# Pickup Color Codes and Diagrams - for all Humbuckers



## asmegin_slayer

It was frustrating going through the forums to find info on a simple pickup replacement.. So I took my time and searched the interwebs to find and help everyone.

Everyone seemed to be told to go to GuitarElectronics.com GuitarElectronics.com Home Page for pickup diagrams.. and even though it is a very helpful site, it did leave me the problem of trying to figure out what the hell the "North/South/finish" words meant? "What colors goes to which?"...

Fortunately I found the answers and I'm sharing it with all of you.

So I found a helpful picture form Seymourduncan's website of what the coloring is meant not only on theirs, but to other pickup companies.. Kudos for Seymour.... 








UPDATE:

I found more for different pickup companies below. The diagrams below show the color codes and standard humbucker wiring configuration (series in phase) for the most popular guitar & bass humbuckers including: Anderson, Bare Knuckle, Bartolini, Benedetto, Bill Lawrence, DiMarzio, EMG-HZ, Fender, Gibson, Gotoh, Ibanez, Jackson, Peavey, Schaller, Seymour Duncan & Shadow

GuitarElectronics.com Pickup Color Codes










































































1 Pickup Guitar Wiring Diagrams <-Click here for other configurations...

Ex. 





2 Pickup Guitar Wiring Diagrams <-Click here for other configurations...

Ex. 





3 Pickup Guitar Wiring Diagrams <-Click here for other configurations...

Ex.





I hope this helps everyone...


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## mattofvengeance

I DON'T SEE ANY BAREKNUCKLE!!!


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## asmegin_slayer

mattofvengeance said:


> I DON'T SEE ANY BAREKNUCKLE!!!



Please see updated link on top


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## JJ Rodriguez

This should be stickied.


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## asmegin_slayer

JJ Rodriguez said:


> This should be stickied.



stickied or added to the WorkBench !!!!!!


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## techjsteele

That was awesome of the OP to collect all that info into one thread for everyone to reference. I will be making use of this diagram personally. Thanks!


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## Auyard

So glad I stumbled on this, my BKP is coming in tomorrow. Need help though. In the attachment I uploaded what I (roughly) circled in red, is that really a wire going from the prong on the pot to the back of the pot? Also does the ground wire have to touch the bridge? I'm confused about the entire ground wire thing, will the BKP come with a ground wire or do I need to ask my local music store for a wire (is there an official name for the wire?)


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## Andrew_B

Auyard said:


> So glad I stumbled on this, my BKP is coming in tomorrow. Need help though. In the attachment I uploaded what I (roughly) circled in red, is that really a wire going from the prong on the pot to the back of the pot?


 
yep



> Also does the ground wire have to touch the bridge?


 
yep 
whats the point of grounding if the most touched areas arent grounded, they are the strings and bridge....



> I'm confused about the entire ground wire thing, will the BKP come with a ground wire or do I need to ask my local music store for a wire (is there an official name for the wire?)


 
you didnt do a good job of reading the above did you?

Every single pickup has a ground wire...

i think you might be better off getting it installed rather than installing it yourself 




also, asmegin_slayer, good work on the thred.....
iv been thinking about making one on soldering and wiring....
but im lazy


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## asmegin_slayer

Auyard said:


> So glad I stumbled on this, my BKP is coming in tomorrow. Need help though. In the attachment I uploaded what I (roughly) circled in red, is that really a wire going from the prong on the pot to the back of the pot? Also does the ground wire have to touch the bridge? I'm confused about the entire ground wire thing, will the BKP come with a ground wire or do I need to ask my local music store for a wire (is there an official name for the wire?)





Andrew_B said:


> yep
> 
> 
> 
> yep
> whats the point of grounding if the most touched areas arent grounded, they are the strings and bridge....
> 
> 
> also, asmegin_slayer, good work on the thred.....
> iv been thinking about making one on soldering and wiring....
> but im lazy



Auyard, if you look at the picture you just uploaded and on the bottom left hand corner, you'll see that you can solder the ground to the back of the volume pot as well.. I did this as well to my dimarzio that i just got yesterday and I hear no bad noise or anything.. Whever is closest the nearest ground i'd say... But if your wire is long enough to go to the bridge, then you can do that as well..

