We will NOT be discussing the actual winding or rewinding of pickups. That is much too difficult to accomplish. Instead, we will talk about the circuitry inside of a guitar. By making some very minor modifications (particularly switching), a guitar's sound can be changed dramatically.
NOTE: In these diagrams, the volume and tone controls are viewed from the rear. The volume and tone controls are variable resistors, also known as potentiometers (or pots for short). In electric guitars, the values for either of these usually is about 250K to 1 megohm. The capacitor in the circuit is for the tone control and these values usually are from .02 to .047 mfd (short for microfarad).

The top diagram shows the way in which Fender wires its volume control. (This is the best way to wire a master volume control). Fender generally uses 250K pots and .02 mfd capacitors.
Stewmac Single Coil Pickup Wiring Diagrams
When both pickups are active, this circuit allows one pickup to remain active when one volume control is turned all the way down.
Rewiring a guitar can dramatically change its sound. If you are unsure of basic switch terminology, please go to this tutorial first: Switches
In position 'A', the center terminal connects to the top terminal. In position 'B', the center terminal connects to the bottom terminal.
Custom Guitar Wiring Diagrams
There are 2 special cases of SPDT switches that have the functions as shown in diagrams A & B plus they have a third position whereby the common terminal connects to both outer terminals (diagram C) OR the common terminal connects to neither terminal (D).
These switches are called center on or off because this third switch position is located in between 'A' and 'B'. For example, if this were a toggle switch, this middle or 'center' position would occur when the switch lever was straight up.
Even though these switches have 3 positions, they are still considered double throw because another 'throw' implies a connection to yet another terminal and as we can see, diagrams C & D have the same number of terminals as A & B.
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The best example of an SPDT center on switch is the pickup switch used on guitars with 2 pickups (the Gibson Les Paul, the Gibson SG, etc).
The middle connection is the 'common' terminal and this is where you connect the output wire. (This is the wire that goes to the volume control or may go directly to the output jack).
Basically, when the switch lever is in one position, the neck pickup is active and in the other position, the bridge position is active.
Standard 2 Single Coils & 1 Humbucker Wiring Diagram
Shows the middle position of the more common type of DPDT center-on switch. Here the common terminals connect to the top and bottom terminals simultaneously. This is the typical DPDT center on switch that you would find at Radio Shack and most electronic parts suppliers.
Shows the middle position of a highly specialized type of DPDT center-on switch. Here the common terminals connect as shown in the diagram.
Some refer to this as a DPDT on/on/on switch but as you can see, the switch in Diagram C could be referred to in the same way. The biggest use of this switch is for wiring humbuckers in series / coil-cut / parallel. This is the only way you can get all 3 options in one switch.
Memphis Soul Split Coil Pickup Wiring Diagram
If you read about relays, you will learn that an electromagnet is a chunk of metal (usually iron), wrapped with a great deal of wire. When an electrical current flows though the wire, a magnetic field is produced.

A guitar pickup is the reverse of this whereby we start with a magnet and wrap a huge amount of wire around it (thousands of turns, usually). When guitar strings (or any metal) moves through the magnetic field, an electrical current is produced.
In the next section, we'll discuss various switching arrangements of a guitar's pickups so that a great many tones can be produced.
Guitar Wiring Png Images
If you are not sure of your electronic skills you may actually do damage to your guitar for which we will not be responsible.
Similarly, you may alter the guitar in such a manner that it becomes unsafe electrically in which case you could be harmed. Again, we will not be responsible for any injuries.
This diagram shows 3 single coils wired in parallel, allowing seven tone choices. The typical 3 single coil guitar contains a 5 way rotary switch which allows you to get 5 sounds - each single coil; neck and middle in parallel and middle and bridge in parallel. This modification will give you 2 more sounds - all 3 pickups in parallel and Neck and Bridge in parallel.
Pickup Custom Designed Guitar Wiring Diagrams
This diagram shows 3 single coils wired in series, allowing seven tone choices. Note that the switches are wired such that they shunt (or short-circuit) the coils so that they get bypassed.
With this modification, you will not get any parallel sounds which are so typical of the Fender sound. (For example, Sultans of Swing is played with the middle and bridge pickups in parallel). The pickups in series gives you a fuller sound with much higher output, which is good for distortion. If you want a more versatile modification, go to the Wolf Wire Modification which will give you series choices, parallel, single coil, and out of phase options.

Humbucking pickups are essentially 2 single coils right next to each other in one package. If you want to know how this pickup cancels the hum, click here.
How To Wire An Electric Guitar
Since there are 2 coils, you can have up to 4 wires with which to work, providing you with a great many tone options. Almost all independent pickup companies manufacture humbuckers with 4 conductor cable. Stock guitar humbuckers rarely have 4 wires coming out of them but sometimes it is possible to convert 2 wire humbuckers to 4 wire types. This is an exacting procedure with little room for error but the tone rewards can be well worth the effort. If you really want to give this a try, then click here.
Pickup wire colors vary for each manufacturer. Two of the most popular manufacturers are Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan and their wiring codes are:
If you wanted to wire a 4 conductor Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan in this way, just look at the diagram. Solder the 2 middle wires together, tape the connection, then solder the outer wires to the output. Be very careful when working with 4 conductor wiring. The colors and polarity are very important. You could easily make a mistake and wire an out-of-phase arrangement which would have low output, a squawky, thin sound AND the humbucker would NOT be hum canceling.
Lindy Fralin Wiring Diagrams
Another humbucker advantage is that the 2 coils make it have a much higher output than a single coil pickup. This gives them a much fuller sound and produces a fat warm overdriven sound.
Again, the humbucker could be permanently wired in the manner shown in the above diagram. However, if you permanently wire the humbucker for series or parallel, you are seriously limiting your tone options.
The black line you see in the diagram is a jumper wire connecting the upper left switch terminal to the upper right terminal. This wire is necessary to connect the 2 middle wires so that the humbucker can be connected in series.

Wiring Harness For Evh, Frank N Strat, Or Other 1 Pickup Guitar
The kind of switch you'll need is a Double Pole Double Throw with no center position. (See diagrams A & B in the above DPDT switch section).
In this way you can switch tones right in the middle of a song and you can go from a bright tone to a fuller, louder tone that is quite suitable for overdriving an amplifier.
Here you get a very bright sound but the output will be less than if it were wired in series and you no longer have hum canceling. Since you are using just one half of the humbucker, coil-cut sounds best when using a high output pickup (DiMarzio X2N, DiMarzio Distortion, Seymour Duncan Invader, Seymour Duncan Distortion, etc). A coil cut switch is relatively easy to wire up and it is just a matter of connecting one end of an SPST switch to that junction that was created for series wiring and connecting the other end of the switch to ground. So, we now have another 2 tone humbucker arrangement that can easily be switched back and forth between 2 tone options.
Common Electric Guitar Wiring Diagrams
Still, if you have a humbucker with 4 conductors, you might want to go all the way and wire it for all 3 of the tone options we have discussed. The best way to do this is with a special DPDT on/on/on switch (see Diagram D in the previous section).
This is a neat arrangement because you get the 3 best humbucker tone options all in one switch. Still, you might have trouble finding this type of switch OR you might not like having a 3 position toggle switch because it is hard to switch to the middle coil cut position OR you'd rather have a smooth parallel to series switching option.
If that is the case, use a standard DPDT Switch with NO middle position (Diagram A
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