PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS 4-Conductor

Wiring of Pickups with 4-Conductor Cable

Bartolini pickups are precision magnetic transducers designed and built to bring out the fullest
response from electric guitars and basses. They are hand assembled in California from quality
materials and carry a 1 year warranty against defects in materials and workmanship.
Most Bartolini pickups can be used with standard passive tone and volume controls. The diagram
below is a very simple setup for passive tone and volume with 2 pickups using 4-conductor cable.
This will connect the coils from each pickup in series for the fullest output.
A capacitor of lower value will provide brighter tone. Common values are between 0.068uf
(darker) and 0.022uf (brighter) for bass and between 0.033uF and 0.01uF for guitars.

Neck Pickup Cable Bridge Pickup Cable

Connect Red & White and
red
cover with heat-shrink
red white
white
Connect Ground
green
and bare
wire to 250K 250K 250K

T
ground Audio Audio 473
Audio
capacitor Out

Neck Volume Bridge Volume Tone

This diagram shows how to connect 2 pickups to a blend pot as part of a Bartolini pre-wired
harness.
Ground

To
250K Preamp
Blend
Connect Red & White and
cover with heat-shrink Blend
Grab more wiring diagrams including switch wiring from our web site:
www.bartolini.net/pickups-wiring-diagrams/

R150629.1
 PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS

Switch Wiring for Dual Coil Pickups with 4-conductor cable

series treble coil
red (humbucking) (bridge single coil)
hot (black)
white
ground
green
SPDT (on-on) switch
shield (or 1/2 of DPDT (on-on) switch)

series bass coil

green (humbucking) (neck single coil)
hot (red)
black
ground
white
SPDT (on-on) switch
shield (or 1/2 of DPDT (on-on) switch)

neck pu. green red

hot (neck) both pu's in series outer single coils
black (humbucking) (humbucking)
shield white
ground
bridge pu. shield green
red DPDT (on-on) switch
white black hot (bridge) ( or Push - Pull switch )

Switching to the outer single coils gives a "Tele" like sound for guitars and a "J" like sound
for basses (if BOTH pickups have magnet North (or both magnet South) toward the neck)

red neck SC
black parallel HB series HB
hot (red)
green
ground
white
shield DPTT (on-on-on) switch

black bridge SC
red parallel HB series HB
hot (black)
white
ground
green
shield DPTT (on-on-on) switch

black
red parallel HB series HB
hot (black)
white
ground
shield green
DPDT (on-on) switch
 PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS

Switch Wiring for Dual Coil Pickups with 4-conductor cable

black series HB
white neck SC bridge SC
hot (black)
red

green ground

shield SPDT (on-off-on) switch

neck pu. green red

hot (neck) dual coils
black
outer SC's inner SC's
white
shield ground
bridge pu. shield green
red DPDT (on-off-on) switch
white hot (bridge)
black (all positions humbucking)
Switching to the outer single coils gives a "Tele" like sound for guitars and a "J" like sound
for basses (if BOTH pickups have magnet North (or both magnet South) toward the neck)
Switching to the inner single coils gives a fuller tone with more mids.

HB = humbucking (dual coils with both coils on) SC = single coil

SERIES WIRING PARALLEL WIRING
red black + red
ground + + green _ neck coil
_ neck coil _ bridge coil hot
hot
green white ground +
bridge coil
white _ black
highest output level - best midrange
1/2 the output of series wiring
with 50% more treble but less mids
black (hot) black+red (hot)
series wiring parallel wiring
red
)
(use tape or
white shrink tubing
green to prevent
grounding) white
shield +green
ground ground
+shield
+ red (neck)

- green (neck)

+ black (bridge)

- white (bridge)

shield (ground)