Invader Jim

I just finished doing this to my Gibby 490R pup so I figured I'd make a tutorial.

Alrighty, so you have a stock Gibson (or other brand) pup that you love, but is only 2-conductor, you wanna get some fancy wiring going but can't/don't wanna spend a small fortune on the 4-wire version of the same pup. I can help!


Tools you'll need:
*Soldering iron/solder
*A DMM (digital multimeter) to make sure the pup still has continuity if something happens. Also used to test it when you're done
*A small-diameter 4+shield cable (USB cables are perfect)
*A tapered reamer (recomended) or drill for if the hole in the mounting bracket is too small for the cable
*A dremel to grind the lip around the drilled or reamed hole (to prevent it from cutting through the cable)
*A screwdriver to remove the screws holding on the bobbins and (if it's a Gibson) the screw poles
*Electrical tape or 1/8" heat-shrink tubing (recomended) to insulate the lead wires

Disclaimer: Perform this mod at your own risk. It's not that difficult and usually not the most delicate area of pup surgery, but it's still very possible to ruin a nice pup if you aren't careful. I have ruined alot of very nice pups when I first started practicing. I am not responsible for ANY damages to your gear. PRACTICE ON DEAD/JUNK PUPS. I recommend reading this entire thing a few times to get an idea of the big picture before you go at it step-by-step.

Ok first off, if the pup has a cover you gotta remove it. A 20w-30w iron with a chisel tip is great for this. Then you'll need to carefully remove the block of wax encasing the bobbins and scrape it away (keep the scraping implement away from the sides of the bobbins!). Holding it near a heat source (like a light bulb) will soften the wax making it easier to work with.

Next (or if the pup didn't have a cover), remove that coil tape going around both bobbins, like so:


Remove the screws holding the pup to the bracket (if it's a Gibson pup, you also need to remove the screw pole pieces) and de-solder the lead wire that's soldered to the bracket. Here's the 490R completely disassembled:


Before you continue, get a pencil and a piece of paper and make a diagram showing what went where. It'd also help to mark the magnet. I marked it with a silver sharpie on the side facing the slug coil and a black sharpie on the high-e string side. (Doing this helps to keep the polarity of the magnet the same if it isn't glued to the bracket).


Now this pup has nice long lead wires that are soldered together and taped; great to work with. Many pups have very short wires that lead from inside one coil to inside the other. These are more difficult to work with.

If you have the latter variety, cut it (the series link) in the middle and strip back some insulation by heating it with the iron (for me this is the easiest, least risky method). You don't have to cut it if you are too afraid you'll mess it up beyond repair. Simply melt away some insulation and solder a single wire to the bare spot. This will take the place of the 2 "series link wires" of 4-wire pups (think Peavey's old 3-wire pups).

If it's the former (as is this case), simply remove the tape and desolder the wires (see the disassembled pic). Also desolder the braided wire (if applicable) from the bracket.

Now get your new 4-wire cable ready. USB cables are absolutely perfect for this; they are long, foil and/or braid shielded, and have 4 conductors (red, white, black, green, and bare) that can be wired to many manufacturers' specs.

Strip about 1" - 1.5"off the outer insulation, seperate the bare braid, grab about 1/3 of the strands and twist them together and tin it. Cut off the rest of the bare wires. It may also have a foil shield. Unwrap it and cut it off. Now remove about 1/8" off each of the 4 conductors, twist them together, and tin them.


Ok, now it's time to work on the coils. Always remember that humbucker coils are wired in series. The signal goes to the START of the first coil. The FINISH of BOTH coils are connected together. The START of the OTHER coil is ground. Making a map and knowing this, it's easy to properly wire the pup in phase. I wired this one to Gibson specs (red=North Start, Green=North Finish, White=South Finish, Black=South Start). Remember to ground the bare wire to the bracket. Here is the first coil when connected:


Now do the other coil and tape the solder joints to keep them from shorting to each other (1/8" heat-shrink tubing is a more professional solution) and re-assemble the pup. Find a nice place to tuck the wires.


And re-apply (or get new) coil tape.


If the pup had a cover, simply solder it back on. If you want, you can re-pot the inside of the cover and set the pup down in it to encase it in wax just like it originally was.

That's it. Now you can wire it any way you want. With a little practice (on junk pups), this becomes a lot less intimidating.

RIP_bonham

i dont know if i would ever need this, but nice tut jim!

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Unherolike

Good Tut Jim I might do this with my BC's pup its only the standard two wire hookup.

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Hearing about a pair of great boobs is like hearing about a really cool bug or lizard as a kid and you just gotta see it.

Invader Jim

The Bill Lawrence?

Comrade Curry

I you Jim, thank you so much!

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www.fractaluniversemusic.com

Unherolike

No Jim its just the crappy BC pup that came with my Bc the Lawrence is in the Sl i got from you.

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Hearing about a pair of great boobs is like hearing about a really cool bug or lizard as a kid and you just gotta see it.

wiliscool

Awesome, I've got 490s in my SG and I've always wanted to do something cool with that thing. Its on the list.

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cedricsmods

Great tutorial Jim! I ought to try this on the no-name 'buckers I banished from my LP copy.

livrockdie

There was a really in depth one on here, but its probably buried somewhere in the depths of the archives, I couldnt find it when I searched. I guess it was about time for a new one then...

THE Saint Jimmy

This is pretty cool Jim, nice Tut as well.

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I'm sellingvintage crybaby/random bits [/URL]

Invader Jim

There was another tut, but I couldn't find it. I had gotten a couple of questions and I searched for the link but never found it. May have ended up getting deleted. Anyway I was tired of saying the same thing over and over so I made this one anyway.

Little_Buster

Nice man.
Great tutorial
I might have to use this sometime

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SomeoneYouKnew

Le Guru de Search found this:
Splitting 2 conductor p'up+wax potting tutorial---WITH LIKE 50 PICTURES!!!
but maybe that wasn't the same one you were thinking of...

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Meadows

Invader Jim

Meh.

Mine's more organized.

SomeoneYouKnew

Indeed it is, Jim.
Now all ya gotta do is trim down the bloody pics to 640px wide or less.

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Meadows

Invader Jim

Alright, you big baby.

rancidryan

wow thanks for this tutorial

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timbit2006

This tutorial is awesome!
For the pup tape, You could also use thin cardboard. Works just as good as tape.
Now, If only there was a 4 Wire Humbie to 2 Wire Humbie tutorial.
My Humbuckers starting to piss me off...

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--Tyrone the White
Canada.

Invader Jim

4 wire→2-wire is pretty self-explanatory. Just take the pup apart and connect the two coil finish wires internally and put the two remaining wires onto a 2+shield or vintage-style gibson cable.

How the hell is cardboard going to stick?