Replacing pickups - wiring help

Switch625

I want to swap the stock pickups in my Pacifica for some Duncan Designed ones that came out of my Jackson, can somebody please help me out with the wiring? Currently each pickup has one white wire (is this the ground?) going to the switch, and the silver ones (is this hot?) twisted together and soldered to the back of the volume pot:

These are the single coil replacements that I want to put in. Do the white ones go to the switch and the black/silver go to the back of the volume pot?

And finally the humbucker has 4 wires, the red and white are soldered together. Are these ignored and the green one is the one that goes to the switch and the black/silver to the back of the volume pot?

Thanks :-)

Funkfingers

Short answer, yes.

On the DuncDes single coils, white to selector switch. Combined red and bare to ground.

On the humbucker, green to selector switch. Red and white are the series link between the two coils. This doubles up for coil split duties. Black and bare combined to ground.


If the DuncDes humbucker is any model other than an HB-101B, it will overpower the centre pickup. 

You could repurpose the unused pole of the stock selector switch to automate coil split when the bridge and centre pickups are combined.*

To do this, it will be necessary to strip approximately ½" of the outer insulation on the humbucker output cable. This will free up enough of the four conductor wires to reach their respective switch terminals without being strained.

* I name this switch position #2. ICBM names it #4.

ICBM

Switch625 said:

Currently each pickup has one white wire (is this the ground?) going to the switch, and the silver ones (is this hot?) twisted together and soldered to the back of the volume pot:

Other way round. The ‘hot’ wires go to the switch and the grounds to the back of the volume pot.

Apart from that, what Funkfingers said…

Funkfingers

I just noticed that both DuncDes single coil pickups are the same coil winding direction. Hence, no hum cancellation from the neck and centre combination.

This seems to be common practice on lower-priced Jackson/Charvel HSS guitars. e.g. J-100 and J-135 true single coils.

Switch625

Thanks for the info. The single coils are SC101-M and the humbucker is an HB102-B.

Silly question but why would the humbucker overpower the middle pickup? Is it because of the Pacifica wiring as opposed to however it was wired in the Jackson? (I didn't remove it from there so wouldn't know).

Could you also please go into a little more detail about this part:

Funkfingers said:

You could repurpose the unused pole of the stock selector switch to automate coil split when the bridge and centre pickups are combined.*

To do this, it will be necessary to strip approximately ½" of the outer insulation on the humbucker output cable. This will free up enough of the four conductor wires to reach their respective switch terminals without being strained.

* I name this switch position #2. ICBM names it #4.

Am I supposed to solder the combined white/red wires from the humbucker to one of the selector switch lugs, like the second from the end where none of the last 4 are being used?

Sorry if these are stupid questions...

Funkfingers

Switch625 said:

The single coils are SC101-M and the humbucker is an HB102-B … why would the humbucker overpower the middle pickup? 

The HB102B has about double the output of an SC101M or N. 

With the humbucker split to one coil, its output would balance far better with the middle pickup. 

Switch625 said:

Is it because of the Pacifica wiring?

Only in the sense that the Yamaha humbucker is of far more modest output than the HB102B. There was no advantage having coil splittage in the Pacifica circuit. 

Switch625 said:

Am I supposed to solder the combined white/red wires from the humbucker to … the selector switch lug … second from the end?

Affirmative.

If we number the selector switch terminals, as illustrated in your opening post photograph, from left to right, the revised wiring would be;

1 - not used
2 - red/white from humbucker
3 - not used
4 - to ground on volume pot chassis*

5 - output to volume pot input
6 - neck PU white
7 - middle PU white
8 - bridge PU green


* You could ground the humbucker to switch terminal 4. This would avoid having to strip any of the black outer insulation.

Switch625

Great, thanks! I feel a lot more confident in giving it a go now :-)

Switch625

Okay I've desoldered the old pickups and removed the pickguard (as I'm replacing it with another colour). I've run in to my first problem which is the screw holes on the Duncan Designed single coils are slightly bigger than the screw holes on the original Pacifica single coils. So I can't re-use the screws from them as they just slip all the way through with no grip.

Any tips or tricks to overcome this? Or do pickup screws come in different sizes and I need order some replacements?

normula1

A short piece of cable tie through the screw hole has worked for me in the past.

Switch625

normula1 said:

A short piece of cable tie through the screw hole has worked for me in the past.

Genius, thanks!

