Guitar Electronics Tutorial - How to make a 2 wire humbucker into a 4 wire!

[@williardbillmore5713]

I have argued with guitarists and guitar techs alike who say that what you just did is absolutely impossible. They claim that a pickup has to me made a four wire at the factory when it is wound. You and I know that is not so. I have been splitting old two conductor humbuckers for decades. USB cables made it so simple. Push/pull pots made it even easier I was so happy the first time I cut up a USB cable and found four color coded conductors with a shield.

[@djstringsmusic2994]

I'm pretty sure every person who has EVER EVER soldered has wished they had 3 hands lol

[@pr0toncat]

I've cut my wires for my Seymour Duncans way to short and was already thinking of abandoning them but your video gives me confidence that I will be able to put new 4-Conductor wires onto them so I can use them again. Thanks for the Video!

[@rutiger6901]

This a good show! Your close up camera is extreme helpful.

[@ArtisanSmithy61]

Been trying to figure out how to wire my 2 wire humbucker to a DPDT switch, when all diagrams seem only to connect a 4 wire. Now I know how to convert mine to a 4 wire, thanks to your video. Many thanks, mate! :)

[@bramabull111]

Does it work?

[@SomeplaceWonderful]

Great tutorial. Looks like you only ever posted one but you made it a useful one. Tinning the wire ends and covering the exposed solder points with liquid insulation instead of tape makes things a bit easier.

[@williardbillmore5713]

High temp hot melt glue is wonderful for that. The tape is still useful for protecting everything and making it all look neat and tidy.

[@Motorsheep]

Stumbled across this by accident looking for a tutorial on how to wire 4-wire humbuckers for a coil-split setup. You just saved me a bunch of money. I was about to buy a new pair of 4-wire humbuckers since my guitar has 2-wire pickups in it.

[@zeniu.]

Did it work?

[@Motorsheep]

@@zeniu. Like a charm! The wires are very thin and you have to be very, very careful stripping them, as you can easily rip whole the wire apart instead. But other than that, no problem.

[@zeniu.]

@@Motorsheep thanks for the response, gonna coil split my neck pickup tmrw cause i dont have a soldering iron rn also im just splitting the 2 cables between the coils so it shouldnt break cause they are pretty thick

[@zeniu.]

@@Motorsheep thanks for the response, gonna coil split my neck pickup tmrw cause i dont have a soldering iron rn also im just splitting the 2 cables between the coils so it shouldnt break cause they are pretty thick

[@cjjaxxon]

I got some cheap MusicMan 2 coil bass pickups that came 2 wire but they're made different making it hard to take apart. However looking at it closer I do see the wire connecting both coils. But it's black.

[@jorgealbertoordonezdorado302]

Qué tal Matt buenas noches me encanto tu video no hablo Inglés, tendré que verlo con mucha atención para hacerlos en el humbucker de mi ibanez rg . Un saludo...gracias 🙏

[@olegs5835]

Спасибо. Понял и тоже переделал, нужна просто окуратность, и время😊

[@ChrisJoyeMusic]

Looks good! Might do this to mine. Thanks for the quick video and sped up slow parts.

[@lalob.fuentes7089]

Next time use cokd silicone (some kind of glue) to cover the little solders inside the pickup. Very good video.

[@sergigahr]

tin the tip and the stripped ends makes things muuuuuch easier

[@RustyRaceHorse]

Wholly shit. 10 years ago? Was this video originally on MySpace or Expert Village?!?!

[@zeniu.]

Im a bit late here but im going to try this out tommorow!

[@ululufut]

awesome video!

[@sunnys3325]

Does the AWG matter here? For instance Dimarzio and Duncan leads are quite thin in comparison to 2 lead pickups. I believe they are 22 or 24 AWG. Im trying to jus lengthen 1 wire in a used Dimarzio Fast Track pickup. I want to make sure I use the correct AWG as I have read that will have an effect.

[@AsGodIsDead]

Does it really work? And where is the second video?

[@az2008yt]

Yes, it works. I converted my Epiphone Special-II pickups. I created a how-to with photos to add more detail about things I thought were important (but my how-to is not as informative as this video). Google for "Special-II: Convert 650R & 700T pickup leads from one-conductor to four". EDIT: Later I installed switched-wiring mods, demonstrating how to use the 4 wires. It's linked at the end of that how-to. (When it's indexed, you can search for "Special-II wiring mod: "Albert King tone" & coil-cut / parallel coils")

[@roberte03915]

Found the missing piece to my puzzle here - thanks

[@INTERNATIONAL_RDF-D]

How can I go backwards I have an OLD 4 wire dimarzio I pulled from a butchered 1966 Kingston s4t that I'm rebuilding for my best friend/ roommate...... trying to use as much of the original guitar as possible. Plus dimarzio dare just damn good pickups Trying to splice it into some fender squid bullet guts I had from a pawn shop. But the pickups were all 1 wire and ground. So ima in a bit of a pickle.

