# Tele Humbucker wiring



## Maverick (Oct 21, 2009)

I bought what I was told was an Epi humbucker to use in my project tele as a neck pick up. I just realized it only has one lead on it and the cover is soldered on . Any diagram I have seen has at least to leads coming out. Junk and start again ?

Brent


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## Guest (Jul 28, 2013)

The lead is the hot wire. The braid around the hot wire should be conductive and is the ground. Hot wire goes to the switch, replacing the wire that was coming from the original pickup. The shielding gets tied off to ground, usually via the back of the volume pot.


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## Maverick (Oct 21, 2009)

Thank you ! What's the easiest way to solder the shielding to the ground wire ?


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

The braided shield is the ground. As *iaresee *wrote, the braided shield isusually soldered to the back of the volume pot.

Have you done much soldering ?

You will need a decent soldering iron to this as the pot acts as a heat sink and soaks up all the heat from your iron....that can "cook" (destroy) the pot. You will need an iron of about 40 (or more) watts of power. Make sure the back of the pot is clean (emery cloth works well) and try and solder as quickly as possible. 

This is how to remove the braided shield from the centre conductor...I prefer to use "The Better Way" near the end of the instructions: (your wire will likely not have the external plastic insulation...correct?)
http://radiomagonline.com/tutorials_tips/radio_braided_shield_cable_2/

This is how it will look:










OR......If you don't want to remove the braided shield, you can do it this way.....You will only have one braided wire going to the pot, not two. This pic shows the soldering concept clearly.
I have used the method in the above pic...but the one below is appealing to me more and more.










*DO NOT unsolder the cover* of the pickup, unless you don't like covers on pickups.

Let us know how it is progressing and if you have more questions.

Cheers

Dave


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## Maverick (Oct 21, 2009)

It has a cover over the braid as well . I need to strip that off without screwing up the braid. Its real flimsy.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Maverick said:


> It has a cover over the braid as well . I need to strip that off without screwing up the braid. Its real flimsy.


Sorry...I got my "covers" mixed up...LOL

Try cutting the outer layer of insulation (cover) *gently* lengthwise along the wire (not circimscribed/around the wire) and then roll it back to the point that you started the cut from and trim it off.










The wire you have might be something like the above and the outer copper shield might not be braided. It might be just wrapped in a circular/spiral fashion around the insulation of the inside ("hot") wire. If it is this type, gently unwrap it and pull it one side..then gently twist it together with your fingers. 

"Flimsy" wire can be a pain to work with..you just have to go slowly and be vert careful.

Cheers

Dave


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