Wiring bass humbuckers...

[fender3x]

I have a question about wiring bass humbuckers... I have a set of Bill Lawrence EB50 pickups and am wondering about the best way to wire them up. My current thinking is to wire them like a Jazz bass with VVT controls and no selector switch. I *think* that's also the way T-birds are wired, although I think some have a selector switch and others don't. No big deal to roll off the volume on the pup you don't want rather than use a switch, I figure. Most mfgs where I have been able to find a wiring diagram seem to wire 2-pickup, 2-volume control basses so that the volumes are independent. that's true with Rics, and with my G&L...

So two questions...

If I wire it like a Jazz is there any reason I would need a selector switch for the pups? Some basses seem to have them and some don't. Wondering if there is any sonic advantage to one or the other.

I am also curious whether anyone uses "Les Paul" wiring in a bass? Is there any reason to either do, or not do, this with a bass? Even the Rics with 2V2T controls seem *not* to do this, and am I wondering why?

[wazkelly]

Personally i would go master vol, master tone, traditional 3 way pup selector switch.
This allows for easier coil splitting if you choose to go down that path with 2 push/pull pots.
Traditional LP wiring would also work.
Traditional J Bass with 2 x vol & 1 x tone is ok and really only beneficial for cosmetic purposes IMO as once you back one off slightly it drops out of the mix.
Cheers, Waz

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[fender3x]

I like the simplicity of that, but the pups I will be using are identical, so I'd like to have two volumes to be able to balance them.

[wazkelly]

Raising and lowering pup height helps to achieve the right volume difference ehen used with a switch and master volume.
Suppose it all comes down to what holes are already pre drilled and how much room there is for more controls?

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[fender3x]

It has holes for pup selector, 2V 2T and jack...but I will be doing a solid color on the front, so plugging a couple of holes is not a big deal... or I might use them for switches to do series/single-coil/parallel switch... Although, lately I have been thinking that I never use the parallel setting on a bass that has Series/Single/Parallel...so a simple push-pull switch might be more elegant....

[wazkelly]

Parallel does not usually sound any good on Bass.

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[fender3x]

That's been my experience with my G&L and my DiMarzio J's. I suppose I should learn from that ;-)

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[Simon Barden]

But my old OLP Musicman style bass had one pickup with two coils wired in parallel with individual volume controls (like the PBG MM kit is designed for) and that sounded fantastic. As long as you get the polarity right so they aren't anti-phase, then they should sound fine. Don't forget that on a Jazz bass, the two coils are wired in parallel and people seem to quite like the sound with both volumes up. Parallel is the normal way of wiring two (or more) pickups. It's always going to sound a bit thinner than series because of the phase cancelling, but with some twin coil pickups, series can just be too fat sounding, so parallel is a better option.

[fender3x]

That's interesting. My Dimarzios sounded thin in parallel, as well as less hot. With the G&L parallel is not bad. It's just not quite as crisp as single coil and doesn't have the volume or booty of series.

I am thinking I may need to wire up an external control circuit to try out variations before I commit.

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[wazkelly]

I was referring to mainly out of phase parallel which seems to be most common suggested wiring on a push/pull switch for humbucker. Sounds horrid on a Bass and not much better on a guitar other than Fender Strat or Tele.
Parallel in phase such as J Bass is ok but when paired seems lower output than just one pup on its own.
On my recently finished MMB4 the coil split to isolate front coil and rear coil provides nicer sounds even if there is a significant drop in volume compared to normal series humbucker setup. Maybe a couple of mini dpdt on-off-on switches might be the answer as that provides a lot more useable combinations.

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[Simon Barden]

I really wouldn't do out of phase split on a single humbucker, far too thin a sound. Mad idea IMO. Even two out of phase humbuckers on a guitar have very limited uses. OK for a few Peter Green tracks but pretty useless for anything else. My Hamer with (until a few days ago) two out-of-phase P90 pickups sounded awful in the mid position. Sounds much better with the new bridge pickup and an in-phase mid position.

Series is always going to give a hotter, fatter signal than parallel, but there are times when you don't need that power. A louder sound almost always sounds better to the human ear, but get them at the same level (as when recording and mixing) and you might prefer the sound of the parallel option in many instances.

[fender3x]

The only bass I know of that has out of phase humbuckers is the old Gibson Ripper. One of it's settings was "out of phase-series". It was touted as a setting that could be used for funk. Having heard it I am pretty sure I'd never use it. It's not horrible...it's just super nasal. Interestingly, that bass and it's pups were designed by Bill Lawrence.

