Wiring Up Warman Single Coil Pickups
Most Warman single coil pickups keep things nice and simple. Just two wires to deal with – a negative (start/ground) and a positive (finish/hot). Compared to humbuckers with multiple wires, single coils are the wiring equivalent of making toast – quick, easy, and very little can go wrong.
- Negative (ground) lead → connects to the guitar’s common ground circuit (usually the back of a pot).
- Positive (hot) lead → connects either to your selector switch or directly to the input lug of your volume pot,. This depends on how your guitar’s control circuit is set up.
Wire Colours
- If your pickup has two separate wires:
- Black = negative (ground)
- The other wire (various colours depending on position) = positive (hot)
- If your pickup looks like it has only one wire, don’t panic! That’s actually a twin-cored cable:
- Outer braid/shield = negative
- Inner core = positive
That’s really all there is to it. Warman single coil pickups are among the easiest to wire up. You can check out our full range of upgrade models [here].
A Note on Phase Reversal Switches
If you’re fitting a phase reversal switch, there’s one extra step to consider:
Before you do, check that the coil’s negative isn’t already soldered to the baseplate. If it is, simply snip that link so the coil and baseplate are independently grounded.
If your pickup has a metal baseplate (like many P90s do), you’ll need to solder an extra ground wire from the baseplate to your guitar’s ground.
Hi,I’m building a guitar,I bought a twin rail warman for the saddle pick up which has 5 wires as illustrated in your diagram,I also have a lipstick style warman for the bridge which has 2 wires ,as illustrated,my problem is that in your diagram there’s a square connector with 6 terminals which I don’t have,the switchgear is exactly the same as illustrated,can you tell me what that component is and do I need it , thanks in advance , urlyburd .
I’m presuming you are looking at a push pull pot in the diagram which has a 6 terminal switched block on the bottom of it
I guess so , I have exactly the same pick ups, peacemaker at the bridge and southern belle at the neck . Peacemaker has red and white soldered together ,bare and black together and green separate, the belle has bare and white separate, I have a 3 way switch which has a blue wire soldered to the casing and a blue wire soldered in between the 6 holes for soldering the other wires, the blues come from one of the pots…I just need a basic bridge/mix/neck set up, thanks for your time.
Leave the red and white wires on the Peacemaker joined together, wrap some insulation around the solder joint to prevent accidental shorting out and forget about them. Connect the black and bare wire of the Peacemaker into the ground circuit of the guitar ( usually the back of a pot ) and connect the green to the selector switch in the same position / to the same lug as your old bridge pickup was connected to. With the Southern Belle connect the black wire to common ground again. The white wire from the Belle connects to your selector switch in the sae location as your old neck pickup connected. Make sure that all you earth / ground connections are all electrically joined together and that the earth wire from the metal bridge of the Tele is also connected into the ground circuit to avoid excess ground hum.