The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hello everyone.

I'm new to the forum and need some major help! Just got my hands on two mmk 45 pickups and have a question on the wiring.

Both pickups have 4 wires, but every pickup i've wired so far has had different colours and these only have red and black. That is, two red and two black on each pickup. Is this normal?

I'm used to red, black, green and white and a huge wiring diagram! So sorry if this is a really dumb question!

Thanks in advance.

Hello bobcat, welcome to the forums.
Pickup wiring is not my strong point but I'm sure one of our resident electronic whizes will be by soon to help you out. (Deronkel? RSB? Squid? Pete?)

From what little I know, I can tell you that nothing about Matsumoku's specifications seems to have been consistent for very long! We've seen MMK45's with several different wiring configurations and colours; presumably some are meant for coil tapping and phase reversing. If you haven't already done so, do a search in these forums for "mmk45 wiring" and you'll get a taste of what I'm talking about.

Meantime I'm curious as to what guitar you're gonna use 'em in.

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
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Thanks for the quick reply.
I've searched high and low on the good old fashioned internet, and as you pointed out, it is very difficult to get a definite answer.
The guitar theu are going into is an old squire vista jagstang. A real beater i rescued from a skip! The stock pickups are naff and i've heard real good thinks about the mmk pickups.

Yes, the MMK45's are, generally speaking, fantastic pups!
However, I was looking at some pix of the current Jag-Stang (a guitar that I confess I don't know at all) and I see it has is a Single coil / Humbucker pup arrangement. Is yours the same? If so, I'm puzzled as to why you'd want 45's in there. Seems a waste.

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

The jagmaster originally came with two humbuckers, a tone, a volume and a three way switch. If there is single coil with humbucker i would assume its a mod. They were made by squire to capitalise on the wave of people wanting a shortscale offset bodied guitar that could produce "grunge" sounds. Jaguars/mustangs/jazzmasters were all very popular with alternate bands like Nirvana but were also heavily modded to produce a heavier sound, as stock jags/mustangs/jazzmasters are all quite treb'ly.
However as a happy accident the squire vista series turned out to be great guitars in their own right.
The stock pickups on my jagmaster are going south now tho (its a 90's model so about 12 years old) and the mmk45's sounded like ideal alternatives. If i can figure out the wiring i'll let you know how they do , but woodwork has always been my strong point instead ok electronics!

Thanks for the info!
Now, if someone would oblige and answer yer question that would be perfect eh?
Hang in there.

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

bobcat1979:

If you have a multimeter (or a friend who has one), you can figure out the leads on a 4-conductor pickup--just follow this link:

http://www.deaf-eddie.net/drawings/unknown-color-code.pdf

Barry:

The "F"-word guitar company has made so many 'casters, 'masters, & 'stangs--in several lines--it's tough for anybody to keep them straight. You were thinking "Jagstang"--the overpriced el cheapo "grunge" model.

Jagstang is a registered trademark of Fender Musical Instruments, & is in no way affiliated with this web site--or anybody else, for that matter--except for Fender Musical Instruments & those who are affiliated with Fender Musical Instruments.

Thanks for the info slo-hand. I was thinking "Jagstang" simply because Bobcat said

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

*zing!*

Thanks for the link. will help a lot.
And i just noticed i did say jagstang! wow, that guitar really was an overpriced badly weighted peice of cash-in junk! Played one in sound control years ago and remember thinking "they want 600 quid for this?"
When will fender learn: most artists know nothing about guitar design!!