Andrew, thanks for the comments!! much appreciated!


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## Auyard

Andrew_B said:


> i think you might be better off getting it installed rather than installing it yourself



I know I should I just want to attempt it myself. Thanks for the help, you too asmegin_slayer.


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## Scali

You linked to Ibanez_1 twice... There are two different ones:









In fact, there's at least one other option with Ibanez. In my 1994 RG, they only have three wires, not 4. The serial link is apparently done internally. Two of the wires are just the ground and hot ones, and the third can be used to put one of the coils to ground to make it a 'single coil'.


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## asmegin_slayer

Scali said:


> You linked to Ibanez_1 twice... There are two different ones:
> 
> In fact, there's at least one other option with Ibanez. In my 1994 RG, they only have three wires, not 4. The serial link is apparently done internally. Two of the wires are just the ground and hot ones, and the third can be used to put one of the coils to ground to make it a 'single coil'.



Good catch! I edited it with the correct one.

Also, can you probably edit a new diagram of the 3 wire pickup you are describing with the colors so that we can add it here?


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## synrgy

Could I request the addition of Lundgren? Took me a hot-minute to figure out when I wired my 7321. Ultimately it came out fine, but my switch is technically wired backwards.


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## Omrat

I suspect, that BKP color codes are not right in the first post.
I had problems wiring my BKP-s and I got this information from Tim via email:

North Start - Red
North Finish - Green
Soth Finish - White
Soth Start - Black


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## asmegin_slayer

synrgy said:


> Could I request the addition of Lundgren? Took me a hot-minute to figure out when I wired my 7321. Ultimately it came out fine, but my switch is technically wired backwards.



If you can provide the colors of the wire and there North/South start/finish? I would love to add it in the thread



Omrat said:


> I suspect, that BKP color codes are not right in the first post.
> I had problems wiring my BKP-s and I got this information from Tim via email:
> 
> North Start - Red
> North Finish - Green
> South Finish - White
> South Start - Black



Excellent man, I'll see if I can edit the picture and provide an alternative option if its the same with other people?


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## leandroab

wow... thanks a lot man 

This should be stickied alright...


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## djpharoah

Great thread and approved for Sticky goodness!


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## mattofvengeance

synrgy said:


> Could I request the addition of Lundgren? Took me a hot-minute to figure out when I wired my 7321. Ultimately it came out fine, but my switch is technically wired backwards.



I was gonna ask for that as well!


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## havocvulture10

what about the wiring for a rg7321?


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## dnoel86

havocvulture10 said:


> what about the wiring for a rg7321?



I can't find a good diagram for an HH 5 way switch either...


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## Bones43x

There are alot of diagrams on tha ibanez website. That's where I went when I wired up my 5-way in my 1527...just look under RG7620.


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## Randy

^


I had to do the same recently, and that's where I got it.


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## cyril v

stupid ibanez.com diagrams aren't loading... 

anyone have a stock pickup diagram for rg7321? I'm almost sure it's exactly the same as 7620 i just did except for the green/blue, but I just wanted to be sure.

Also, if anyone has a diagram for an RG550, please pm.


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## synrgy

asmegin_slayer said:


> If you can provide the colors of the wire and there North/South start/finish? I would love to add it in the thread


 
The problem is I'm only certain about the north start and south finish, since in my guitar the north finish and south start are tied together and it's been more than a year since I did the install; I've long since lost the nearly worthless not properly printed b&w diagram that came with the pickup. As I'm searching for stuff now (I'm trying to rewire the same pickup a different way) I can't figure out how we ever figured it out the first time, cause I can only find one link (http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/ex...10359-lundgren-m8-set-wiring-into-rg2228.html) that even begins to cover it.

Anyway, the north finish and south start are *RED *and *YELLOW*, but I do not know which one is which.

