MiltyG565 Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 ok, so i have 2 OLP basses (sorry for the misleading title). i thought i would try a couple of cheap bass pickups in them, so i ordered 2 from all-parts. cheap, arrived in a couple of days, great job! except no. there were no wiring diagrams. nothing to tell me what lead did what. since this is a real budget thing, i can find any schematics for this thing ANYWHERE! i dont have anything to test the wires either. it came with a green wire, and a white wire, which were both soldered together. then there was a red wire, and a very short black wire, which im assuming is the ground. i dont even care if i only have one volume pot, i just want the thing to work again. if anyone out there could be so kind and share their knowledge. basically i just need to know where to solder each wire. currently i have the white and green wires on the pot casing, and the red and black on the middle prong of the pot. (just realising now that the black is probably the earth). this works in a way. it creates a very loud and annoying buzzing that can only be stopped by turning the volume down completely. any help appreciated! Thanks- Milty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Post some pics and it will be easier for people to help you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 (edited) [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=musicman_passive_2v_1t"]http://www.seymourdu...n_passive_2v_1t[/url] this should get you started Edited July 25, 2012 by Al Heeley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassHertz Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Hi, from your description it sounds as if the two coils have been "pre-wired" in a series configuration. the black wire will be your ground and the red wire is your positive or hot. The green and white wires that are jioned should not be soldered to anything, just put some insulating tape around them. Solder the red wire to the middle prong of the pot and the black wire to the pot casing. This should get you going Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 thanks for your help. i tried wiring it the way you said BassHertz, but it hasnt worked. the bass just buzzes, even with the volume controls off, and earthed through myself. i really am clueless about this right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Al Heeley, thanks for the link, but i had used that diagram before to wire it up, and it didnt work unfortunatly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 First things first. Wire up your pup directly to the output jack to check it's working fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 im sorry, you will have to dumb that down to "Milty" levels. how exactly do i go about that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Take 2 wires and solder them directly to the output jack. Use you intuition to get the right ones - it won't matter if you don't but you will learn through trail an error which ones work best. If you imagine that at it's simplest, a pickup is just a coil of wire - one wire in and one wire out. A humbucker (such as your MM pup) is two coils joined together - the "out" from the first one goes into the "in" of the second then out again. Ignoring the electronics for a moment (fault finding 101) connect the "in" from the first pup and the "out" from the second to the jack socket and see if you have a clear signal. If you can't get your head around that little lot, then I suggest you're in over your head and should probably get someone else to fit it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 im guessing that the red is the in for the first coil, and the black is the out for the second coil. ill have to try this tomorow. on a related note, can anyone tell me what each prong of a pot does? i mean, would wiring something to the right prong make any difference from wiring it to the middle or left? i have read up on electronics and such before, but wiring is something that i have never had to really do. the stock pickup had 2 leads, one for each coil. then it had 2 leads inside each lead (4) 2 black, 2 white. the black ones were soldered onto the vol pot casings. the white went to the middle prong of each vol pot. this info didnt really help me much, because there was obviously a ground for each coil, something tthis pickup doesnt have (unless the white and green leads turn out to be grounds, but i doubt it). or the black lead is actually 2 grounds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 the middle prong is the sweeper that sweeps between the 2 ends of the resistor. In some cases you can swap the 2 end lugs over if the pot seems to work 'backwards' but the middle lug always has to be the 'variable' dynamic part of the circuit. Have a read here - great article about how they work: [url="http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/potsecrets/potscret.htm"]http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/potsecrets/potscret.htm[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 This link is quite good at wiring basics: [url="http://www.guitarnucleus.com/wiring.html"]http://www.guitarnucleus.com/wiring.html[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 cheers al, i have read through them and im going to attempt this one more time. who said im not determined? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 just followed to wiring diagram for 1 vol 1 tone. it works, except the volume control does nothing. i dont care though, i have a severe case of D.F.R (do f***in' rightly) right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 have you got a good conenction for all your earth wires onto the pot backs? This can sometimes be a pig to solder as the case sucks all the energy out of the solder iron tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 it turns out that both controls actually control tone. i'm not complaining. although this would be much handier without any controls at all. when its on, its on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 just put a new pickup in another one, inside an hour. no trouble at all. thanks for the help guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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