[@az2008yt]

If you want to go back to 1-conductor plus ground, then the South Start wire goes to the ground point on the humbucker's metal plate. (That's what would be the green wire if you use DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan colors.). Your two Finish wires should be soldered together at the coil to create serial coil wiring. And, your North Start wire goes to the one-conductor hot wire. So, essentially, you create the serial coil wiring at the coil (with the two finish coil wires, instead of sending them to the control cavity). That leaves you with two coil wires. If you only want one, then send the South Start to the ground point at the pickup. Then, all you have is the hot coil wire (North Start) and the ground/shield wire (carrying South Start).

[@rubensalvador2121]

Hey Matt, thanks for the tutorial! I wanna ask you... The USB cable has to be with 4 wires plus bare as ground, isn't it? I started the thing but my USB has only the 4 colour coated wires and no ground, and I thought maybe better asking than soldering and desoldering... Can I do it with that? What could I use as ground then? Thanks for the tutorial and keep it DIY-ing, man!!

[@az2008yt]

Ruben, I haven't seen Matt replying to anything. If you're going to do this work, you should have frame ground and shield. I did this mod to my Special-II's one-conductor pickups. (I created a how-to showing some additional detail. It can be found googling for "Special-II: Convert 650R & 700T pickup leads from one-conductor to four"). I used Gavitt 4-conductor pickup wire. It's 28 gauge, stranded, tinned. It has a bare wire coiled around the insulated conductors for the frame ground. And, foil wraped around all that for shield. It makes contact with the bare wire, so it's all one ground. You can find it on eBay, etc.

[@rubensalvador2121]

@@az2008yt Hey buddie, thanks for the reply! I've looked at your "how-to" before you told me!! Heheheh, between the two publications, the process comes clear so both two combined are the real deal!. I've tried with a mouse USB wire 'cause it was the only expendable I've had at the moment but after checking that was no grounded, I went for another one thicker and there it went! I didn't test the trick cause I'm waiting for some push pulls I ordered, and a multimeter, but if went wrong, my hands fault, the tutorial comes clean with every step you take... Thanks, I'll write back when checked the trick. ;)

[@az2008yt]

@@rubensalvador2121 The USB wire should work. My USB wire looked the same as pickup wire (28ga stranded). But, it had different colors. I was already struggling with all the different colors I was looking at. (I didn't think it would be a good idea to translate "orange is green."). As long as you have the separate bare/shield ground, it will be the same (as ordinary pickup wire). I'm glad the forum how-to was helpful. I was wary about this mod until I saw the video. Seeing someone doing it makes a big difference compared to reading about it. I think the one thing the video may not have emphasize is going slow, trying to handle the pickup less. (I feel like, I if I had tried to do it as easily as the video shows, I would have broken something. I feel like being patient, going slow was an important part of success.). Feel free to post your success as a reply to that how-to. Post a photo, anything you had trouble with, could have been explained better, etc. (It doesn't have to be a Les Paul guitar. They talk about other guitars there. The "Custom Shop" area is open to all guitars.).

[@rubensalvador2121]

@@az2008yt I've already done the new wiring of the pickup. The USB I found had the 4 colour classic (RGBW) and a bare ground, so I followed the Seymour Duncan "way" (I've just put a P-Rail on the neck where I took this pickup to mod so I thought better to follow that "familiar" way to unify "criteria"). In my case, I've modded a "Gretschbucker", cause is not a bad sounding hb, with some sparkle, and I would like to try it in other ways, because I've never seen or heard any mod on that model. I've found some troubles for a beginner that maybe somebody read and could be helpful: -The "uncovering" of the pickup, a hard solder to break easy, so it took time and patience. (Or a Dremel that I don't have :P) -The wax cover of the pickup instead of coil tape. It makes harder to take pickup wires free, but, again, patience makes the trick (and when soldering too, keeping as much wax as possible, protects and keeps the pup on one piece) -The wire that connects both coils in series that must be cut, it's very short, so you have to be very careful with where you cut and "peeling" it. -And finally, take care to keep some wax you get rode off when freeing the pup wires, in order to put some in the middle piece inside of the top of the gretsch cover. It will help, with some heat, to keep the coils closer to the cover as originally and then, when solid, solder back that two points you broke in the beggining. I've just checked the connections with a multimeter and all went ok so next step will be to put the p'up in the neck of an 00's Stagg LP Custom that I bought as my first contact to electric guitars. My intention is to wire it to a pushpull pot in series/parallel instead of coil splitting (opinions here? ;) ) and if i'm pleased with the results, I'll do the mod to the bridge pickup I kept on my Jet too, to have some single-coily tones from the bridge to mix with the rail of the neck PR and give the guitar a twangy new option. So, tomorrow I'll probably try the GBucker in the Stagg to check if all went well with "real fire" and I'll make you know how it went ;). I hope it's understandable. English is not my main language... :P

