[Samuel_385]

Hey, I am trying to wire my Dimarzio X2N into a fender 3 single coil. I ordered a new pickguard with just a humbucker slot, Volume knob and 5 way switch. All I want is the volume knob and the pickup.. is that possible? If so could you explain how I would wire that? Thanks a lot,

Alphonse

[darkbluemurder]

Sure - if your guitar body is routed for a humbucker in the bridge position.

As to the wiring - I am not quite sure whether you want to replace the existing bridge single coil with the humbucker or whether you only want the humbucker alone. In that case you would not need the 5-way switch.

If you want to replace the existing bridge pickup with the humbucker the red wire would have to go to the switch terminal where the old bridge pickup was connected to, black and white are soldered together and not connected to anything (best to tape the connection to make sure it does not accidentally touch anything), and green goes to ground (can be the back of the volume pot).

If you only use the new bridge pickup with a volume control the red wire goes to the volume control input instead of going to the switch. Everything else is wired as described before.

Good luck,
Stephan

[Samuel_385]

Hey Stephan, thanks for your reply man. I just soldered everything as you suggested and it works great! This was my first time wiring a guitar so I'm surprised it was that easy.. Besides the 4 colored wires there's a bare wire, am I suppose to do anything with that? Also there's a wire coming up from the back springs of the guitar, what's that for?

Alphonse

[darkbluemurder]

Hi Alphonse,

Congratulations to your successful wiring experience!

The pickup's bare wire is connected to the base plate and gets soldered to ground. The reason for this is that it works as a shield against radio frequency interference and other noise. But as you noticed the guitar will also work with it disconnected.

The wire coming from the back of the springs also goes to ground - it grounds the strings. Have you ever noticed that when you do not touch the guitar and then touch the strings the background noise goes down? This is because when you touch the strings you are grounded and act as shield against noise.

Cheers Stephan

[Samuel_385]

Ahh, yes I actually did notice that when the guitar was sitting by itself there was a noise coming from it that had me concerned but when I hit the strings it sounded amazing. I will solder those two wires to the back of the volume tonight. You rock bro! appreciate the help

Alphonse