Pickup identification and wiring

[Chris Pink]

I have a pickup on an old guitar that is wired incorrectly (or it just sounds rubbish). I was experimenting with it in the early 1980s.  I was told at the time that the pickup was an early Kent Armstrong pickup, made in Brighton. 

Anyway, I'm having a look at the way the pickup is wired and it's wrong, two of the coils go to earth on one side, so parallel, but the right phase? With the switch they are either one single or both parallel. 

 

There's no colour coding to the wiring. just 4 tabs. How can I tell which is start and which is end? does it matter? can I just connect the two inside and run the others to earth and hot?

Thanks in advance for any insights. 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Chris Pink

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Chris Pink said:

...There's no colour coding to the wiring. just 4 tabs. How can I tell which is start and which is end? does it matter? can I just connect the two inside and run the others to earth and hot?...

 

Have a look here, maybe..?

 

 

A common 'standard' wiring joins the middle two solder tabs, and uses the two outer tabs as 'hot' and 'ground', giving a twin-coil 'humbucker' effect. Hope this helps. 

 

Douglas

[Chris Pink]

That was what I was going to try. I seemed to have wired it out of phase with the neck pickup, so I’ll reverse it. I’ve no idea what the neck pickup is either but it sounds a lot nicer at the moment. As the guitar cost me £26 in 1976 I can afford to experiment a little. 

[Chris Pink]

On 23/10/2023 at 23:38, Dad3353 said:

 

Have a look here, maybe..?

 

 

A common 'standard' wiring joins the middle two solder tabs, and uses the two outer tabs as 'hot' and 'ground', giving a twin-coil 'humbucker' effect. Hope this helps. 

 

Douglas

It did indeed. I’m not sure what I was taking when I wired it in the 80s but it sounds awesome now. Chunky, a little vintage but very present. Maybe it is an early Kent Armstrong after all. Took me two goes to get it in phase but it’s good now.

 

Thanks for the pointer. 

[Dad3353]

[tele-strat owner]

On 23/10/2023 at 16:38, Dad3353 said:

 

Have a look here, maybe..?

 

 

A common 'standard' wiring joins the middle two solder tabs, and uses the two outer tabs as 'hot' and 'ground', giving a twin-coil 'humbucker' effect. Hope this helps. 

 

Douglas

Being a FNG, NOOB I have to point to this direction also. I do double check and recheck other sources I find him spot on, on point. and YUP good old experimentation.