trying to figure out getting dimarzio d-activators into my prs se

[youbanez]

Please help. The last thread I did was dead. Any worldly pickup knowledge would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[sxyryan]

What's the problem? Just install them?

[Mazi Bee]

Step 1) Buy some d-activators

Step 2) Install them in PRS SE

Step 3) ?

Step 4) Profit!

[youbanez]

HAHA... umm yeah, should have referenced my other thread a bit more, huh....

 

Well, I've wired pickups once before on my Ibanez with the 5-way coil splitting whatever switch. And now that I'm trying to put those same pickups in my PRS, I'm discovering that it's kind of a different animal... I dunno. I look at the schematics off the PRS site for this type of setup and I can't make heads or tails of them.

 

It shows me where the hot of the bridge pickup goes, and just about nothing else, as far as I can tell. But that's cause I'm trying to force myself into the position of guitar tech, without the knowledge... I just really don't wanna shell out the installation fee every time I want to experiment with a new pickup.

[sxyryan]

Maybe try going to the pickup makers website and look for a wiring schematic? or at least a diagram that shows which wire from the pickup is hot and all that?

 

I'm not familiar with those pups, or I'd give you more info.

[trashedlostfdup]

are you going to be coil taping? that will help us a little

[youbanez]

Nope, no coil tapping. Just straight forward Bridge/Bridge and Neck/Neck. As I said, I checked out the diagrams from PRS for this rather simple situation and just didn't see enough information for a beginner like me.

 

I know that on the DiMarzios, my hot wire is the red one, my green and bare are ground and i dunno what the hell to do with the black and white.

 

So I know some of the names of the wires but still don't know where to solder the things. Am I a lost cause or what, haha?

[trashedlostfdup]

two of those wires are going to be soldered together (both coils in series). check dimarzio for that. than you have a hot and a ground.

 

is the dilema involving the factory prs switch?

[sxyryan]

So the switch on your PRS is a three way? Is it a blade switch or one like Gibson uses?

 

Sorry I'm not overly familiar with PRS's models.

[trashedlostfdup]

 

I know that on the DiMarzios, my hot wire is the red one, my green and bare are ground and i dunno what the hell to do with the black and white.

 

 

the black and white are the ones you solder together

[youbanez]

The switch is like a Les Paul type 'treble'/'rhythm' switch. Nothing fancy at all. When I disconnected the stock pups, the wires were simplified to just one white, one black, per pup. Now i'm dealing with 5 wires per pickup and i'm like whoa...

[ChineseKnockoff]

So far the best collections of schematics that I've come across are on either the Seymour Duncan site or here.

 

Find as diagram that looks like what you're trying to do and work from that. Then, if you're still not sure that you've got it right, you'll have a picture to show us that we can break down into steps and procedures.

[etawful]

If you have 5 wires coming from the pickup, odds are you have one hot, two that should be connected to join the coils (actually, technically one of those is hot as the ground from one coil goes to the hot for the 2nd coil), 1 ground, and the fifth wire is most likely also a ground.

 

You need to figure out which two wires need to be joined together (such as ground for the north coil goes to live for the south coil, don't know which colors you're dealing with).

 

After you have determined which wires are which, connect the two that should be connected (you can tin them with solder, then heat shrink or electrical tape them to shield them from shorting out). Solder the live wire to where the last pickups live wire was soldered (you know where this one goes already), then the grounds can be soldered together to wherever the prior pickup was grounded (in LP wiring it would be the back of a pot, not sure with PRS).

 

It's not rocket science, just take your time and find out which wires are which, from there it's easy.

[go cat go]

From the Dimarzio site:

 

http://www.dimarzio.com//media/diagrams/4Conductor.pdf

 

Is it a one volume one tone?

 

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WD2HH3T11_00/Guitar_Wiring_Diagram_2_Humbuckers3Way_Toggle_Switch1_Volume0Tone000.html

 

If not there are more diagrams here:

 

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiringresources.2_pickup_diagrams/

 

I hope this helps. Let us know how you make out.

[youbanez]

 

From the Dimarzio site: http://www.dimarzio.com//media/diagrams/4Conductor.pdf Is it a one volume one tone? http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WD2HH3T11_00/Guitar_Wiring_Diagram_2_Humbuckers3Way_Toggle_Switch1_Volume0Tone000.html If not there are more diagrams here: http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiringresources.2_pickup_diagrams/ I hope this helps. Let us know how you make out.

 

 

 

that's PERFECT! that first link helped me out completely! thanks so much everyone. they sound {censored}ing so much better than they did in the ibanez, hahaha. not quite sure why, but yea. that's perfect.

 

it was helpful to know the black and white weren't actually meant to attach

to anything, just one another.

 

soldering the ground wires to the back of the pot i found particularly tough. when those wires wanna pull away and the solder hasn't quite cooled... damn that's a pain in the ass. oh well... success!

 

thanks again.