EX5 humbuckers wiring

[Lloydy]

Hi Brains trust, I revived my new EX5 today, I’ve been doing my research on wiring up my pickups, problem is, all diagrams show 2 wires which I understand, but mine have 3, there’s a black wire that I’m not sure about, has anybody else come across this? If so what have you done about it. Thanks in advance Lloydy

[Brendan]

At a guess Lloydy - you'll have three sets of wires -

Green & bare = ground (& shield)
red & white = link between coils (twisted together and tip soldered together)
black = hot

ultimately - it gives you options to split the two coils of the humbuckers or you can mask off the red and white (wrap with heat shrink / electrical tape) to make sure it doesn't contact the shielding from your cavity and use the green and bare as your earth and black as your hot wire.

[Simon Barden]

Hi and welcome. Can you post a photo? Is there also a braid screen? You mentioned a red/white wire in your other post. Is this actually two wires (one red, one white) soldered together? If so, that is the connection between the two coils (so the connection will remain unconnected and should be insulated, unless you want to do a coil split) and the pickup connections will be the green and the black wires - though you'll also need to connect the braid screen as well.

The kit factories keep changing supplies for pickups, so it's hard to keep on top of what's current.

[Lloydy]

Hi Simon,
Yes the red/white is two wires soldered together and the green has the braid soldered together, leaving a single black wire that I’m not sure about, also I haven’t worked out how to post pictures yet

[Lloydy]

Hi Brendan, yes that makes sense from what I’ve been studying, thanks a lot👍🏻

[Simon Barden]

Yes then, just how Brendan described.

Unfortunately there isn't an industry standard wiring-colour scheme. Most 4-wire pickups use red, white, green and black coloured wires, but that's primarily because that's how the standard bought-in cable was made, with easy to distinguish colours. But how those colours are connected to the pickup vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer. You always need to double-check the colours with the supplied instructions or manufacturer's web site (if available).