EB-3 wiring

drbassman · November 08, 2011, 08:50:03 AM

OK, I've actually had a chance to do some final prep on my EB-3 bass. I pulled out the electronics and it's frankly a disaster. I think I have the original switch (still looking for it), the pups and pretty much nothing else. No pots, no choke, no caps.

So, I have no dillusions about recreating the circuitry and I'm not intersted in torturing myself trying to do so. I do have the original Gibson series 1 and 2 wiring schematics, but I don't see me being able to reproduce them. From what I read at Fly Guitars, my bass was probably a Series 2 based on the maple neck, etc. However, I sure would love to have the two pups wired up to a 4-way switch and have them work! I think someone screwed with the wiring on the pups and I'll post a pic or two tonight when I get home to get your opinions. Thanks!

eb2 · November 08, 2011, 02:22:00 PM

Please do! I am about to hot rod the sh%t out my EB-3 project, which has zero electronics in it, so anything along with Jules' wiring diagram will be helpful.

drbassman · November 08, 2011, 02:50:47 PM

Well, here they are. As I look at them, I think maybe the wiring is original with a little tinkering. I really don't know enough to tell.

exiledarchangel · November 08, 2011, 03:04:39 PM

Those pups seem like having 4 wires (plus ground), so someone must have done things to them. Have you checked them with a multimeter?
As for the wiring, what sounds you wanna get? Sky is the limit with 4-wires Doc, sky is the limit...

drbassman · November 08, 2011, 05:23:58 PM

Quote from: exiledarchangel on November 08, 2011, 03:04:39 PM
Those pups seem like having 4 wires (plus ground), so someone must have done things to them. Have you checked them with a multimeter?
As for the wiring, what sounds you wanna get? Sky is the limit with 4-wires Doc, sky is the limit...

I figured. How many wires would a stock one have? Is it 3 based on the schematic? I still don't know all of the stuff on that yet. I can see the two pots on each pup. I'm unsure which is vol and which is tone. I see the choke and switch, but the wiring is still a bit Greek to me.

As for what do I want, I'm a bit boring when it comes to pup output. I love a thumpy muddy tone much of the time and occasionally a nice middy tonality with good definition. I'm not a fan of the coil tapping or all high freq/low cut nasal-sounding stuff. In case you haven't guessed, I underutilize my LP Triumph when I play it!!!

So, low and thump and some growl once in awhile is fine for me. (I know......boring)

I did put a meter on the neck pup and got no readings from any of the wires except the green on. It would jump to around 40k then drop to zero. Did it every time I tried to measure it. The other wires gave me zip.

drbassman · November 08, 2011, 05:27:54 PM

I was just looking at the pics and I see the green wire is ground, attached to the pup base. So, that still doesn't explain why I got nothing when trying to measure the others as I used the bottom of the case as my ground for my meter. Doesn't look good to me.

sniper · November 08, 2011, 05:58:14 PM

switch is mailing tomorrow

Rob · November 08, 2011, 07:01:03 PM

try reading white> yellow and red> violet
It looks in the picture like these are the wire for the individual coils. Maybe they tried to have a humbucking single coil option.

Dave W · November 08, 2011, 09:45:29 PM

Those definitely aren't the original connections.

exiledarchangel · November 09, 2011, 07:15:11 AM

You could always install a gibson-style 3-way switch instead of the "correst" rotary 4-way and done with that!

But first you must check if the pups are working.

drbassman · November 09, 2011, 09:18:18 AM

Quote from: sniper on November 08, 2011, 05:58:14 PM
switch is mailing tomorrow

Thanks CW!

drbassman · November 09, 2011, 09:19:25 AM

Quote from: exiledarchangel on November 09, 2011, 07:15:11 AM
You could always install a gibson-style 3-way switch instead of the "correst" rotary 4-way and done with that! But first you must check if the pups are working.

I've got work the next 2 days and nights, so probably won't be till Friday!

eb2 · November 09, 2011, 02:15:42 PM

They modded both pickups to split the coils. As here:
http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=951.0

You can use a DPDT to series parallel them. That schematic is for the stock, but now you can blow doors with them.

This makes more sense to me than a schematic:
http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=1295.0

This is useful:
http://www.dimarzio.com/sites/default/files/diagrams/4Conductor.pdf

This is good:
http://www.guitarhotrod.com/introwiring.html

And I love the Brosnac book.

I plan on ditching the choke entirely. Never dug it, and prefer other stuff. My hope is series parallel for each pup, plus rotary doing something stupid besides 1/1&2/2. Haven't made up my mind yet, but not choke.

exiledarchangel · November 09, 2011, 03:14:17 PM

Doing an out of phase with a capacitor would be interesting. Just an idea...

Check this one:

http://www.geocities.jp/dgb_studio/Tone2_e.htm#29

chromium · November 09, 2011, 03:41:50 PM

Quote from: eb2 on November 09, 2011, 02:15:42 PM
My hope is series parallel for each pup, plus rotary doing something stupid besides 1/1&2/2. Haven't made up my mind yet, but not choke.

That's the route I'd take if I were to do that mod again - shine the coil-tap and just go with a series/parallel switch. Not much appreciable difference between single-coil and parallel-coil modes IMO (...well, aside from single-coil hum). I thought the coils in parallel sounded pretty good, though!