Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Jaekae on March 16, 2009, 06:44:00 PM

Title: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Jaekae on March 16, 2009, 06:44:00 PM
Trying to figure out how to wire on my ibanez that got a cortek 5 way switch (8 terminals ) and dimarzio IBZ pickups now.

This picture shows the diagram for how it is now
http://www.tremol-no.com/images/DiM_8poleRev2.jpg

Is it possible to wire so i get coilsplit on the BKPs ? Or do i need to make it the same way as it is now? which can be seen in the picture

And what color(wire) on the bkps would be the same as the dimarzios?
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Philly Q on March 16, 2009, 06:57:18 PM
These are the colour codes:

Dimarzio........................BKP

Red.................................Red
Black...............................Green
White..............................White
Green..............................Black


If you wire it as it is now, make sure the screw coil of the neck pickup is facing the bridge, not the neck - otherwise it won't be hum-cancelling when both pickups are split.
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Antag on March 17, 2009, 09:54:56 AM
Slight threadjack, but what do the colours actually mean?  Is it something like:

Red = North positive
Green = North negative
White = South positive
Black = South negative
Bare = shield

?
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Philly Q on March 17, 2009, 11:34:47 AM
Yeah, that's it exactly, I'd say "start" and "finish" rather than "positive" and "negative", but it's just terminology isn't it?  :lol:

The bare wire grounds the baseplate, the cover (if there is one) and the shielding foil in the cable.
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Antag on March 17, 2009, 01:15:52 PM
Thanks Philly,
So, to wire a humbucker in series (i.e. as a humbucker)

North start (red) goes to hot
North finish (green) goes to South start (white)*
South Finish (black) goes to ground.
*That's how a BKP comes out of the box: green & white taped together.

To split a humbucker, you switch the green/white to ground (effectively grounding south start, so that north is the only coil switched in)
But if I wanted to wire a humbucker in parallel I'd need to get:

North start (red) AND South start (white) go to hot
North finish (green) AND South finish (black) go to ground

Correct?
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Twinfan on March 17, 2009, 01:28:01 PM
^ +1

I'd like to know how to wire a BKP humbucker in parallel too.....
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Philly Q on March 17, 2009, 01:32:27 PM
What Antag said, all correct!  :D

To wire a humbucker permanently in parallel, red+white (together) to hot, green+black+shield to ground.
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Twinfan on March 17, 2009, 02:40:23 PM
How about with a coil split???
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Philly Q on March 17, 2009, 03:12:37 PM
How about with a coil split???

What, series/split/parallel on one pickup?

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=series_spl_parallel-w-phase (http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=series_spl_parallel-w-phase)

(That's with Duncan colour codes plus a phase switch)


Or you could have coil 1/both coils in parallel/coil 2 - by treating each coil as a separate single-coil and wiring them to a regular 3-way switch.
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Twinfan on March 17, 2009, 04:55:35 PM
How about wiring them into a PRS McCarty - one vol, one tone, 3-way toggle, push/pull on the tone and I want parallel not coil split??????
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Philly Q on March 17, 2009, 05:04:52 PM
How about wiring them into a PRS McCarty - one vol, one tone, 3-way toggle, push/pull on the tone and I want parallel not coil split??????

In that case, you could only wire one pickup for series/parallel.  You can use a single push/pull to split both pickups, because coil splitting only uses half of a DPDT switch, but series/parallel needs the whole switch.

Or you could replace the volume control with a second push/pull.... 

Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: WezV on March 17, 2009, 05:07:30 PM
the same diagram as above TF, with a 2 way on-on switch (mini switch or push/pull) it gives you series/parallel, with a 3 way mini on-on-on switch it gives you series/split/parallel

the series/parallel  push/pull was what i have on the white explorer  - as philly Q says, 1 switch will only do 1 pickup.
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Twinfan on March 17, 2009, 05:40:25 PM
Cheers guys - thanks for the info!!!
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Jaekae on March 17, 2009, 08:43:03 PM
so now i wired, and the pickups sound like cr@p :( muddy and it sound much worse than my old stock pups :( and have to use amp master at 2 to get bedroom levels before it was below 1 for that

did my solderings get bad or something? or is it that the polepieces touch the wood?
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Philly Q on March 17, 2009, 09:39:40 PM
Something sounds wrong.  Did you try tapping the polepieces with a screwdriver (or a key, something metal) to see if all the switch connections are working properly?  So for example in position 1 you should get a sound when you tap either coil of the bridge pickup, in position 2 you should get a sound when you tap the two inside coils, etc.

Which BKP models do you have, by the way?

 
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Jaekae on March 17, 2009, 10:13:19 PM
Something sounds wrong.  Did you try tapping the polepieces with a screwdriver (or a key, something metal) to see if all the switch connections are working properly?  So for example in position 1 you should get a sound when you tap either coil of the bridge pickup, in position 2 you should get a sound when you tap the two inside coils, etc.

Which BKP models do you have, by the way?

 

No but i get sound from each switch positions, and it sounds like it change sound the kind of way it should do.
Its a set of nailbombs, it sounds dull and weak, lower gain, alot lower volume , very bad low end response, sounds awful, sustain is not good at all, (it was amazing sustain before) sounds like i play a 50 euro guitar, but it is a 1890 euro one. Still there is no buzzing or wierd noises as it could be with bad wiring

Its wired exactly like the diagram i posted in first post, but with right colors for BKPs
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Philly Q on March 17, 2009, 10:22:49 PM
Sorry, I've no idea what could be wrong.  :?
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Antag on March 18, 2009, 09:04:36 AM
I know you asked about the wiring colours in your initial post, but did you actually wire it the same way the DiMarzio was?

If you did then both pickups would effectively be coil split which may account for the lower output & perceived thin tone.

Basically, for the BKP to work in series (i.e. like a Humbucker)

Red -> Hot output
Green <-> White
Black & Bare -> Ground

Focus on getting pos #1 & #5 to work properly, then you can work back through the rest...
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Jaekae on March 18, 2009, 11:49:53 AM
how do i know which of the 8 tabs of the switch that are active in each switch position?

ive made bridge pickup to work nice now as a humbucker so its going forward :)

Edit

Got it all working now and it sounds freakin amazing :D
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Philly Q on March 18, 2009, 09:15:27 PM
Got it all working now and it sounds freakin amazing :D

Excellent, well done!  :D
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Antag on March 19, 2009, 10:26:25 AM
Great! glad you got it sorted & that you like the Nailbombs after all :)
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Twaddlefish on March 20, 2009, 05:28:07 PM
Can you solder the four conductor in the same fashion as a braided 2, i.e. all four wires to the volume pot?
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: WezV on March 20, 2009, 05:44:55 PM
yes. you join the green and white together and tape them out the way, then connect the black and bare to the back of the volume pot and red to the tab
Title: Re: how to wire BKPs ?
Post by: Twaddlefish on March 20, 2009, 05:49:00 PM
I love you. Seriously, that was a massive load off my mind. The green and white have actually come insulate separately out of the way. I also did a quick bit of research on Wiki and seems a fair few humbuckers have 4 conductor as standard.