Pickup wiring

Since I'm not sure, I'll ask. Since I know where to go, I'm asking my cigar box nation friends! I haven't wired too many pickups yet. This one has a red, a white, and a bare wire. How does this get wired up with the pot and jack?
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  • As always, I knew I could count on you guys! Thanks for the help!
  • Sorry Rooster, i got your post confused with another, ignore that comment about the Gitty kit, and it seems your pickup is a single coil, that being so, treat the white as a ground also, combine it with the bare wire and connect them to your jack/pot or whichever way you are doing it

  • Everything Darryl said is correct. Being a lipstick style pickup its most likely a single coil pickup.The shielding wire could be conntected to the "baseplate" of the pickup or combined with one of the other leads depending on who built the pickup. And color codes can be different from manufacturer to manufacturer. I typically see red as the "hot" wire, but it could be the white as well.

    Follow Darryl's advice and you'll be fine.

  • Well the bare wire will certainly be a ground, to test the others, if you test the red to the white and get continuity, that would suggest  the white being ground also, and the red being active, if no continuity, that would suggest both are actives , 1 for each coil, if that is the case, you can choose to wire them separately with a switch or 2 volume pots or combine them to run through 1 pot. That is all working under the assumption you have a humbucker pickup as per Gitty's kit specs. Note: the bare wire will give you continuity with both coloured wires, whether the white is a ground or an active . I hope this helps, but guys who may know more will be waking up now, and might help more

  • Thanks Darryl. I don't know much about pickups yet. This is a lipstick style pickup, if that tells you anything. So I'm guessing there will be continuity between the white and the bare wire if it's a single coil?
  • If it's a single coil pick up, most likely red is active, and both white and bare are ground, if it's a humbucker, both red and white are likely actives, 1 for each coil, and the bare wire a common ground, if you have a multi meter, you can test for continuity for all those options and figure it out , if you don't have a multimeter, i suggest you get one, just a cheapie is fine for this work, if not, you can make a test light with just a flashlight bulb and a battery with a couple of small bits of wire

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