Lundgren:
North Start = *BLUE*
North Finish = either *RED *or *YELLOW*
South Start = either *RED *or *YELLOW*
South Finish = *GREEN*


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## WFD

AWESOME POST My friend
Top class effort
FUCKING HAILS
JP


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## Despised_0515

I'm in the home stretch guys... I'm almost done converting from actives to passives!
Just a couple questions:
Will grounding to the usual trem claw in the back still work if I'm using noiseless springs?
They seem to be coated and my brain just says it might not fly. I'm weird, I know.
Second, what's different about this diagram when it comes to BKPs?
I'm installing a Painkiller and I want to make sure I've got the color coding right.
EDIT: I also want to know about the solder blob on the right. Am I also grounding that third tip of the volume pot to the back?


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## Kamikaze7

Despised_0515 said:


> I'm in the home stretch guys... I'm almost done converting from actives to passives!
> Just a couple questions:
> Will grounding to the usual trem claw in the back still work if I'm using noiseless springs?
> They seem to be coated and my brain just says it might not fly. I'm weird, I know.
> Second, what's different about this diagram when it comes to BKPs?
> I'm installing a Painkiller and I want to make sure I've got the color coding right.
> EDIT: I also want to know about the solder blob on the right. Am I also grounding that third tip of the volume pot to the back?



For BKP's, I'm not sure of the coil split... But I'm sure someone here could tell you more about it thanme, or perhaps you can get it right from BKP(???). I know that a normal humbucker for BKP is green & white soldered together, black and bare to the pot casing fro ground, and the red is the hot output, but again, the coil split I"m unsure of...

As for grounding the trem claw, yes everything must be grounded whether you use noiseless springs or not. Actives do not require a bridge ground, but all passive systems do. And besides, your soldering the ground wire to the trem claw itself, not the springs themselves. 

And yes that third pin is getting bent back and being soldered to the pot casing.


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## AwakenNoMore

I have junk Ibanez INF pickups i pulled out of my RG370DXL in favor of a duncan full shred and custom, (left in the stock center single coil for now) the INF humbuckers are only 3 wire (Red, white, black) Black i have easily found out is ground, does this mean red is hot and the white is for the various coil taps configurations?


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## Mehnike

synrgy said:


> Anyway, the north finish and south start are *RED *and *YELLOW*, but I do not know which one is which.


Can anyone confirm which is which with the red and yellow wires?


Never mind, answer found below:

Lundgren:
North Start = *BLUE*
North Finish = *YELLOW*
South Start = *RED*
South Finish = *GREEN*


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## captcoolaid

Despised_0515 said:


> I'm in the home stretch guys... I'm almost done converting from actives to passives!
> Just a couple questions:
> Will grounding to the usual trem claw in the back still work if I'm using noiseless springs?
> They seem to be coated and my brain just says it might not fly. I'm weird, I know.
> Second, what's different about this diagram when it comes to BKPs?
> I'm installing a Painkiller and I want to make sure I've got the color coding right.
> EDIT: I also want to know about the solder blob on the right. Am I also grounding that third tip of the volume pot to the back?


Shoot Tim an Email and explain what you want to do. I think his codes are the same as SD but 100% on that. As far as the grounding I personally would ground to the trem claw and the back of the pot specially if you are gonna tap the pup. As far as the lug to pot yes you must do that. I usually take a piece of wire and lay it from lug to pot.


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## asmegin_slayer

Hey you guys, its been a long while since I've updated this whole thing but wanted to let you know that I will be updating it here soon.


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## amarchand

Anybody found one of these for Carvin Pups? I saw a thread about it a while back but all the links were borked.


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## DostavkaUSA

I ve got to try it too


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## Vzmike

A good 90% of these images aren't working


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## tmo

OP first image isn't correct also, at least on DiMarzio color code...


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## schwiz

tmo said:


> OP first image isn't correct also, at least on DiMarzio color code...



How so? I just followed the diagram for a BKP (bridge) and DiMarzio (neck) and it worked for me.