Funkfingers

Switch625 said:

the screw holes on the Duncan Designed single coils are slightly bigger than the screw holes on the original Pacifica single coils.

The DuncDes single coils were probably direct mounted on the donor Jackson guitar.

normula1 said:

A short piece of cable tie through the screw hole has worked for me in the past.

A tiny layer of Superglue around the perimeter of the baseplate screw holes is another alternative.

Anything into which the adjustment screw threads can bite.

BillDL

If the threaded holes in the lugs of the pickup baseplates are metal and have been drilled/screwed out for direct mounting screws sometimes the holes will flare out slightly on the side that the drill/screw exited.  A VERY gentle tap on that can sometimes close it up enough for the mounting screws/bolts to grip the metal, but if the baseplate material is harder than the mounting screws it can strip the screw.

If you have ever built a computer in the past you may have encountered small red fibre washers that come with the motherboard and act as electrical insulators when you mount the board on the standoffs that clip or screw into the metal case/chassis. (do a Google search for "computer motherboard washers").  They usually have a 2mm hole which should be smaller than the diameter of the single coil mounting screws. they are pretty thin, but If you superglue 3 or 4 of them together and then tack them to the underside of the lugs on the pickup baseplates with a dot of superglue, the mounting screws will be able to create a good enough thread in them without damaging anything.

Funkfingers

BillDL said:

If the threaded holes in the lugs of the pickup baseplates are metal … 

The bobbin plates of Duncan Designed SC-101 single coil pickups are vulcanised fibreboard.

The baseplate of the OP's humbucker is metal but, as per Jackson HSS convention, the pickup will have been suspended through a mounting surround.

Switch625

So I finished late on Tuesday night. Had to go over my soldering a couple of times. First of all there was no sound whatsoever and I realised I messed up the input jack wiring (the standard wire was terrible and difficult to re-use) so I put some new wire in there, and a new switchcraft input jack that I had lying around whilst at it. All good after that with receiving sound at least.

Then the humbucker wasn't working at all. I initially did as Funkfingers suggested and tried to ground it to switch lug 4 but maybe I did something wrong or misunderstood (was I supposed to run another wire from this lug to the back of the volume pot too?). I then grounded it directly to the back of the volume pot all was good and all positions were working!

So here's how it was before:

And now:

I'm very happy with how it's turned out and the pickups are a million times better than the stock ones. And although I suck at soldering it's given me confidence and experience to try something similar in the future. Many thanks to everybody that commented on this thread and helped, especially @Funkfingers ;. Also a big thanks to @Gizmo ; for sending me the black volume and tone pots :-)

Funkfingers

Switch625 said:

was I supposed to run another wire from this lug to the back of the volume pot too?

Yes. Reread my July 4th post. 

Nunmore black suits the modified Pacifica. If/when you are happy with the pickup upgrades, there are things you could do about the selector switch and pots. Before those, the most important upgrade would be the skinny zinc vibrato sustain block.

Switch625

Yes I actually upgraded the bridge/block to a fender one sometime ago - it was the first thing I did! The block is about twice the size of the original and works well to my ears. 

Funkfingers

Good thinking, Batman.

Dave_Mc

Nice work!  I agree with @Funkfingers , that all-black look really suits it. 

ICBM

Dave_Mc said:

Nice work!  I agree with @Funkfingers , that all-black look really suits it. 

Very much so - and makes it look like a whole different class of instrument. The original dirty-white one just looks cheap, the black one looks much more like a high-quality guitar. Amazing what a difference a change like that makes. The Duncan logos on the pickups help too, even if they're only 'Duncan Designed'.

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

The original dirty-white one just looks cheap.

To be brutally frank, the white pickguard and everything on it is cheap. This how Yamaha keeps the price down on its entry level guitars and basses.

There was an argument for removing the entire assembly and storing it, ready to reinstate if it ever became necessary to sell the guitar.

The woodwork in the PAC012 is as good as in the 600 series - albeit without the exotic veneers.

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

Dave_Mc said:

Nice work!  I agree with @Funkfingers , that all-black look really suits it. 

Very much so - and makes it look like a whole different class of instrument. The original dirty-white one just looks cheap, the black one looks much more like a high-quality guitar. Amazing what a difference a change like that makes. The Duncan logos on the pickups help too, even if they're only 'Duncan Designed'.

Yeah that's exactly what I meant.