Members formula2fast Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 Here is my problem. I just had a set of the Seymour duncan distortion mayhem humbers installed on my SG by a very reputible repair shop in the Chicagoland area. When I got the guitar back, they sounded very bright for a humbucker and even A/B'd them against my strats single coils and were brighter than those. The major problem I am having is when I switch on my distortion. It has very little punch, gain/distortion, and is not all that high of an output. These are supposed to be high gain, high output pickups, and I am not getting any good sound from them. (I use my dual rec's 3rd channel for my high gain distortion). I also A/B'd it against my strat that has a ducan performer mini-humbucker in the bridge, and the strat had 10 times more distortion and punch to it. I may be wrong in my assumption, but should a pickup called distortion mayham have a bit more distortion than a mini-humbucker called a performer? Could I have gotten a bad pickup set, or are they wired improperly? I also had them replace all the pots and switch while they had it. Could the wrong pot cause this? I do not know much about guitar wiring, but want to check my bases before i go back to this shop and accuse them of performing a botched install. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vrm Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 probably wired incorrectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ebidis Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 Sounds like bad wiring. It could be that the coils are wired in parallel instead of series. This will give a weaker / brighter output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zacman0126 Posted January 20, 2009 Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 I have to agree with the two posts above me. I had a set of those pickups and let me tell you, those are some dark friggin pup's. So no way they should be anywhere near as bright as you are describing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formula2fast Posted January 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 20, 2009 Thats kind of what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure because all of the switching and knobs work the way they are supposed to, so I wasn't sure if it was a wiring issue. I am going to bring it back to them and have them redo it. Thanks for all the help guys...Your knowledge has definitely helped me out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formula2fast Posted January 21, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 21, 2009 Ok, Here is what I have found so far. All of the wires are in the correct places, but they used the red wire to the volume pots instead of the black one like the seymour duncan diagram says. Here is the link to the diagramhttp://www.seymourduncan.com/pdfs/support/schematics/2h_2v_2t_3w.pdf would that cause my problem? Here is the link to the pickup wire color codes as wellhttp://www.seymourduncan.com/support/schematics/schematics.php?schematic=color_codes Will I get the tone that these are supposed to have by switching the red and black wires? Please help:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Norcal_GIT_r Posted January 21, 2009 Members Share Posted January 21, 2009 Yes, swap the black and reds. It looks to me like you are only getting one coil per pickup.Swapping the wires should solve the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members strtdv Posted January 21, 2009 Members Share Posted January 21, 2009 I'm always wary of letting guitar shops do repair work. I know a guy who had a shop install a set of EMG 81/85's, and the shop made a complete mess of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crisco Posted January 21, 2009 Members Share Posted January 21, 2009 I've virtually sworn by the SH-6 Mayhem set in my SG Custom.Awesome pickups. Take it back and have them correct it ..you've installed a four conductor wire in place of a two conductor and someone must've gotten confused at the shop. It's not hard to do. Mine had a grounding problem that cut it out...the pot was angled against the wood and it just cut out...possibly happened when the washer/bolt were turned putting them in?it was a simple fix.Enjoy your Mayhem Set.Those are some fine ceramic bastards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricEye Posted January 21, 2009 Members Share Posted January 21, 2009 I guess it's not a very reputable place as you believed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formula2fast Posted January 21, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 21, 2009 Thanks guys...I am going to swap it myself, just so I know it is done right. Plus I do not want to be out the hour of driving and having to explain to them that they were wrong and they should change it. I will let them know (once I fix it and confirm that it is working properly) that they did not wire it properly. I do not have a beef with the place because they do awesome setup and custom work. My guess is that the head luthier did not do the installation and had one of his minions do it. He is way to smart and good to make a mistake like this. Thanks for the help and I will post results later tonight once I fix it and play it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crisco Posted January 21, 2009 Members Share Posted January 21, 2009 If it's any consolation, you have to watch Luthiers sometimes. Their attitude towards 'that Asian built guitar, not one I built' attitude may rear its nasty head, especially if his assistant did something wrong. ( I had to listen to this excuse once...it hasn't left my head) The way I see it is...wires are wires. Doesn't matter if ya built it or not. Either you know your stuff or ya don't. And by the way, I'd appreciate it if YOU do the work instead of your student. I didn't bring it in to have a student fumble with it, I payed good money to have it worked on by the head guy. Mistakes can be made, but mistakes can also be avoided. I've had to figure out who did what, then just make the request that the head luthier perform all the work. If he has a problem with that, then find another luthier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Norcal_GIT_r Posted January 21, 2009 Members Share Posted January 21, 2009 Honestly it's just 2 wires that got swapped. I doubt theres any real conspiracy against Asian guitars..Just a simple mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formula2fast Posted January 21, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 21, 2009 I too think it was a simple mistake...Perhaps they did not read the diagram properly because different brands of pickups use different color wires for different poles on the pickup. I have been bringing my guitars to this place for years, and never had a problem, and they are always loaded with work, so others have been happy with their work too, I just think I got them on a bad day or got the "new guy" working on mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formula2fast Posted January 22, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 22, 2009 Well, good news...I switched the wires last night, and this thing is a screamer:) I could not be happier with this set of pickups. It really transformed this guitar into a great sounding axe... Thanks for the expertise guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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