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## Matze777

Hi,

do you guys have wiring diagrams to install a Seymour Duncan Distortion bridge into an Ibanez RG421CW?
The stock pickups are Ibanez Quantum, and the neck PU will stay in the guitar the way it is.

Basically, I want that 5-way switch to work with the bridge PU as it is described here:
Electric Guitars RG - RG421CW | Ibanez guitars
But I have no idea, how to wire the new Seymour Duncan Distortion to work together with the Quantum neck.

Thanks for your help


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## Chris Rowberry

You can find the Bare Knuckle colour code here - https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/ma...rs/humbucker_colour_code_conversion_chart.pdf


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## paradesic

Deleted (posted question in its own thread)


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

I've got a customer asking for the following wire diagram, and for the life of me, I can't find a way to make position #3 an option.
Any suggestions?

1) Bridge Pickup (Down)

2) Bridge + Middle

3) Neck + Bridge **rather than middle pickup alone**

4) Neck + Middle

5) Neck Pickup (Up)


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## spudmunkey

TonyFlyingSquirrel said:


> I've got a customer asking for the following wire diagram, and for the life of me, I can't find a way to make position #3 an option.
> Any suggestions?
> 
> 1) Bridge Pickup (Down)
> 
> 2) Bridge + Middle
> 
> 3) Neck + Bridge **rather than middle pickup alone**
> 
> 4) Neck + Middle
> 
> 5) Neck Pickup (Up)



I don't know the answer to your question, but as someone who doesn't know anything about this stuff, I'm often surprised to find out that so many seemingly simple control schemes require a "super switch".


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

Even with the super switch, I'm not seeing position 3 as possible.


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## jarledge

if you have a little time, i'll see if i can do a diagram with this wiring. What pickups do they have/plan on using ? 



TonyFlyingSquirrel said:


> I've got a customer asking for the following wire diagram, and for the life of me, I can't find a way to make position #3 an option.
> Any suggestions?
> 
> 1) Bridge Pickup (Down)
> 
> 2) Bridge + Middle
> 
> 3) Neck + Bridge **rather than middle pickup alone**
> 
> 4) Neck + Middle
> 
> 5) Neck Pickup (Up)


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## jarledge

jarledge said:


> if you have a little time, i'll see if i can do a diagram with this wiring. What pickups do they have/plan on using ?



this will work, you may not need a mega-switch to do it but it seems like the easiest option.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

I'll see if I can source a mega switch locally.
Thanks so much!


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

Is the Purple the ground?


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## jarledge

no the purple/blue is the hot connection out of the switch. the zero (0) lugs are the always on. each one of the 4 poles has a zero lug and by connecting them together you are connecting the poles. so it goes pole 1 = top left , pole 2 = bottom left, pole 3 = top right, pole 4 = bottom right. 

each number 1-5 corresponds to the switch position. so switch position 1 = lug 1 on pole 1,2,3,4. and position 2 = lug 2 on pole 1,2,3,4. and so on. 

i left pole 1 empty, so the zero lug doesn't need to get connected to the other zero lugs. 




TonyFlyingSquirrel said:


> Is the Purple the ground?


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

I'll give it a try, thanks so much!


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## jarledge

TonyFlyingSquirrel said:


> I'll give it a try, thanks so much!



no worries, let me know how it goes.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

FWIW, this is the switch that I have. https://www.allparts.com/products/ep-0078-4-pole-5-way-oak-grisby-super-switch
I presume the gap between the main group of terminals is of no significance, & just go with the number of terminals per side, correct?


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## jarledge

TonyFlyingSquirrel said:


> FWIW, this is the switch that I have. https://www.allparts.com/products/ep-0078-4-pole-5-way-oak-grisby-super-switch
> I presume the gap between the main group of terminals is of no significance, & just go with the number of terminals per side, correct?



yes, the zero terminals are a little further down then the groups of 1-5. it should all lay out the same way. Just take a multi meter and double check the 1 position and 5 position to make sure you put the switch in the right way around (continuity check between the zero and 1 pole). I just put one in one of my guitars and put it in backwards, and the switch doesn't fit the other way so i have to eventually redo it.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

Thanks so much!


