I just acquired an unloaded Bernie Marsden SE. I put Seth Lover's in it and it is working, but the caps are not stock and may not be in all the right places. I could sure use a photo of somebody's original wiring showing the cap values and their soldered in locations. Anybody here that can help a brother out?
I need a Bernie wiring photo
- Thread starter AP515
- Start date
Danerada
Goatee Practitioner
Mikegarvey probably can.
Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
Hi AP...
Sure I have a photo somewhere... I'd be surprised if I didn't!
If not I'll do a quick diagram for you. With my Bernie all set-up it's just a jumble of wires in that cavity so I'd never get a good pic. Will get you something to go on in a little while... An hour or two.
Sure I have a photo somewhere... I'd be surprised if I didn't!
If not I'll do a quick diagram for you. With my Bernie all set-up it's just a jumble of wires in that cavity so I'd never get a good pic. Will get you something to go on in a little while... An hour or two.
Hi AP...
Sure I have a photo somewhere... I'd be surprised if I didn't!
If not I'll do a quick diagram for you. With my Bernie all set-up it's just a jumble of wires in that cavity so I'd never get a good pic. Will get you something to go on in a little while... An hour or two.
Thank you very much. It had a cap and resistor tied together in parallel that went between the to operating terminals of each volume pot. I've heard of this mod before, but it pulls the volume of the pups down about half. I removed each of them and the fidelity of the Seth's comes shining through. About all I need now is to find out why there is a ground wire soldered to the middle terminal of the tone pot. That one still has me stumped. This Bernie is a dream to play and the Seths are wonderful. I would have liked to know what the original SE pups sounded like, but these SD's are as vintage as they come. They are not potted, but I havent gotten huge feedback, just great definition and a raw edge to it. I like them.
I look forward to your diagram!
Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
Pretty sure this photo will be of no help at all!!!
This diagram should point you in the right direction. Your wiring may be a touch different if a new switch was added or ground wires are connecting the pots. This diagram is based on the stock wiring with Seymour Duncan pups. Any issues let me know.
This diagram should point you in the right direction. Your wiring may be a touch different if a new switch was added or ground wires are connecting the pots. This diagram is based on the stock wiring with Seymour Duncan pups. Any issues let me know.
Thansk Mikegarveyblues, I have it back almost exactly as you show. One question though. Do you have the bridge pup on the front volume pot or on the middle one? I have the green from the switch going to the middle volume knob and it is working as usual. Reversed from yours.
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Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
Neck First and Bridge second followed by tone. I wouldn't worry too much about that, they might not care too much about the colours when they wire it at the factory.
I will say the stock wiring work was a lot neater than when I re-did it!
I will say the stock wiring work was a lot neater than when I re-did it!
Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
Cool!
I bet those Seths sound great! The Mule I have in the neck is very lightly potted, sounds beautiful. I have a high output bridge humbucker that'll be fully potted. Sounds great too but the neck is just perfect!
I bet those Seths sound great! The Mule I have in the neck is very lightly potted, sounds beautiful. I have a high output bridge humbucker that'll be fully potted. Sounds great too but the neck is just perfect!
Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
Somebody have an issue with that diagram?
Not sure what he was communicating there. One other semi-related question. Does your 2nd volume pot affect the tone on your neck pup? If I have both volumes dimed, it sounds a certain way. If I pull the volume back on the neck pup and then rol the volume pot on the bridge pup it also affects the neck pup. The switch is in the neck only position. I don't get the same response in the bridge only switch position. It's not a bad sound, I just don't know if I have things right yet or not.
Desperado
New Member
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There was someone complaining that the diagram was 'useless', the post has disappeared, maybe a mod intervention unless they deleted their own post (not sure if that's possible on this board, some don't allow it).
Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
Sorry AP... Just seen this...
You've got me wondering now!
It doesn't sound right but I can't be sure... I'll have a play tomorrow morning and see if mine does it.
Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
You can delete a post in a thread but I'm not sure you can delete an entire thread... I could be wrong.
It's a shame this person deleted their post as I'd love to know why they found it useless. I've looked at it again and compared it to diagrams for this set-up by both Seymour Duncan and Bare Knuckle. There are a few key differences which I'll highlight in a following post as this may prove useful for others doing mods...
Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
Bare Knuckle 2 Hum, 2 Vol, 1 Tone, 3 Way Schematic (As PDF) https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/ma...mbuckers/2_hum__2_vol_1tone__3_way_toggle.pdf
My diagram with Bernie stock wiring and SD pickups (4 conducter):
Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
First thing you will notice - and this is extremely important to note - is that each pup manufacturer has different colour codes for their wires. These diagrams all assume you have 4 conducter pickups but are only using them as standard, thus two wires are tied off with some heat shrink to protect them. Of course, some pups just have hot and ground but it should be easy enough to figure out what is what - Indeed it's shown in the bottom left of the SD schematic.
Everything needs to be grounded with a path to the ground on the output jack. You will NOT get a ground loop if you wind up with multiple paths but you will have wasted your time! To keep things simple you just want a single path to ground.
On the SD and BK diagrams you will notice that there is a ground wire connecting the back of the pots. So the pups are grounded to the back of the pots, the pots are grounded to the back of each other and then to the output jack.
The Bernie takes a different approach - but a perfectly valid one. There are a red and green wire that connect from the switch to the two volume pots. These wires contain a hot (In a white wire) and ground within the red and green sleeve. So instead of the grounds going between the pots they go to the ground lug on the switch and from the switch to the back of the tone pot. Still a single path to ground!
The Bernie also has two grey wires. One comes from the switch and contains a white wire (hot) and ground. Same for the output jack. The two white wires will both connect to the lower lug on the tone pot and both grounds go to the back.
It's a simple circuit and there's slightly different ways of wiring it. If and when I come to replace the switch on mine (Only when I need to) I'll probably dispense with the red and green and go with something more akin to the SD diagram.
One other thing to note is that the SD diagram goes with a .047 cap. Don't know why but it's .022 stock in the Bernie.
Also worth noting is that (As we discovered) the red and green wires may go to different pots. On mine, green goes to the neck pot but it may well be the other way around with yours.
IF any of you are unsure about something let me know and I'll see if there's anything I can do. For now I think that covers it all unless you're thinking about a push pull pot or some other mod. There are diagrams for these on both SD and BK's site as well as others I'm sure.
My diagram specifically covers stock wiring with SD pups as per the OP's post.
Oh... One thing I didn't go into was how to wire the switch but I'm pre-supposing that that is being left and it's purely the pups and or pots / cap being replaced.
Everything needs to be grounded with a path to the ground on the output jack. You will NOT get a ground loop if you wind up with multiple paths but you will have wasted your time! To keep things simple you just want a single path to ground.
On the SD and BK diagrams you will notice that there is a ground wire connecting the back of the pots. So the pups are grounded to the back of the pots, the pots are grounded to the back of each other and then to the output jack.
The Bernie takes a different approach - but a perfectly valid one. There are a red and green wire that connect from the switch to the two volume pots. These wires contain a hot (In a white wire) and ground within the red and green sleeve. So instead of the grounds going between the pots they go to the ground lug on the switch and from the switch to the back of the tone pot. Still a single path to ground!
The Bernie also has two grey wires. One comes from the switch and contains a white wire (hot) and ground. Same for the output jack. The two white wires will both connect to the lower lug on the tone pot and both grounds go to the back.
It's a simple circuit and there's slightly different ways of wiring it. If and when I come to replace the switch on mine (Only when I need to) I'll probably dispense with the red and green and go with something more akin to the SD diagram.
One other thing to note is that the SD diagram goes with a .047 cap. Don't know why but it's .022 stock in the Bernie.
Also worth noting is that (As we discovered) the red and green wires may go to different pots. On mine, green goes to the neck pot but it may well be the other way around with yours.
IF any of you are unsure about something let me know and I'll see if there's anything I can do. For now I think that covers it all unless you're thinking about a push pull pot or some other mod. There are diagrams for these on both SD and BK's site as well as others I'm sure.
My diagram specifically covers stock wiring with SD pups as per the OP's post.
Oh... One thing I didn't go into was how to wire the switch but I'm pre-supposing that that is being left and it's purely the pups and or pots / cap being replaced.
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Mikegarveyblues
Cream Crackered
I can't reproduce this on mine. The bridge and neck vols work completely independently of each other.
However, if you have the switch in the middle position and roll off either the bridge or neck vols then that will affect both pickups which is normal behaviour.
Thanks, it proves I have a wire or solder joint somewhere it doesn't belong. I'll go over them again and look for something out of place. Thanks for testing yours. I'll get it right eventually.
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