A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Just realized it is in the wrong forum...oops.

So I have an old Donlis pickups...new actually, never used it. I want to connect it to a Epiphone Quick Connect. The issue is the 2 wiring which are usually used for coil spliting which are usually wired together. According to the diagram.... I can figure out the Hot, Ground and Shield.....but the bottom 2 for coil split (red and white)....not sure which is north finish and which is south finish? Is there a way to tell? Does it matter if they are switched? Thanks in advance.

From your diagram, it appears that :

South Start = -
South finish = +
North Start = +
North Finish = -

Using that info, the following might be helpful:

Pickups - What wire does what?

If you've ever bought or been given a pickup and wanted to know how it should be connected, this tip should help. I will explain the process for a single coil but the SAME principle applies to HBs. If it is a 2 wire you will do it for the pickup as a whole, for a 4 wire HB you should do each coil separately.

Tools needed: multimeter (MM) that can read DC, screwdriver (metal).

1. First, connect the MM across the leads in resistance mode to make sure that you have a complete coil (this might be especially important for 4 wire HBs).

2. Connect the MM across the coil leads in DC mode (if you have to set the sensitivity, some MMs do this automatically go for the most sensitive setting).

3. Tap the coil with the screwdriver. Actually, it is not really necessary to touch it, but you must bring the metal of the screwdriver within the coil's field. When you do this, the meter will jump either positively or negatively. When you remove the screwdriver from the field, the meter should jump in the opposite direction.

4. Record the color leads connected to the + side of the voltmeter and the - side. Call the lead connected to the + side of the meter when the voltmeter jumps + the positive side of the coil. Actually, I may have + and - reversed here, but it really doesn't matter ALL THAT MATTERS is that all the pickups you install get installed the SAME WAY. On 2 wire pups, however, if one of the leads is a shield, call that the - lead (shields should always go to ground).

5. Repeat for every other coil/pickup. If the next coil/pickup makes the needle jump negative when you touch it with the screwdriver, then whatever lead you have connected to the - side of the voltmeter is the + lead for that coil/pickup.

When you are done you will know the + and - side of each coil/pickup. In order to make sure what you are installing is in phase with what is already in your guitar, check it too.

Before proceeding full into @dabbler process (which is solid), identify the associated color pairs of each of the two humbucker coils.

Since Donlis is a generic Chinese manufacturer and has no problem making exact copies, I'd venture they utilized either Duncan's or DiMarzio's color codes. Using a DMM ohm range of 20K or higher, put one probe on the Black lead and the other on White. If you get a reading, then it is Duncan. If not, its Dimarzio.
- Duncan: Pole coil start = Green, pole coil finish = Red; Slug start = Black, slug finish = White (coils wound CW when looking at the top face of the coil)
- DiMarzio: Pole coil start = Green, pole coil finish = White; Slug start = Red, slug finish = Black (coils wound CCW)

If you get it wired and find the humbuckers by themselves are 'thin' and out of phase (pickup is out of phase with itself), reverse the connections of one coil and this should remedy the situation.

The 'series link' of the female connector shown above can have a single wire attached and sent to a switch for splitting if so desired.

I know you don't like soldering, buy for me quick connects are neither quick nor convenient.

andrewsrea wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2024 11:19 am Before proceeding full into @dabbler process (which is solid), identify the associated color pairs of each of the two humbucker coils.

Since Donlis is a generic Chinese manufacturer and has no problem making exact copies, I'd venture they utilized either Duncan's or DiMarzio's color codes. Using a DMM ohm range of 20K or higher, put one probe on the Black lead and the other on White. If you get a reading, then it is Duncan. If not, its Dimarzio.
- Duncan: Pole coil start = Green, pole coil finish = Red; Slug start = Black, slug finish = White (coils wound CW when looking at the top face of the coil)
- DiMarzio: Pole coil start = Green, pole coil finish = White; Slug start = Red, slug finish = Black (coils wound CCW)

If you get it wired and find the humbuckers by themselves are 'thin' and out of phase (pickup is out of phase with itself), reverse the connections of one coil and this should remedy the situation.

The 'series link' of the female connector shown above can have a single wire attached and sent to a switch for splitting if so desired.

I know you don't like soldering, buy for me quick connects are neither quick nor convenient.

The only thing I am not sure about is the 2 wires used for the coil split. Labeled as South Finish and North Finish in the diagram. On the pickup I have they are red and white wires currently soldered together. If I put them in the wrong spot (mix up north and south finish) it will only affect the sound when I pull up on the pot triggering the coil split. Will it be out of phase? Hope this makes sense.
I have Epiphone wiring harness I am using and they have the female end of the connector.

Lamf77 wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2024 3:35 pm
On the pickup I have they are red and white wires currently soldered together.

Yes, that is correct (easy) wiring to achieve split-coil.

When you engage a coil split, you are sending two coil to ground at their finish lead. This makes one coil 'Hot' start + 'Ground' finish (all the signal passes through this coil), and the other coil becomes 'ground' start + 'ground' finish (no signal passes through it).

Given your red and white are joined, that confirms my suspicion that the colors are Seymour Duncan. So, Black goes to hot, red+white goes to the coil cut switch and the green and bare go to ground (slug coil is active when cut). Using two humbuckers wired the same way will give you the two inner slug coils, in parallel, in phase, non-hum cancelling. Reversing the green and black should give you the two outer polepiece coils when cut, same non-humbucking mode as previously mentioned.

Getting hum-cancelling gets more complex and the most accurate method, requires a magnet flip,