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

All correct as you displayed with the following exception, scoot the entire 3 terminal connections for the bridge p/u to the left just one position and it's dead on. The only anomaly I've encountered with the customer's desired wire scheme is that when the #3 (center) position is selected to get the bridge & neck pickup together, they are out of phase with one another. Now my concern is that if I flip the phase on either the neck or bridge pickups, the same result will take place in positions 2 & 4.
I'm gonna share my results with the customer before changing anything.


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## jarledge

TonyFlyingSquirrel said:


> All correct as you displayed with the following exception, scoot the entire 3 terminal connections for the bridge p/u to the left just one position and it's dead on. The only anomaly I've encountered with the customer's desired wire scheme is that when the #3 (center) position is selected to get the bridge & neck pickup together, they are out of phase with one another. Now my concern is that if I flip the phase on either the neck or bridge pickups, the same result will take place in positions 2 & 4.
> I'm gonna share my results with the customer before changing anything.



the phase issue might be tough what pickups do you they have ? is the middle a true single coil or stacked ? 

i could probably come up with a wiring scenario where the phase for neck or bridge is flipped in position 3 but it would take me a little bit of time to work it out.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

Thay are true single coils bu https://mcnellypickups.com, but I realized upon final inspection I had a grounding issue going on & all seems normal now. All buttoned up, dropped off, & invoiced!
He custom hand winds any pickup into a soap-bar p-90 and the customer had them wound as Jazzmaster (Neck), Stratocaster (Middle), Telecaster (Bridge).

It's a custom Warmoth build, via a local retail chain. Since it's not a direct customer of mine, I have an agreement with this resource to not share pics of jobs done through them publicly, I only post my own direct customers, otherwise I'd be glad to post it, turned out really nice. Also has a Gretcsh style "Mud Switch" on the lower horn, with the 5-Way one the upper horn.

Thanks again for your help.


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## jarledge

TonyFlyingSquirrel said:


> Thay are true single coils bu https://mcnellypickups.com, but I realized upon final inspection I had a grounding issue going on & all seems normal now. All buttoned up, dropped off, & invoiced!
> He custom hand winds any pickup into a soap-bar p-90 and the customer had them wound as Jazzmaster (Neck), Stratocaster (Middle), Telecaster (Bridge).
> 
> It's a custom Warmoth build, via a local retail chain. Since it's not a direct customer of mine, I have an agreement with this resource to not share pics of jobs done through them publicly, I only post my own direct customers, otherwise I'd be glad to post it, turned out really nice. Also has a Gretcsh style "Mud Switch" on the lower horn, with the 5-Way one the upper horn.
> 
> Thanks again for your help.



awesome, and no worries. Happy to help.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

Now I've got another unique customer request.
I have a customer who has a super strat guitar (old Kramer) in an HxH config that had a 3 way LP style toggle.
He routed a center pickup route and installed a standard single coil, no making it an HSH config, with a single volume, tone & 3 way toggle.
He wants it wired as follows:
/ = Bridge humbucker by itself.
I = Center Single Coil & Neck humbucker
\ = Neck humbucker by itself
I know that the best option would be to use EP1112 5-way blade switch & to route accordingly for it, but he is dead set on a 3 way toggle.
Would Dimarzio's EP1111 (JPM) work for this, and if so, would you have an appropriate wire diagram?
The humbuckers are PAF Pro's, center SC is a standard 2 conductor.

Short of this, I found the Freeway switch at Stew Mac, but to install it would require more routing on this guitar as the toggle switch location is right up against the cavity wall.
I also bought one of these this week, and still for the life of me can't figure out any other connections other than the ground and the bridge hot.
https://reverb.com/item/17784073-switchcraft-3-way-toggle-switch-for-3-pickup-les-paul-nickel


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel

Steve Blucher at Dimarzio to the rescue, sent me a wire diagram for EP1111!


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