My G&L has been modded so that I can get pretty much any combination of in-phase coils. Out of all of the sounds I can get with it, I find that I use just two most of the time (neither of them a factory setting, BTW). Sometimes I like the neck pickup in single coil mode all by its self. Most of the time I like the neck pickup in single coil mode, and the bridge pickup in series. I never used the parallel settings. I think the only time I would is if I really wanted the single coil sound with the neck pickup solo'd, but needed humbucking to get the buzz out. Parallel generally seems like similar but not quite as good SC for the highs.

Of course the pups are in a different place on the bass I am working on... basically mid and neck rather than mid and bridge

[fender3x]

I wanted to do a little experimenting with switching before I put the wiring harness in a semi-hollow body. I was thinking of using switching like in the diagram from guitar electronics. Position 1 and Position 2 make sense to me. For both switches this is...

Both up series (position 1)
Both down parallel (position 3)

The middle has me scratching my head, though. The way it's labeled, the upper pickup, with the switch at position 2, should be single coil-North. What I see, however is that the North coil does not go to ground so it should be "off" in position 2. The hot lead seems to go to the South coil finish, and the South coil start is grounded. So, it looks to me like this is single coil-South rather than North.

On the lower pickup position 2 is labeled single coil-South. What I see, however, is that the hot lead goes to the North coil start, and the North coil finish goes to ground. Both South start and finish go to ground so the South coil should be "off."

So, to me, it looks like this switching will work, but that the single coil settings are actually the opposite of the way they are labeled. Do I have that right? Or am I, as usual, missing something. The switches I am using are like the on in the pic.



2962029621

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[WeirdBits]

Yep, the way it’s drawn the upper/neck pup splits to south coil, and the lower/bridge pup splits to north.

[fender3x]

Maybe that's why it says "reproduction or distribution is prohibited..."

[Robert Walter]

hi . I am building my first kit and really enjoying myself. the soldering is going well from the wiring diagram.all the pot wiring makes sense. it is a IB -6S. left handed bass. my question is that the diagram seems to show only one wire coming out of each of the humbuckers. what i have is 5 wires. 1 white, and a red and green fused together, and a black and bare fused together. is there another wiring diagram I am missing?

[WeirdBits]

The diagrams were created when the stock pickups were only two-wire, but the factory has recently started shipping 4/5 wire pickups. Normally, the following would be the layout:
Black = hot
Red + white = series link between coils (leave them joined and just insulate the ends if you're not coil splitting)
Green + bare = ground (and shield)

However, from your post it seems things are different again. Your description would suggest: white = hot, red/green = series link, and black/bare = ground. But, just to be certain, can you upload an image of the pickup wires and confirm they are the stock kit pickups.

[Brendan]

Red and Green fused together are the two coils of the humbucker. If you wanted to coil tap / coil split, you'd separate these two. If not, insulate them so that they don't touch anything and leave them alone. From your description, white will be hot and black / bare will be the earth. Looking at the diagram - your white wire will be the black from the diagram - your black will be the grey from the diagram. Hope that helps.

[fender3x]

Bump

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[fender3x]

So some decisions are made and some are pending...

This bass will have two humbuckers. One in mudbucker position, and one in p-bass position.

Controls will be 2V 2T, The "V" pots will have push-pulls for series/single-coil modes...

At some point I got the idea that I should do standard LP "dependent" wiring. But I have been wondering about that lately... I can't find any Gibson bases that were wired that way. Most that have simple wiring seem to be wired like a Jazz Bass with 2V1T. Some have some really funky circuitry. But am not sure I have found any with LP wiring.

So I am back at the question of whether to wire for independent controls or dependent controls?

[fender3x]

Ok...I may have been hasty. In another thread, I mentioned that I found a really amazing resource for bass wiring (http://www.ak-line.com/medium/Bassschaltungen.pdf). After looking through it, it seems I was wrong. Gibson has issued basses with 2V2T configurations that at times used dependent and at times independent wiring, but mostly dependent it seems. Same for Epiphones. Also Hagstroms and Guilds with 2V2T...even the Fenders (Coronado and Starfire) that have 2V2T... So if I do it dependent, it'll have company. There seem to be a number with 2V2T that do the wring independent as well. Mostly, but not exclusively without a switch.

I know more or less why people like one or the other on a quitar...but can't find anyone experimenting with it on a bass...