[@az2008yt]

@@rubensalvador2121 I'm glad you had success. Regarding coil splitting with a 2-position push-pull switch, I would do parallel coil wiring instead of "cut." In the short time I've had a 3-position toggle to hear both types of single-coil sounds, parallel sounds *slightly* better to me. A *little* brighter/clearer. (Sometimes "cut" sounds better depending on how the vol/tone knobs are adjusted. But, most of the time parallel sounds better to me. If I had to choose one, I'd chose it.). BTW: A forum member mentioned Seymour Duncan "Triple Shot rings." I'm considering installing those on my Special-II guitar to replace the two 3-pos toggles I installed for coil switching. In some ways they may not be better. (The switches are on the humbucker rings. Not as easy to change tone in the middle of song.). But, it gives you serial (normal) & parallel coil wiring; and two "cut" options, letting you choose which coil is active. I think I'd like 3-pos toggles better (easier to manipulate). But... that idea got me to thinking how I can use my two 3-pos toggles for modern & 50's tone wiring. I think that would be a useful addition of tonal range. (One of those things where, if I had to choose I'd probably choose 50s tone. But, modern tone wiring sounds good too. I think it would be nice to have both. I'm going to post a diagram of that, using a 3PDT on-on switch.). I'd like to find a 5-pin mini Molex connector so I could quick-connect my pickups. I'd like to do more mods to them (replace the ceramic magnets with Alinco, mix-match coils. There is a "DiMarzio air mod" I'd like to try. Unsoldering 5 wires inside the cavity, pulling the cable out... I think I'd do a lot more experimenting if I could just lift the pickup 3-4 inches & unplug a connector. I think it would have to be flat to fit in there.

[@andrewbennett96]

thank you very interesting

[@Anshul1614]

I kinda wish he would've made more tutorials. Wonder what happened to him.

[@rga1117]

Thanks good job 👍🏼

[@MRay-zj4ro]

I'm not going to try this but it sure is interesting, man. :)

[@joshnolte]

What about 4 conductor to 2 conductor?in short, 4 conductor wire pickup into 50's style wiring harness for a les paul. All I have seen online is the 2 core conductor

[@mixmasterwillyd9959]

I would like some more please. :)

[@nuclearbeige3038]

Ive never seen wire cutters on a Swiss army knife before. Must be something exclusive to Europe. (I live in America)

[@MinistryOfStrings]

They come on the handyman or craftsman models. I also live here in the states and i have the craftsman. I'm preety positive the come on the Swiss champ models as well.

[@xyrius]

There is a wire cutter every SAK which comes with a flathead screwdriver/bottle opener. The tiny U shaped part is a wire cutter. Obviously it only works with small wires.

[@gabrielmorton8054]

Why would someone want to do this? Cool splitting? Any other reason?

[@Anshul1614]

You can coil split, but I'm definitely interested in the middle position sound when coil split. That's a very cool sound depending on how you wire it.

[@xyrius]

You can use both of the coils independently, wire them out of phase, etc.

[@adammurray6190]

Will this work for a 3 conductor? I have a DP100 that has Black, White and Ground but I want to do a straight swap for the 4 conductor Duncan pup I have in a guitar already so thought the easiest way is to convert the DP100 to a 4 conductor. Will the same still apply?

[@fernandogrille6884]

Adam Murray si, funciona correctamente.

[@williardbillmore5713]

If you are just taping one coil out to ground three wire is fine.(headphone wire) If you want to do out of phase switching as well, four wire with a shield is a must.

[@sebastianvergara8175]

THANKYOUVERYMUCHSIR

[@daywar13]

Seems easy enough

[@bramabull111]

Has anyone else tried this? Does it work?

[@pablohernandezsoares4504]

It does, I did it

[@Nick-te3nv]

This isn't a two conductor pickup it's a single conductor. The ground is not included. My guitar has actual two conductors plus ground.

[@deepseadiver8191]

80% of the video is out of focus 🤣. Useless.