will be the (+).
With this knowledge, i was able to replace the 2 jazz bass pickups of my SX Jazz bazz with 2 MM pickups..
Sound is awesome...
Thanks a lot Line6man.
That configuration should be very similar to a standard Jazz bass.
Start with diagram:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Then substitute one of the pickups for the MM pickup.
You will have to follow the info above to figure out the color codes for the MM pickup.
Thanks dude... how about if I will put a Coil Switch/SPDT on the wiring?... is this correct: the pre-soldered RED and WHITE wires still goes together to a terminal right?... and the YELLOW for ground terminal and BLACK for HOT?...
I don't know the color code for the pickup, so I can't confirm that as correct or incorrect.
The "coil switch" is what exactly?
Series/North Coil, Series/South Coil, North Coil/Series/South Coil, Parallel/North Coil, etc... ?
I just got one of these Wilkinson MM PUs as well. The red and white wire are soldered together and the yellow and black are separate. If I test the Ohms on the black(-) and yellow (+), I get 12.7 k Ohms. If I put the meter on either black or yellow with one lead and the red/white with the other, I get around 6.3. If I only connect the black and yellow, will the PU be in series?
I just got one of these Wilkinson MM PUs as well. The red and white wire are soldered together and the yellow and black are separate. If I test the Ohms on the black(-) and yellow (+), I get 12.7 k Ohms. If I put the meter on either black or yellow with one lead and the red/white with the other, I get around 6.3. If I only connect the black and yellow, will the PU be in series?
Yes, black-yellow would be series wiring.
I'm not that satisfied with the tones that i am getting from the SX i bought from my friend.
So i decided to modify and torture the SX to replace the pickup with a pair of Wilkinson MM pickups that i bought from UK.
Final image of the bass below.
Too bad, i only used a hammer and chisel to enlarge the cavity of the body and it was a bit awful.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
But nevertheless, Here's the output sound from the new pickups: recorded using the input line from my PC, no effects just plain PC audio amp.
Bridge:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Neck:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Both:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
So i decided to modify and torture the SX to replace the pickup with a pair of Wilkinson MM pickups that i bought from UK.
Final image of the bass below.
Too bad, i only used a hammer and chisel to enlarge the cavity of the body and it was a bit awful.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
But nevertheless, Here's the output sound from the new pickups: recorded using the input line from my PC, no effects just plain PC audio amp.
Bridge:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Neck:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Both:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
ok I finally installed my Wilkinson HB pickup... so far so good... I followed the wiring this thread has provided...
but I have a question... is it normal that the HB pickup sounds louder than the stock soapbar pickup on my STAGG MB300/5 bass soloed and somehow BOTH pickup's volume evens out when turned on together(but the HB slightly lowers in volume)?...
I'm using both 500k pots...
but I have a question... is it normal that the HB pickup sounds louder than the stock soapbar pickup on my STAGG MB300/5 bass soloed and somehow BOTH pickup's volume evens out when turned on together(but the HB slightly lowers in volume)?...
I'm using both 500k pots...
Thanks
Wilkinson Musicman Pickup Wiring Diagram
Just bought 2 pieces of this Trev Wilkinson MM Pickups from eBay. The pickups did'nt come with any diagram whatsover, just the pickup itself.
Luckily, i came to know Line6Man who helped me figure out what the leads are...
to help the other guys out there.
the white and red lead are for series connection. I received the unit with the two lead wires soldered together, i taped them so it wont touch anything inside the bass as per instruction of Line6Man. then the last two pieces will be a fat black lead and yellow lead.
The black is the (-) lead while the yellow will be the (+).
With this knowledge, i was able to replace the 2 jazz bass pickups of my SX Jazz bazz with 2 MM pickups..
Sound is awesome...
Thanks a lot Line6man.
This saved me a few hours of trouble.
My Wilkinson MM PU now works, is 2/3rds the vol of the J p/u. I had tried every combination of those leads to 2 or 3 connection. This one sounded least thin. (Dissappointing)
May have to spring for a Duncan or Norstrand.
