DMS-1 The King's 4th Pitbull build

[Simon Barden]

Note that the wire colours will vary depending on the actual pickup.

[king casey]

Thanks mate

No worries Oli,
I left the bridge wiring as in that diagram but decided to experiment with
different combinations on the neck pickup.
Difficult to ascertain which ones work well as it's not strung up.

I'll probably leave it until the strings are on before I take it any further.

cheers, Mark.

[king casey]

Note that the wire colours will vary depending on the actual pickup.

Hi Simon. the wires were like the ones in that photo.
The red and green were twisted and soldered together.

cheers, Mark.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, but the red and green could come from different coils compared to the pickups used in the diagram. Never assume anything with pickup wring!

[king casey]

So impatience gets the better of me again.
30 coats of Tru-Oil but still half a bottle to go...

So to the wiring test.
Neck pickup switch works in one position, but from the other two nothing but stony silence.
Bridge pickup works on all 3 but lower volume in centre and front position.


The fat lady has yet to arrive at the stage.

cheers, Mark.

[Simon Barden]

Parallel and split options are always going to be lower output than full series humbucking.

As the switches and wiring for each switch should have been exactly the same, then I'd first suspect a dodgy switch or dodgy soldering.

A broken coil winding could also give you the same results so that you only get a sound in the parallel position. With a break, you won't get any sound in the series position and if the broken coil is the one selected by the split, then you'll no sound again. If the switch contacts all buzz out happily with a meter, then measure the resistance across the two coils and check you get a 3k-4k ohm reading for both coils. You'll really need to unsolder the wires from the switch to do that.

After that, there is a very small possibility that one pickup may have it's wire colours swapped, but you should be able to check this by comparing the underside of the two pickups. I can see from a photo that the green and red wires are connected to the same points, but can only see the black and white wire connections on one pickup.

[king casey]

As the switches and wiring for each switch should have been exactly the same, then I'd first suspect a dodgy switch or dodgy soldering.

Hi Simon. Actually they are not wired exactly the same.
I was experimenting with various differing schemes to see if I could peer through the technical thicket.

The act of tapping the pickup whilst it was plugged in was all I went by.
I knew when screwing the scratchplate into position that it was most likely coming off again very soon.
When I do take it apart again (hopefully) I'll have a better idea of what's working and what isn't.

Meanwhile I'm taking the time to try and get this set up.
Disappointed with the SCA 'Septone' clear. Despite the fortnight of Tru-Oiling the body, the neck is still sticky.
The standard SCA clear gloss is way better. Used it on the TL-R neck last week and it was almost instantly dry.

cheers, Mark.

[king casey]

Fixed a couple of issues...
Decided that the Bridge wiring was probably spot on so...
Wired up the Neck pickup the same...well it's a mirror of the bridge due to routing the wires.
edit: the yellow wire is actually white to make it legible for the diagram


Meanwhile the neck was so damned sticky that I decided to sand it back and refinish.
This is the stuff to avoid


This is the stuff to use


cheers, Mark.

[DarkMark]

I’ve seen the SCA clear mentioned before (I think Phrozin uses it). How does it compare with other finishes? How many coats do you give the neck?

[McCreed]

Interesting about your experience with the Septone. That was my preferred rattle can lacquer before I moved on to a spray gun.

I always recommended it over the Duplicolor clear. That's the one I had issues with.
I have been using the SCA clear in my gun though.