How To Wire Humbuckers

EDIT: You can find the diagram from this video on this page: robkiddhomepag...
My rough hand-drawn diagram was never meant for others, more as a way of showing you how I work through these tests and gradually add the information I need. But I've been asked about this custom wiring a few times, so I have cleaned up a couple of screen caps and put them in a PDF... Cheers!
In this video I rewire my Telecaster. It has two humbuckers, and I'm using a 5-way Fender Strat switch. As well as the original three pickup settings, my custom wiring has two single coil tones. I'm also using pickups from different winders, so I have to check which wire is which, and make sure the signals from all four coils are in phase. I also use a compass to ensure the two single coils will hum-cancel when selected together. My pickups are from two different winders and have different color codes.

[@RobMods]

Hi. I've added Super Thanks to my channel. If you've found the info in this video helpful, please consider donating via the "THANKS" button. Cheers!

[@mattliebenau9083]

Thanks. I’ve read about the polarity test with the meter but actually seeing it makes it easier to understand.

[@meadish]

This is a great video, although a fair bit is above my head due to insufficient background knowledge. I've already taken a few things away from it at first watch, but have no doubt I'll go back to reference it again - several times. New to everything about wiring, but I did manage to reverse a Tele control plate, and recently to properly follow and solder a HSS autosplit diagram on the first try, which has made me hopeful I may actually start to understand at least how some of this works after all...

[@Steve-mp7by]

I found out some pickup makers especially the Korean ones don't care about polarity and they have the positive and negative wires backwards. They only care if its in phase. Doing the DC mV test with a multimeter never fails when finding the right polarity

[@RobMods]

It's also very common on old Japanese guitars and basses from the 70's and 80's. I have a few other videos about swapping magnets or whatever to get single coils to hum-cancel. Cheers!

[@chrisball8080]

Hi Rob. Many thanks for the guidance on wiring of the humbuckers. I am making an 8 string Lap Steel Guitar right now and purchased two pickups and wanted to confirm the wiring. Your PDF will be useful. Cheers from the Sunshine Coast. Chris. 😎

[@joshuascholar3220]

Thank you. I bought a cheap wired pick guard, but it was miswired. I should be able to fix it now!

[@peterjohnson4932]

Great video, the polarity tip is particularly useful.

[@RobMods]

A great old tip. Not sure where I picked it up. Happy to pass it on! It's nice to wire up an instrument and be confident everything will be in phase after all your had work...

[@neilrobinson7615]

I think you may be checking polarity wrong if using a basic compass? The North Pole (the one at the top of the globe) that a compass points to with the red side of the pointing arrow is actually a magnetic south pole. So to determine the south magnetic coil you need the compass to point north and vice versa for the north magnetic coil.

[@RobMods]

It is all relative. It doesn't matter which is which, just as long as one coil is north and the other south. Cheers!

[@AmerikkkaGuitars]

wow such a wealth of information! Concise no bs

[@phillamoore157]

So, the video's title is "How to wire a humbucker".....and yet, that's the least amount of information that was given (or it was glossed over very quickly). You seem to be a very knowledgeable person. And, that's what this video was... A very impressive display of your vast amount of knowledge. This wasn't even remotely close to being a "how to" video. It's KZbin...people want to know what wire get's soldered to what pot. Keep it simple. Clicking the like & subscribe buttons because your intentions seemed to be genuine.

[@jr4233]

Quit crying.

[@dreadflintstone23]

Thank Rob, this vid has helped with my sterling stingray 5 pickup wiring issue (why manufacturer's use different colour wiring is so annoying). I'm planning on a push pull volume knob selecting series to parallel. Any advice?

[@RobMods]

Cool. Yeah all pickup makers have different colours, and different polarities etc etc. That's really what this video is for. For your stingray, the only thing I'd say is that the pickup will be 5-6dB louder in series mode. That's normal with a series/parallel switch. The EB 'rays with the 3-way blade switch use the extra switch poles to use resistors to attenuate the louder settings so all three positions have the same volume. With push-pull you will only have 2 poles, so that won't be an option. But that's cool it'll still be fine, just with a bit of a volume jump. Good luck with the mod!

