P94 wiring help please

[Neil]

I just put a P94 into into the neck position of my Les Paul Std. I bought the P94 used and got no info with it so I just guessed where all the wires go (there are 5 wires including the shield!).

I connected the black, green and ground together and grounded them and took the white to the pot wiper. The red looked like it had never been connected so I left it unstripped.

It works and is in phase with the WCR darkburst in the bridge. It sounds ok but the volume pot (500k cts) works like an on off switch and the overall sound has a huge amount of bass.

It is also very loud (louder than the darkburst) and doesnt hum like a p90 would.

Have I done this right and what are all the different wires for?

Thanks in advance

Neil

 

[Jim Collins]

For the P94, green and bare go to ground. The white and black leads are hot and ground, depending upon the phase relationship with the other pickup. (Try white to hot, black to ground. If the pickup is out of phase with the other pickup, reverse the white and black leads.)

If the pickup has a red lead, it is a dead lead, and can be clipped.

 

[Chiba]

What Jim said. I've installed a lot of P-94s and always go with white as hot for the bridge and black as hot for the neck. No reason other than keeping it straight in my mind.

--chiba

 

[Neil]

I appreciate the help.

Is the 500k ohm volume control too high a resistance for a p94? (the vol control is very abrupt from 1 to ~3 then makes little difference). What is the preferred value for a single coil?

It seems the p94 isnt a simple single coil as it is too quiet. Is there some kind of hum cancelling built in?

Thanks
Neil

 

[Chiba]

Originally posted by Neil
Is the 500k ohm volume control too high a resistance for a p94? (the vol control is very abrupt from 1 to ~3 then makes little difference). What is the preferred value for a single coil?

That sounds like a crappy pot to me, not a function of the resistance. All the guitars I've put P-94s in (6 & counting at this point) have 500k pots in them as well.

It seems the p94 isnt a simple single coil as it is too quiet. Is there some kind of hum cancelling built in?

No, but they are designed to be hum cancelling when used in pairs (2 on at the same time) if they're wired properly.

--chiba