ASK HBS – Seymour Duncan P-Rail & Red Devil HSS Wiring Diagram

QUESTION:

My new Seymour Duncan pickguard for my Stratocaster is a red devil in the neck, coil tapped from volume pot, a red devil middle, not coil tapped and a P-Rail in the bridge coil tapped from the first tone pot. My question is what are the exact color wires to use and where do they go?

Thank you very much for all the help you provide for us.

Gary

ANSWER:

Hello Gary, Thanks for the great question. Let’s dig in and see if we can help you understand the circuit a little better.

Seymour Duncan Wiring Code

The first place to start is with the Seymour Duncan wiring code. Each pickup manufacturer has their own wiring code for the pickups, and Seymour Duncan’s is as follows. You can use this code for all 4-wire Seymour Duncans, including the Red Devil and the P-Rail.

• Wiring Code
• Black = Hot
• White + Red = Tied together and taped off (unless coil splitting)
• Green + Bare = Ground

Circuit Explanation

Now that you know the code, you might get a better idea of how everything is working in your guitar. Looking inside your guitar, you should be able to see the black wires going directly to the switch, then to the volume pot, which then connects to the output jack. The switch also determines what, if any, tone control you are using, allowing you to roll off some of the highs.

You can also likely see the green and bare wires going to the back of the volume control or one of the other pots. These pots all likely connect together and form the ground, which will connect to the nut or claw for the tremolo and to the output jack.

Finally you’ll likely notice the red and white wires of the Red Devils that split going to the switch part of your volume and tone controls. These are ordinary pots, like the volume and tone, and a built-in switch that you use to split the coils. It works by sending the signal to ground when you activate the switch instead of allowing it to flow through the second coil. Which means you should also see a wire from each of these switches going to the back of one of the pots or another ground point.

That should be about it.

Wiring Diagram