What pickups came on this 3DR

[Jicafold]

Hello...new member. I picked up a Charvel for my son. It appears to be a 1988 3DR model in pink, but I do not know what pickups it needs or what it originally came with. It is missing the single pickup by the neck. The humbucker is an EMG which says "EMG" in the exact same metallic pink color font as the guitar. So, my questions are...is this an original humbucker for this model? If not what did it come with? What was the single pickup that came with it that is missing and/or what should I replace it with? Also....did this guitar come with active pickups? Because that is what is in it now. Someone removed the 3 position switch and replaced with a pot with an unknown function for an unknown reason. I'd post photos but I'm new and heaven forbid I post a photo. Thank you.

[rjohnstone]

J80C humbucker and a J100 for the neck.

Don't feel bad about posting pics... no one can post much of anything larger than a thumbnail.

Use an image hosting site like photobucket and just post the link.

[Jicafold]

Thank you for that info. Lets give that link a shot... Here is what I am working with. SO this EMG pickup is not original? Then why is the logo the exact same shade of pink? Should I have active pickups? Anybody have a wiring diagram for this?

[Jicafold]

Thank you for that. I loaded some photos but now I have to wait for the moderator to approve them. Can you tell me the difference between a J80c and J50bc as well as the difference between a J100 and a J200 pickup?

Nevermind...I think I found that information here:

http://www.charvelusa.com/jackson_pickups.html

[toejam]

Welcome to the forum. As has been stated, your guitar pickup has been changed to an active EMG. The logo color is copper, so it's an 89 which is a splittable, dual-mode pickup... just pull up on your volume control to get the single coil sound. You'll also notice that the pickup is upside down, indicating that someone wanted the single coil sound to be closer to the neck.

You don't need active pickups, but if you like it, stick with it. You can take it out and put in whatever other pickups you like, doesn't have to be original Jacksons. Some people like the Jackson pickups, some people don't. If you swap out the EMG, you'll need to change the pots to 250k, 500k or 1m because the EMGs used 25k.

[Jicafold]

Thank you Toejam. Yes, I would like to switch out the pickups back to Jackson pickups just for originality sake. Is there a photo or drawing of what the original wiring diagram was for this model? I was assuming that the volume pot in the photo "v" was original and would therefore not needed to be changed.

[toejam]

No idea about wiring diagrams, but the volume pot is a push/pull original to the EMG pickup. All the wiring and the stereo output jack had to be put in new for the EMG to work correctly.

It only had a volume knob and three-way blade switch, but someone added the tone pot.

[rjohnstone]

Find any Humbucker/Single Tele wiring diagram and drop the tone knob from it.
Same basic wiring.

I have a 1989 Charvel 275 that has the same wiring setup.
It uses a J90C and a J100 with a three way blade, no tone pot.

[Jicafold]

Thank you. I'm going to remove the EMG pickup and I feel a listing for an EMG pickup coming up on Ebay very soon.

[Razor]

I saved this from someone here a bunch of years ago. I can't remember who to give credit to, but I think this will help the OP.

[Axewielder]

Didn't the 3DR have the JE-0005 5-way switch like the Predator? Here's the switching options on the Predator:

1=neck
2=neck and bridge in parallel
3=neck and bridge in series
4=neck and bridge in parallel with filter
5=bridge.

You might consider wiring it up like that, it's very versatile. Also your color looks like Burgundy Mist.

[Jicafold]

Yes, it does look like Burgandy Mist. I know it came with a 3 way switch, but I may consider that 5 way. Thank you.

[Hellbat]

There's some funny business going on with the nut too.

[rjohnstone]

There's some funny business going on with the nut too.

The fact that the actual nut is missing is pretty bad.
The string lock (not a locknut as it lacks the "nut" part) is not original either.

[Hellbat]

Yeah I was at work and had to keep my message short. That would have had the nylon nut and the JT-6 (Kahler style) behind the nut lock. I imagine it would be no fun to try to intonate. A short term quick fix would be to get a pre-cut delrin nut from Graph-tec or similar and jam it in there. The string locking would still be suspect but at least it would intonate.