Help needed Mustang Hot rail wiring

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Downsman
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Help needed Mustang Hot rail wiring

Post by Downsman » Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:21 am

Hi,

So I just tried wiring up my new Artec Hotrail style humbucker in the bridge using the diagram below. I like the switching options it's meant to produce. It didn't work. Then I found out that not all humbuckers use the same colour coding, and I don't know enough about them to figure out where I might have gone wrong. Can anyone tell me whether I stick to the colours in the diagram, and if not, which wires on my humbucker correspond to which wires in the diagram? I'm attaching the explanation for the Artec wires. Unfortunately I don't know what humbucker that diagram is based on.

Also, the diagram has the neck pickup ground go to the volume pot. Does it need to go there, or can I wire it onto the bottom left slug on the bridge switch where the other grounds are?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Image

Image

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tammyw
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Re: Help needed Mustang Hot rail wiring

Post by tammyw » Mon Dec 06, 2021 3:31 pm

I don't think the switch 2 layout is correct regardless, it looks more like Series - Off - Parallel. Here's how I would do it for Split - Series - Parallel:

Imagine labeling the pins on the switch as:
[1] [2]
[3] [4]
[5] [6]
[7] [8]

Then connect them like this:
1 - unused
2 - connect to ground (or connect to 7, which will also be connected to ground)
3 - unused
4 - connect to 5
5 - Red wire from pickup (and connected to 4)
6 - White wire from pickup
7 - Black and bare wires from pickup, and connect to ground
8 - Green wire from pickup, and connect to switch 1 the way you have it

In split mode, that will give you the screw coil, and leave the slug coil dangling. You could optionally connect 1 to 2, and separately connect 3 to 6, so the slug coil would be in a ground loop instead of dangling, but I don't think it makes a difference.

Any ground point is fine as long as it has continuity back to the jack sleeve.
All pain and troubles melted away like lemon drops beyond the contrails across the sky.

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Downsman
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Re: Help needed Mustang Hot rail wiring

Post by Downsman » Mon Dec 06, 2021 4:24 pm

tammyw wrote:
Mon Dec 06, 2021 3:31 pm
I don't think the switch 2 layout is correct regardless, it looks more like Series - Off - Parallel. Here's how I would do it for Split - Series - Parallel:

Imagine labeling the pins on the switch as:
[1] [2]
[3] [4]
[5] [6]
[7] [8]

Then connect them like this:
1 - unused
2 - connect to ground (or connect to 7, which will also be connected to ground)
3 - unused
4 - connect to 5
5 - Red wire from pickup (and connected to 4)
6 - White wire from pickup
7 - Black and bare wires from pickup, and connect to ground
8 - Green wire from pickup, and connect to switch 1 the way you have it

In split mode, that will give you the screw coil, and leave the slug coil dangling. You could optionally connect 1 to 2, and separately connect 3 to 6, so the slug coil would be in a ground loop instead of dangling, but I don't think it makes a difference.

Any ground point is fine as long as it has continuity back to the jack sleeve.
Thanks so much, that's very helpful and kind of you. Just to be clear, with the colours you mention for the different pins, are those the colours for the actual pickup I have, or the colours from the wiring diagram I found? I tried to track down where I found the wiring diagram and I think the person said it was for a Seymour Duncan HB, but they were adapting it from someone basing it on DiMarzios, so can easily imagine mistakes creeping in.

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tammyw
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Re: Help needed Mustang Hot rail wiring

Post by tammyw » Mon Dec 06, 2021 7:36 pm

Oh, yeah, I meant for the pickup shown in your first image.
All pain and troubles melted away like lemon drops beyond the contrails across the sky.

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timtam
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Re: Help needed Mustang Hot rail wiring

Post by timtam » Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:05 pm

Artec's wire colour convention is in their wiring book.
http://www.artecsound.com/wiring/wiring_book01.pdf

Others here:
https://guitarelectronics.com/guitar-wi ... lor-codes/
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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Downsman
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Re: Help needed Mustang Hot rail wiring

Post by Downsman » Tue Dec 07, 2021 9:23 am

tammyw wrote:
Mon Dec 06, 2021 7:36 pm
Oh, yeah, I meant for the pickup shown in your first image.
Just want to say a huge thank you. Just finished rewiring it based on your suggestion and it now works great. Really happy now.

When switch 2 is Split, I get all the regular Mustang tones from Switch 1 (except the phase option of course, which I never used). I did some readings and the split bridge is 5.7k vs the original bridge pickup it came with being 5.6. I know there are other factors that impact on output, but it sounds very close to how it did and balances nicely with the neck pickup. But the Series option gives it a real roar, and it's interesting putting the bridge in Series in parallel with the neck. Extra growl to the parallel position but still in a similar ballpark.

The only question mark is that the reading for the Parallel bridge only position is also 5.7k (it's 11.1 in Series) and sounds the same as split, so I imagine they are both the same for some reason? If I just call that 2nd switch Split-Series-Split that solves the problem, but I might have another go next time I'm changing strings if there's an obvious thing that might be causing that. I have no idea what a HB in parallel instead of Split would sound like, and whether it would be worth the hassle of getting the soldering kit out again if it would be almost identical to the Neck+Split parallel position. Any thoughts on that?

Overall, my gut reaction after an hour or two of playing, is this has been a really worthwhile change. And that Artec was only £16 which is an added bonus. Think this Mustang is going to get a lot more playing time now.

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