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Epiphone P90 pickup lead wires


heretic

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I know...I know... this has probably been asked and answered a zillion times, but I can't seem to find it here. So I humbly beseech the collective wisdom of the Illuminati of Epiphonia for the answer.

 

My Epiphone made pP90s have a RED wire, a WHITE wire and the BARE SHIELD wire. My confusion is because I'm a newby to P90s. Always had humbuckers. One wire or 4-wire. Now I got two P90s

 

For the Neck pickup, is — RED is the HOT lead, WHITE is GROUND (to Vol pot) and BARE/SHIELD is GROUNDED to Neck Vol pot.

 

For the Bridge pickup is — WHITE the HOT, RED is GROUND (to Vol pot) and BARE/SHIELD is GROUNDED to Bridge Vol pot BECAUSE this is the way you achieve HUM CANCELLING when BOTH pickups are ON?

 

Now comes the part that make my head hurt...

or the opposite order...

 

Neck WHITE, RED Ground, etc.

Bridge RED. WHITE Ground, etc.

 

Please make the PAIN GO AWAY!

 

—heretic

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Heretic, do you have an impedance meter? If so, set it up and touch the black lead to the shield, and the other to the red and then the white.

 

The red or white lead should give you the pickup impedance. (Write it down.)

 

If both leads give you a reading, then they you may be able to set your pickups up in or out of phase with each other.

 

I believe the typical arrangement is out of phase with each other so when they're both on, they act like a giant humbucker.

 

And the hotter pickup can go in the neck position if you want them to balance out, or in the bridge position if you want your solos to bump up in volume.

 

Here's the wiring diagram:

 

P90.jpg

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I know...I know... this has probably been asked and answered a zillion times, but I can't seem to find it here. So I humbly beseech the collective wisdom of the Illuminati of Epiphonia for the answer.

 

My Epiphone made pP90s have a RED wire, a WHITE wire and the BARE SHIELD wire. My confusion is because I'm a newby to P90s. Always had humbuckers. One wire or 4-wire. Now I got two P90s

 

For the Neck pickup, is — RED is the HOT lead, WHITE is GROUND (to Vol pot) and BARE/SHIELD is GROUNDED to Neck Vol pot.

 

For the Bridge pickup is — WHITE the HOT, RED is GROUND (to Vol pot) and BARE/SHIELD is GROUNDED to Bridge Vol pot BECAUSE this is the way you achieve HUM CANCELLING when BOTH pickups are ON?

 

Now comes the part that make my head hurt...

or the opposite order...

 

Neck WHITE, RED Ground, etc.

Bridge RED. WHITE Ground, etc.

 

Please make the PAIN GO AWAY!

 

—heretic

 

 

It doesn't matter, just wire them both the same. If you wire them opposite to each other they'll be out of phase. It has nothing to with hum cancelling.

 

Hum cancelling is achieved if one pick up is RWRP (Reverse Wound and Reverse Polarity).

 

 

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Brian,

THANK YOU! What was throwing me was the shield wire. I can barely spell "multimeter" let alone use one. Took me longer to search the interwebs on how to use it than it did to take the reading. Results are as follows: Bridge 9.46/Neck 9.34. Does that sound right? Does that mean that the bridge pup is "less hot" or pretty much equal? I've a few gripes that the bridge wasn't as hot a most would like. I just want period correct for 1956 and if it sounds "funky" by modern standards, that's what I'm looking for.

 

Thanks so much,

 

- heretic

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Jerrymac,

 

Thank you, too. I think that my Goldtop may have wired out of phase at the factory. I thought that it sounded "odd" in the middle position. It also had the 60 Hz buzz. I'm upgrading to CTS/Switchcraft. The factory soldering was really poor. Lots of cold solder connections.

 

- heretic

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It doesn't matter, just wire them both the same. If you wire them opposite to each other they'll be out of phase. It has nothing to with hum cancelling.

 

Hum cancelling is achieved if one pick up is RWRP (Reverse Wound and Reverse Polarity).

Thanks JM, I stand corrected (again).

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