Wilkinson Musicman Pickup Wiring Diagram
Just bought 2 pieces of this Trev Wilkinson MM Pickups from eBay. The pickups did'nt come with any diagram whatsover, just the pickup itself.
Luckily, i came to know Line6Man who helped me figure out what the leads are...
to help the other guys out there.
the white and red lead are for series connection. I received the unit with the two lead wires soldered together, i taped them so it wont touch anything inside the bass as per instruction of Line6Man. then the last two pieces will be a fat black lead and yellow lead.
The black is the (-) lead while the yellow will be the (+).
With this knowledge, i was able to replace the 2 jazz bass pickups of my SX Jazz bazz with 2 MM pickups..
Sound is awesome...
Thanks a lot Line6man.
This saved me a few hours of trouble.
My Wilkinson MM PU now works, is 2/3rds the vol of the J p/u. I had tried every combination of those leads to 2 or 3 connection. This one sounded least thin. (Dissappointing)
May have to spring for a Duncan or Norstrand.
Based on what I am understanding from this thread and some testing using my ohm meeter here is what I have concluded.
white= neg and yellow= pos for one coil
black= neg and red = pos for the other coil.
I am not sure about which coils they correspond to, but I am not interested in that as I am wiring this p/up using a S/P switch so both coils will be working simultaneously from one volume pot anyway. If I get ambitious when I wire it up I'll try to decipher which one is which.
Hope this helps clear things up a bit more.
Good luck.
white= neg and yellow= pos for one coil
black= neg and red = pos for the other coil.
I am not sure about which coils they correspond to, but I am not interested in that as I am wiring this p/up using a S/P switch so both coils will be working simultaneously from one volume pot anyway. If I get ambitious when I wire it up I'll try to decipher which one is which.
Hope this helps clear things up a bit more.
Good luck.
- Aug 21, 2008
- 10,386
- 253
- 68
- Disclosures
- Owner, SGD Music Products
The coils were out of phase with each other. You just needed to flip the polarity on one of them.
Just bought 2 pieces of this Trev Wilkinson MM Pickups from eBay. The pickups did'nt come with any diagram whatsover, just the pickup itself.
Luckily, i came to know Line6Man
to help the other guys out there.
the white and red lead are for series connection. I received the unit with the two lead wires soldered together, i taped them so it wont touch anything inside the bass as per instruction of Line6Man. then the last two pieces will be a fat black lead and yellow lead.
The black is the (-) lead while the yellow will be the (+).
With this knowledge, i was able to replace the 2 jazz bass pickups of my SX Jazz bazz with 2 MM pickups..
Sound is awesome...
Thanks a lot Line6man.
I did the same today, it sounds awesome with boosted lows and highs on the amp.
MM sound for 75E, Samick PMB-41 bass included
hey guys, looking a little help here, as im not exactly an electrician, and i dont know alot about electronics. I bought 2 all-parts musicman pickups (dont judge, they were a cheap upgrade) for my OLP stingrays. The pickups both came without any wiring diagrams, so i tried to wire it up my self. the stock pickups had 4 leads (2 for each coil) 2 black and 2 white. the black was the ground, as it was soldered to the top of the pot, and the white leads were soldered to the prong (i dont know exactly what the little thingys are called) of the 2 vol pots. this was little help to me as the new pickup came with a white and green lead soldered together, and red lead and a bare lead, which i assumed was the ground. the problem is, no-matter what way i wire it, neither pot does its job. one pot will turn down most of the volume (like 80%, which is clearly wrong) and the next pot will turn it down the rest. in one configuration, with all pots turned down, there was still sound through the amp. very little tone clarity, just alot of fuzz. sometimes one of the volume pots gets rid of the fuzz.
sorry my discription is a bit messy, but its getting to me! any help here would be appreciated. thanks!
sorry my discription is a bit messy, but its getting to me! any help here would be appreciated. thanks!
