wiring my pickup correctly (b.Lawrence)

[choubix]

hello, I have this setup in my guitar (please see the attached file )



I received my L500-L (Bill and Becky, not Bill LAwrence USA) and would like to make sure that I am not making a mistake when soldering the pickup.

apparently: on the bill lawrence:

white is the hot tip and black ahs to be soldered to the ground.
what with the green, red and blue wires??



so basically what I understand is that:

Bill Lawrence vs stock pickup:

white = blue
black = black

green = ??
red = ??
blue = ??


by the way: changing the 223 capacitor for a higher value one would halp me get a better distorsion? (looking for something powerful...)

thanks

[neptoess]

green and reds are soldered together and covered in electrical tape and the blue is also a ground. Good job on buying Lawrences. You won't regret it.

[neptoess]

as for the cap for higher distortion, the L has deff enough distortion, if not I'd say go for 2 1k Ohm Pots(for a 500K total load) or one 500k pot. I doubt you'll need to though.

[rastachild]

i just got another bill & becky l500 put into my paduak rg. holy moly, it is quite possibly the best sounding bridge pickup i've ever heard. very well balanced with a certain bite or snarl. i feel like they are a somewhat unknown secret since not very many players i know use them

[choubix]

thanks for your replies.

ok i have:

white = hot on the pickup selector
black & blue = ground
red and green together on the volume pot

my controls are 500K (log an linear I believe)

still dont get the distorsion I am looking for... the pickup hums a bit. I really expected something more "creamy" for rythm and sharper for soloing.

I also have 2 L280 on my axe. I can hear almost no difference in between the L500-L and the L280s in terms of output... (but better sounding treble for the L500)

is that normal?


off topic:
I must say that I am not happy with the service offered by becky: no replies to my emails, I had to call 2x to get information on the pickups and to get the tracking number.

i needed some support when i installed the pickup: nothing...

wrong advice with regards to the pickups also: she made me order a L609 which is a single coil (when I described by telephone what i intended to play: metallica, satriani with the bridge pickup and more jazz/ blues with bridge and middle). I decided to also order a L500-L though.

I must say that even though the support is not great the L280 are stunning... no hum at all, beautiful sound...

still dont know whether my L500L sounds as it should... (now I know the wiring is ok)

[neptoess]

wait, since you have that push/pull pot the green and red shouldnt be soldered together if you want to use the coil splits. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...splitting.html
in this diagram, the SD's Red&White is the BL Red&Green and the SD's green and bare is the BL's Blue and Black and the SD's Black is the BL's white. Basically do the first one but instead of the hot(black in the diagram, your BL's white) going to the volume pot wire it on the switch where it should be. Your pickup should NOT be humming in full HB mode. As for support you just have to call at the right time. Becky was very supportive when I called her. Don't expect her to answer E-Mails, she just checks her paypal account. But once your pickup is working properly it will be "creamier" and "sharper".

Edit: about her recommending the L609, she figured you meant satch/jazz,blues with the bridge which is why she thought that'd be better than the L-500L(works fine for that stuff but the 609 is better). If you still have the L609 you can ask her to refund you since you won't be using it

[neptoess]

rastachild this is offtopic but i saw you in GuitarPlayer

[choubix]

hi Neptoess thanks for your reply

ok so:

BL vs SD

white = black
black = green
blue = bare
red = red
green = white

no problem for white: soldered on the pickup selector

on the wiring diagram:



black and blue: should I solder them on the push pull (where the black wire is connected on that diagram) or with the white and yellow wires of the single pickups? (actually I am wondering whether this is the same thing)

red and green on the push pull.

am i right?

a bit worried I can damage the push pull and the pickup now...

thanks!

[choubix]

ok: I gave up on the push pull...

I soldered the red and green together to the middle position of the volume knob...

I have been trying to solder red/white and green/red (see diagram) and red/red and green/white.

the splitted sound is really weak compared to the output of the humbucker.
and really weak compared to the sound of the L280 also

[neptoess]

lol if you're not splitting you need the red/green soldered together and covered with electrical tape. If that circuit isn't complete then problems are definately going to happen. Blue and Black are both grounds so it doesn't matter where you solder them to ground since you prolly have common grounds(wires running from the back of every pot & the ground terminal on the switch to each other). And as for the split sound being weak, you're using half the pup, which means half the output