Musical Instrument Repairs and Electronics in Oswestry and the Marches

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Guitar Pickup Manufacturer's Wiring and Color Codes

This page is derived from a page I found on the web ages ago, which eventually disappeared into the void (information on the web can be a very ephemeral thing!) - I then found a copy of it on the Wayback Machine and promptly copied it to my own machine. If anyone seeing this happens to be the original author of the page, I hope they don't mind me resurrecting it!

How to use this table

Identifying Humbucker Coil Wires

A Humbucking Guitar Pickup has two coils, each with two connections: the start and end, which we have labelled A and B for the fist coil, and C and D for the second. For normal operation, B and D are connected together, and C and A are connected to the "hot" tag of the switch or volume pot and ground respectively. To coil tap a pickup, make an additional connection to the junction of B and D, and short it to ground.

The columns headed "MP" indicate the magnet polarity of each coil, which may be of assistance when mixing pickups from different manufacturers. For single coil pickups, details are only shown for one coil.

If your pickups are not listed below, do not despair, I have detailed a simple procedure to determine the correct wiring for any pickups on the Pickup Polarity Test page.

Pickup Manufacturer Adjustable Pole Slug Pole
Start "A" Finish " B" M.P. Start "C" Finish "D" M.P.
Tom Anderson
Humbucker
Black- White South Green Red+ North
Tom Anderson
Single-coil
NA NA NA Black White, Red, Purple or Yellow North
WD/Kent Armstrong
Humbucker
Red
(Pink)
Blue
(Black)
South Green White North
WD/Kent Armstrong
Single-coil
NA NA NA Black White South
Joe Barden
Humbucker
Green Red South Black White North
Bartolini Black+ Red South Green- White North
Benedetto
Humbucker
Green- White South Red+ Black North
DiMarzio
Humbucker
Green- White South Red+ Black North
DiMarzio
Single-coil
NA NA NA Black White South
Seymour Duncan
Humbucker
Green- Red South Black White North
Seymour Duncan
Single-coil
NA NA NA Black White South
Seymour Duncan
tapped
White Green/ Black     Red  
Fender
Stratocaster
NA NA NA Black White South
Fender
Telecaster Lead
NA NA NA Black
(or blue)
White
(or yellow)
South
Fender
Telecaster Rhythm
NA NA NA Black White South
Fender 70's
Humbucker
Ground Series- link South Hot Series-link North
Fender
Humbucker
Red- Black South Green+ White North
Lindy Fralin
Humbucker
Black Red South White Red North
Lindy Fralin
Single-coil
NA NA NA Black White North or South
Gibson
Humbucker
Black- Green South Red+ White North
Gibson
P-90
Black White North NA NA NA
Gibson
P-100
Black White North Black White North
Gotoh Green- Red South Black+ White North
Ibanez tapped Bare White     Red  
Jackson Black- Red South Green+ White North
Lawrence
Humbucker
Green Black- North White Red+ South
Lawrence
Single-coil
NA NA NA Grey White North
Peavey Black- White North Red+ Green South
Peavey tapped White Green/Black     Red  
Schaller
Humbucker
White Green- South Brown Yellow+ North
Schaller
Single-coil
NA NA NA Black White South or North
Shadow Yellow- Brown North White Green+ South
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