4 Singlecoils pickups wiring as one.

[Henrythe8]

I'm in the process of modding a PB50 HArley Benton into a reverse PB Dusty Tribute. 

I bought 4 lipstick pickups from eBay. 

I'm a bit puzzled on how to wire them. 

 

BAsically, it's a three wires : 

I suppose the white is hot, red neutral and the third braid attached to the neutral is the ground/earth. 

I was thinking pairing two in series (white soldered with the red) and then solder those in parallel.The resistance should be 8.4 which is good enough. 

Am I right, or should I go for a full blast, all series wiring ? 

Thanks for your help. 

 

[Bigguy2017]

Can you reverse the magnets?

If so you could do a RWRP humbucking thing. 

EA in parallel, DG in parallel, then EA in series with DG like a P bass...

[Henrythe8]

Thanks for this quick and informative answer.

Not sure about reversing the magnets, I'll try to play around and see what side repels the other. 

 

Parallel, then series is a great idea, too.  

[PlungerModerno]

It's important you get the RWRP thing right, unless you want an buzzy or out of phase sound... my suggestion would be to give yourself options, with a series parallel/switch for the EA & DG pairs of pickups as @Bigguy2017 suggested, and possibly a phase switch. You might be able to wire each pair with it's own series parallel/switch or wire both to a single "inner" series/parallel switch as well as having an overall or "outer" series/parallel switch. With the pickups being single coils parallel to the strings you can't really do coil splitting as you only have one coil per string.

 

My brain is melting trying to picture what that would look like wired up. I'm not sure it's possible. If it is possible I think you'd have loudness issues if you had one pair of pickups in series and one in parallel. That might not be a noticeable problem if you compress or distort the signal though.

 

 

EDIT: Cool idea, I was going to say why did you go with a reverse Split-P kind of slant with the pickup footprint... then I realized it's a lefty body.

Edited August 19, 2021 by PlungerModerno

[Henrythe8]

Thanks for your help. I'm not smart enough to get my head around the wiring with those switches. 

I think at first I'll go mainly by trial and error, and we'll see how it goes. I'll be able to cope with polarity and in/out, but the sense of wiring can't be changed. It's all for the sake of experimentation anymay 🙂

It's a lefty body, but it'll be used as a right handed instrument. I usually prefer the ReverseP setting, that's why. 

[PlungerModerno]

 

Jimi Hendrix style lol. You'll probably want nice light tuners if the strap button is moved closer to the bridge. I assume you mean you prefer a reverse split-P pickup or do you mean you prefer a lefty P body on a right hand bass?

 

I'm sure you could figure out the wiring options if you do some homework. And trial and error lol.

I found this thread with a diagram for a series/parallel switch in a P bass Jazz bass: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/wiring-a-pj-mustang-series-parallel.1350448/ it has a push pull diagram for a P.

 

I think you can reliably check a single coil is RWRP with another similar single coil is to see if it bucks the hum.

 

Oh I found this:

Edited August 19, 2021 by PlungerModerno

[itu]

You want to know the phase, you need a multimeter (oscilloscope, whatever) and a screw driver.

Connect the pickup to the MM. Drop the screw driver tip to the pickup and see, which way the DC voltage is going. If it starts to rise to positive side, the wiring is in phase (+ is connected to +). Do several drops (an inch or two is enough) to be sure.

Repeat with other pickups.

[Henrythe8]

Thanks for your help. Good idea with the multimeter, I must have one lying somewhere. 

I'll wire the coils in pair in parallel, then series, dirctly in the jack. I'll see with my Amphone how it sounds.