So I figured I'd try out these BKP Warpigs (that I've had laying around in a drawer for the last year) in the SG Special that I recently purchased. I also was keen to determine the difference between the 490R/490T set and the BKP Warpig set with no other changes before I made any changes to the wiring that might confuse matters regarding the differences in pickups. So I figured it was a simple matter of disconnecting one set and then connecting the relevant hot connections of the BKPs to where the Gibson ones were and the earths to the back of the volume pots. Sounds straightforward, doesn't it? But I've run into a problem.
I've done all that and before putting the strings on again have tested the pickups quickly by plugging it into my Roland practice amp and seeing if I got any noise out of them. The good news is that yes, I do get noise from both pickups. The bad news is that the selector switch now seems to have no effect, and both pickups are on all of the time regardless of the position of the switch. Also when I turn either volume control to zero the guitar goes to dead silent as if I was using a killswitch.
The main difference between the Gibson pickups and the BKPs from the wiring point of view is that the Gibson pickups have the braided type connector with the earth on the outside of the connecting wire and the BKPs have four-conductor wiring, with black and bare to ground and red to hot. I wired both hots to where the Gibson ones were, but I have soldered the earth for the bridge pickup to the back of the bridge volume pot, rather than both of them to the neck volume pot. I am wondering if this might be the issue (I doubt it). I am also wondering if something might have happened such as solder dripping from one terminal to another and this bridging a connection that shouldn't be bridged.
I am assuming that the yellow wire is something to do with the selector switch.
Anyway, keen to hear any advice on this.
Here are some photos. Not sure if they'll help at all.
