Help with wiring diagram I found here

I'm building a Tele kit and using GFS Lil Puncher pickups. I found a wiring diagram in a thread posted by WeirdBits showing how to use a 5 way super switch and two push pull pots to do all kinds of neat pickup configurations. I've tried twice to follow this diagram and both times the ground has been bad, loud humming as soon as I plug the guitar in and it gets much louder if I touch any metal part of the guitar.

The post is fairly old and I'm beginning to wonder if something was different about the pickups he was using. Mine have the Kwik Plug wiring and even though I have the five wire connectors for them I'm thinking the wires are different somehow.

I'm also unsure about how to wire the wire labeled N-, I've tried to different ways and the humming is still there but it may be caused by something else.

I would greatly appreciate any help I can get.

I love my lil'punchers. Good choice! Could you post a link to Weirdbits's diagram?

Sent from my LE2125 using Tapatalk

This will hopefully link to the thread page, the diagram is a couple posts down.

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...t=1748&page=16

Ok, looking at the pictures again answered my main question, the diagram was drawn before GFS went to the Kwik Plug arrangement. This is what I was worried about when I got the five wire connections, they don't equal an actual five wire setup.

The Kwik Plug leads can have 2, 3, 4, or 5 wires, depending on what’s supplied with the pickup. The images on GFS still show Lil’ Punchers with 5 conductor Kwik Plugs so it should be a valid option, and that’s what you’ve got, yes?

Often a loud ‘ground’ hum that gets louder when you touch metal is caused by the jack connections being reversed, so check that just in case. If it’s not that then it could be a number of things, especially when there is series/parallel switching involved.

The N+ and N- designate the Neck pickup’s signal connections after the push/pull series/parallel switch, as the positive(+) and negative(-) signals may be either green(+) with black(-) for series, or green&red(+) with black&white(-) for parallel. Same for the B+ and B- for the Bridge pup.

Post some pics of your wiring and pickup leads and we’ll see what we can see.

When I got the pickups originally they came with the four wire connectors, I went back and bought the five wire ones after I found your diagram. I've read other places that the way GFS wires their pickups now isn't truly coil split-able because they wire the end of one coil to the start of the next coil. With the Kwik Plug setup you've only got four places to send a signal.

My question about the N- wire was how to split it. Originally I ran a wire from C4 to B5 then a wire from B5 to the left center pole of the upper part of the column pot. Now I have a wire with two conductors with one attached C4 to the left center upper pole and the other attached B5 to the left center upper pole. I'm not sure if either way is right because the humming makes it nearly impossible to hear the pickups.

I'll try to post some pics after work, it's a bit of a mess in there.

Here are some links to pictures I took of the wiring, I'm not sure how to post pics here on my phone.

https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/...6329dc80c9ba7c

https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/...074dcd3421582e

I've also bought two new pickups similar to the GFS ones but with five normal wires on them so once they get here I'm going to try again.

Ah gotcha. The N- is drawn splitting in the diagram just to make it clear which switch lugs it needed to connect to, otherwise it was too messy to see clearly with just a pencil drawing. The N- just needs to make a connection from the push/pull lug to B5<->B3<->C4<->C2. When I actually wired it, because of the size and depth of the switch in the cavity, I ran the N- connection from the push/pull to C2 then C4 then B5 then B3 (black wire in the two photos below the diagram).

I can’t access either of your image links, invalid or no permission.

The pictures don't matter now, I took it all apart last night to get ready for the new pickups. Thank you for explaining the N- wire, that means what I had done the first time would have worked if I wasn't having other issues. I will report back once all my other parts get here and I go at this again.

Interesting to see what you did with the wiring, Weirdbits. I am curious which of the B+N options you use. Are they all useful settings?

I have the "Modern Vintage" version, four conductor, not quick connect. I set mine up so that each pup can select SC or HB, and with both pickups selected in SC mode, it has a "traditional" NN as well as a humbucking mode.

It may be because the modern vintage version is a little hotter, but the in SC mode they have a bit more top-end jangle. It's a good setting, particularly with the neck pickup, and particularly for playing clean. They are a little quieter than HB mode, of course, but a good sound and neither washes out. In HB mode the website says they should sound like a "PAF"... to my ear they are more in-between. More like a mini-humbucker. It's a good sound though, particularly with a bit of dirt. I don't use the SC+HB settings, though. In those setting the HB overpowers the SC.

Just FWIW ;-)

I wanted to reply to this thread but my bridge pickup has been on a slow boat from China. It got here today and now everything works as intended. I want to thank WeirdBits for such and interesting diagram that gives so many options. So, long story short, I got this to work with Arctec pickups. They are wired correctly to use with this diagram and work as intended as best as I can tell.

The following information is for completeness sake and for anyone else who wants to try this and finds this thread, I may post it in the original thread too. So, the Kwik Plug GFS pickups are not wired correctly even with the five wire connectors. I got my meter out and tested the connectors after my last post. The plug connectors are wired green for the tip, red and white together on the second area, black for the third and bare for the fourth. I also tried a Fleor brand pickup and they aren't wired right either. They come green and bare together, red and white together, and black by itself. No matter how I wired it in the it didn't seem to work, I tried every orientation of colored wires I could think of and it never made a good noise. So shout out to Arctec pickups for being wired correctly.

I got a great deal on my GFS pickups that were NOS and did not have the quick connects. I don't think the color codes are 100% consistent. There are lots of guides to how they are wired like this one...

https://madhatterguitarproducts.com/...ets-references

...but YMMV, particularly for the MIC pickups and double particularly when the company that sells them is not the company that made them, (both true with GFS). I can't complain about the way mine sound, but it's best to test them to see what goes where if there is any doubt.

By reputation Artec pickups sound good, and Korean made products have been pretty good quality in my experience. Should sound great. Hope you're happy with them and glad you got it playing!

Yeah, I really wanted to use the GFS pickups, I'll find a project to put them in eventually. The Arctec pickups seem fine though, at least for now.

Funny how that works. I started one build because I had a neck, and just stared acquiring parts until it became a bass. Did the same thing with a body. Now there I have this one really nice pickup on the shelf that keeps calling to me...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fender3x

Funny how that works. I started one build because I had a neck, and just stared acquiring parts until it became a bass. Did the same thing with a body. Now there I have this one really nice pickup on the shelf that keeps calling to me...

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This sounds like "silently" guitar building!

Shhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! She'll hear you!