WRONG WIRING ON THE BB KING MODEL? 2 MONO OUTPUT JACKS???

[Andreja]

HI EVERYONE,

This is the second part of my post I send many months ago and never got any answer. WHY???

Here I go again:

I have here one of those 80anniversary BB KING comemorative guitars.

For sometime I tought that the wiring was bad( and have posted it on a Forum, but never got a answer...) because definittly something was wrong with the wiring.I hate to mess with original factory wirings and there is no Gibson service where I live.

Anyway I took it to my tech and he discovered that there is 2 mono output jacks ( and not 1 stereo + 1 mono as stated in the Gibson add).

Is this a mistake from the factory for the guitar that costs like 3 or 4 regular BB Lucyles?

 

Please advice what is the original wiring supposed to be?

This way right now I need a 2 input jacks to get the guitar working on both pick ups.

There is no Stereo output jack provided inside just 2 MONO output jacks.

Come on... I own more than 20 Gibson guitars from the 50's to 2008. I am a old Gibson player and I never came across such situation.

 

Gibson should take more care about expencive guitars like this one, and provide answers to owners who are proud to own such guitars.

Awaiting reply from Administrator or Gibson people...and you Forum members...

Andreja

[L5Larry]

This is my understanding (from seeing the diagrams) of how Gibson is wiring their dual-jack stereo/mono guitars such as the BB and the Memphis 345. There IS two mono jacks, but one is known as a "closed circuit" jack. I'm going to call them J1 & J2 for the jacks, and PU1 & PU2 for the pickups, you'll have to figure out which is which, or if indeed your guitar is wired wrong, which I doubt.

 

One jack should work as a combined mono signal when NOTHING is plugged into the other one. When you plug into the second jack it disconects the signal from the second pickup going to the first jack and leaves you a single pickup signal to each jack. let me try to be a little more technical in my expaination.

 

J1 is a closed circuit type jack. PU1 is wired to it. "Closed circuit" means that if nothing is plugged into it, the contacts are "closed, and it sends that signal, somewhere else, in this case to the other jack. J2 is a standard jack with PU2 wired to it, AND the closed circuit signal from J1. So when you plug a standard TS (tip/sleeve) plug into J2 only, without anything plugged into J1, you will have the signals from both pickups. When a TS jack is plugged into J1 at any time you will only have the signal from PU1 and have "opened" the circuit in that jack, disconnecting it from J2. So when plugged into both jacks you will have each jack sending the signal from a single pickup.

 

Both jacks are for use with standard TS (tip/sleeve) two wire cords. Neither one uses a stereo TRS (tip/ring/sleeve) three wire cord, or is a stereo jack. This wiring of dual jacks eliminates the need for a special stereo cord, and allows stereo operation with two standard off the shelf guitar cords.

 

Let me boil it down:

When plugged into J1 only - Combined "mono" signal of both pickups

When plugged into J2 only - PU2 only

When plugged into both jacks - J1 sends PU1 only, and J2 sends PU2 only.

 

I hope that helps, here's a link to the wiring diagram off an"official" Gibson website:

http://www.gibson.com/Files/schematics/thinline.gif

[Andreja]

L5 Larry, Many thanks for the detailed explanation. I got a answer finaly from someone who knows what is going on.

I will try to explain what is happening in my case.

- When using J1 one pick up works (Lead) + middle position ( both pick ups).

When I go to J2 the other PU works (rythm) + middle position ( both pick ups).

In no case any of the 2 inputs give me MONO with both PU's working indivisualy + middle position with both on.

I can get one PU working in J1 and the other pick up in J2.

I suppose that there must be some kind of bad connection somewhere than enables me to have the correct (standard)Mono output.

I hope you understand what I mean.

Thanks again and Greetings - Andreja

[bobv]

When you have stereo wiring and two cords going to two channels on an amp, the idea is that they will be buffered and the volume and tone controls will work separately and completely independently. If I understand your dilemma what you're experiencing is that, when the switch is in the center position, it defeats this feature and runs then two pickups together out to both outputs. Then turning down one volume knob would kill both pickups.

 

In order to keep the circuits separate, make sure there are two hot lines coming off of the selector switch. Check the connections to the toggle switch, there are two outer lugs connected to the volume pot of the respective pickup, and two inner lugs that go to the output - it's possible that they inadvertently connected the two center lugs together like they would on a mono guitar. You might be able to see this with an inspection mirror without removing the switch.