Steel Guitar Builder

Does anyone have a single neck pickup wiring diagram showing where each wire goes to, beginning at the input jack, and including a proper ground wire. Thanks Fred

Fred -

You haven't been clear as to the type of pickup that you want to wire - single coil, humbucker etc. If you "Google" "guitar pickup wiring" you'll find many references to pickup wiring in addition to a photo section with a hundred diagrams of all manner of options. A simple search of the posts will provide you with precisely what you need.

Richard

Richard,

It's a single 10 string coil with 2 wires coming out of it. (I went to the site you siggested, but couldn't find exactly what I needed). Fred

In its simplest form based on the info at hand...

Thanks Georg, exactly what I needed. However, one more question, please. What does "Sleeve" mean? Is it just a place to splice and ground that wire? Fred

The sleeve is the largest contact-point - the tube/body - of the female jack connection. On all-metal connector types it is the part that gets screwed into the hole in the instrument, so with a well-tightened nut the female jack connection's sleeve becomes permanently connected/grounded to the end-plate it is mounted on/in.

Georg,

Thanks for your explanation about the "sleeve." I'm learning, slowly. Fred

Fred, I'm a slow learner myself. Built my first working circuit - a medium/short-wave radio receiver - out of scrap at the age of ten, and 48 years later I still am not sure how it worked

if your bridge is separated from the other metal on the guitar by
wood or other non-metal material you'll probably need a
"string ground " to cut down hum more. some do - some can get away with none. this is done by fastening a wire under the bridge then joining it to the ground side of the circuit with solder or
around the jack threads before tightenig. this really helps ,but
is sometimes overlooked. i will not build my steels without it!
pastor bruce

Pastor Bruce,
I have come to realize that the more metal you surround your pickup with the better, against hum.
I did notice a difference in hum levels when I went from all-wood neck/pickup cavity to aluminum pickup/changer cavity like we see on most steels today.
If this can't be done(like on lap steels, it helps to line the wooden cavity with copper foil. Yes, grounding is important as well.