By Ed Malaker
Posted 07/21/2020
This short DiMarzio PAF Master wiring guide shows you how to install these fantastic pickups into your guitar.
DiMarzio PAF Master pickups use Alnico 5 magnets to help create a guitar tone that’s bright, yet balanced with notes that are smooth and not too thin or shrill. It has a good amount of gain to drive amplifiers into the crunch zone, but it won’t get out of hand and it will leave plenty of headroom for the clean channel.
DiMarzio PAF Master pickups are available with the classic nickel cover or in a wide range of colors that include hot pink and camouflage. Many world-class guitarists, including Paul Gilbert of Racer X and Mr.Big, favor the DiMarzio PAF Master.
Tools
For your DiMarzio PAF Master wiring project, all you need are the following tools:
- Soldering iron
- Solder
- Phillips screwdriver
- Pliers
Getting Started
No doubt, you will be installing the DiMarzio PAF Master pickup in your guitar to replace one that is already there. Before you remove the current pickup, however, be sure to take note of how the wires go so you can install the new pickup in the same way. You will most likely see one wire going to the switch or one of the lugs on the volume pot. This wire is the Hot.
Another wire will be going from the pickup to the back of the volume pot, along with a bare wire. This wire is the Ground, and the bare wire is the Shield. You will most likely see two other wires connected and taped off. It may look as though we aren’t using these two wires, but this is how one coil runs into the next. Make a note of where the Hot goes and where the Ground goes.
Wiring Code
If the pickups you’re replacing are also DiMarzios, all you need to do is match up the colors to install the pickup. However, if you are replacing another type of pickup, there is an excellent chance that the colors will not match. Even if they use the same colors, they might not go to the same place. Which wire is Hot and which wire is Ground, etc., is called the pickup’s wiring code. Luckily, we already know the DiMarzio PAF Master wiring code, so we don’t have to look it up or use a digital voltmeter to figure it out.
DiMarzio PAF Master Wiring Code
- Red = Hot
- Black and White = Tied together
- Green and Bare = Tied together; Ground
We diagramed the DiMarzio PAF Master wiring code in Example 1.
Example 1
Installing the DiMarzio PAF Master
Once you have the proper colored wires twisted together and taped off, most of your work is completed. You can now install the DiMarzio PAF Master into your guitar the same way as the original. The red Hot wire will go to the switch or one of the lugs on the volume control, while the green and bare Ground wires will go to the back of the volume pot. We have demonstrated a common DiMarzio PAF Master wiring diagram in Example 2.
Example 2
Summary
We highly recommend learning how to change the pickups in your guitar. It’s an easy process that can teach you a lot about how your guitar works and get you started down the road of guitar modifications. Changing the pickups can alter your tone more than any other modification, and it’s often for the better, especially when replacing the pickups on budget guitars.
We hope that you have enjoyed reading over this short guide, and that it has shown you how to replace the pickups in your guitar. If you’ve found this helpful, please feel free to share this article on Facebook and Twitter. For more articles on guitar electronics, visit humbuckersoup.com.