Seymour Duncan Triple Shot wiring

foxyFuze

Hello all,

I installed a Triple Shot to my neck humbucker and can only hear it properly on the Series Humbucker option. The 'slug coil' option (I think) is only vaguely audible and the other settings are silent. 

The Bridge PUP is coil-tapped as standard so I thought it wouldn't be an issue doing the same for the other one. Any thoughts?  I think it is an SD PUP but can't be certain.

Thanks 

FelineGuitars

pics of the wiring? 

Did you have all 4 wires coming out from humbucker  and going to the tripleshot board?

foxyFuze

I'll send pics later. Yes I do, plus the ground wire. 

Funkfingers

The ribbon connector between the two PCBs of the Triple Shot is extremely vulnerable at the mini switch end. They were notorious at the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum for failing at this location. 

Unfortunately, if the joint at the PCB fails, it is necessary to disconnect all of the wires in the ribbon connector before trimming away some insulation and remaking the connections. Block connectors would have been so much better.

Your *some permutations work, some do not* description is symptomatic of this problem.

foxyFuze

Thanks for the info. I thought it might have been my soldering and with my limited electronics knowledge, was trying to work out why only the series humbucker i.e. no change mode would be the only one that works properly. I'll get some photos up later but it sounds like I could have a duff one.

Funkfingers

Diagnosing your specific Triple Shot problem presumes that the humbucker was working correctly before it was connected to the TS. 

The Series and Slug Coil Only options use the same conductor as their output but different conductors as ground. Silence from the two other permutations points to a poor connection involving the white and/or red conductors. 

The WBGR labelling of the soldering points on the "flying" PCB only applies to humbuckers that conform to the Seymour Duncan four-con + shield cable colour code scheme. Some other manufacturers use the same four colours in a different order. 

foxyFuze

I've tidied up the connections and made sure they're not shorting with each other or the pickup base.
Now I get sound with series humbucker and slug coil, the latter beig of equal volume but no discernable difference in tone.  
https://i.imgur.com/wkOgKgd.jpg

Funkfingers

foxyFuze said:

sound with series humbucker and slug coil, the latter being of equal volume but no discernable difference in tone.  

You are probably getting the same combination of coils both times. Tapping lightly on the polepieces with a metal object would soon demonstrate which coils are contributing any output.

https://i.imgur.com/wkOgKgd.jpg

Erm, if that is a Seymour Duncan humbucker, somebody has replaced the baseplate and the output cable. (The conductor wire insulation colours in your photograph resemble Kent Armstrong/Sky and other Korean manufacturers.)

Identifying which conductors serve which coil of the humbucker will require a test meter. 

Alternatively, there is a "translation" diagram on this blog page. https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/humbucker-wire-color-translation.


Meanwhile, the white blob of reinforcement around the ribbon connector underlines my earlier comments about physical vulnerability.