[@AngelLaHash]

I'm up to the old meter part. I wonder if a oscilloscope will show your jump at a low fresh rate. Can get some ok cheap ones now. Even potable

[@KozmykJ]

Nice trick with the capacitance test to find the inner/outer orientation. I bought a cheap set of kid's 'Science Play' magnets from fleabay to test the poles. Weak enough so as not to disturb their magnetisation. I'm interested in the theory around the hum cancelling in the single coil positions. Is that from them being shorted ? I have an Ibanez RG which has had it's pickups replaced by the previous owner. Oh what fun !! Different colour convention and an 'interesting' 5-way switch logic ...

[@RobMods]

The end of the coil with the highest capacitance to the pole pieces isn't always the start as there are thousands of ways to design bobbins of course. But usually it is, especially in simple Fender style coils. This Kent Armstrong bridge pickup has its coils wrapped in (earthed) copper tape, plus they are very narrow coils of course, so that is why there was close to the same capacitance measured on both ends of the coil. Pole piece to coil capacitance is almost never mentioned on-line and I'll make a video about it in more detail some day... With exposed polepieces, even if they aren't earthed, it is still a good idea to have the start of the coil on the earth side of the circuit (where possible). This way it's less likely you'll get buzz injected into the coil when you touch the pole pieces. IMHO, this is one thing that many Fender style bass pickup winders need to look further into. The reason position 2 hum-cancels is simply that the coil used from one pickup is south and the coil used from the other is north. Just about any two coils that have reversed magnetic polarity will hum-cancel to some extent as long as their signals are in phase. You don't need the two coils to have been wound in the reverse direction to each other. This is a common misunderstanding. It can be preferable though, in certain cases... Thanks for watching my video, and good luck with the RG!

[@KozmykJ]

@@RobMods Aah ! I misunderstood the positions 2 & 4 configurations. I thought they were sounding from single coils only not a combination of a single coil from each combined. There I was scratching my head trying to figure how a shorted redundant coil could contribute to the hum-cancelling ... My Duh!

[@xOxsleepyheadxOx]

i love your channel. Its very informative and clear. Greetings from Philippines!

[@RobMods]

Thanks Michael.

[@peteroxx]

What is the function of tap on Ibanez guitar 5 way 3SWLSP5 switch? The DiMarzio black and white should go there but now they´re not and is sounds good but perhaps better with tap?

[@BeauHannamGuitars]

Nice one Rob

[@sega62s]

Hello , i got a question about wiring . I got a hollow guitar and want to change pickups, and it’s way too long to take out the pots from the guitar since it has only F holes to reach em. Can I cut the old pick ups wire and connect it to the new pickups? thx

[@RobMods]

Yes it's fine to cut and join pickup wires. With shielded wire, I use heat sink clips on the braid (earth) so it doesn't melt the insulation of the core. Oh and you'll have to get creative with the heatshrink to prevent a short.

[@Leatherjacks]

Hi Rob! Nice to meet you! Loved your video! I´d like to ask you one thing.. I´ve got a Fender Squier Strat, California Series, and I want to take off my tremolo factory bridge, and buy a Floyd Rose Bridge, but I intend to Dive Bomb Only (no up tones, just detuning down strings). Is it easy to install alone, or is it better for me to take my guitar to a tech? Thanks and hugs from Brazil! Mauro

[@MichaelMoore-nx5ue]

Awesome thank you so much

[@RobMods]

You are very welcome mate!

[@miguelantoniocastromejia1962]

Cool video

[@RobMods]

Thank you Miguel. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Getting your head around this stuff really opens up the pickup modding world...

[@chain872005]

Yeah my pickups only have 2 wires....

[@lesstime1678]

eduardo feldberg diagram

[@DougHinVA]

skip it... the pencil on paper diagram is so dim it cannot be used