wiring stock humbucker

[Paul Bromm]

i have an old charvel what i believe is a soloist pro model 4, there are no id tags on it, its my 4th charvel but its very differant, its a 1 piece, neck and body are 1 piece of wood, i have pics but dont see where to upload them here, anyways it has 1 humbucker , 1 single mid pick up and 1 single bridge pick up, has 1 volume controll, 1 bass knob, 1 treble knob, and 3 toggle switches. and active electronics.

the humbucker was rewired when i bought it, but obviousley not correctly, it hums badley when i turn humbuckers on, the other 2 pick ups are fine, i have the red and white wire together on the toggle for the humbucker and the black grounded to volume pot, and from what i see looks like the green is to the volume control, i dont see any bare or shielded wires, but it may be that they broke off into insulation.

if anybody can point me to a wire diagram specifically for this charvel or can tell me what it should be like i would be grateful. i have looked at several schematic links on this site, none match the configuration i have for these 3 pick ups with toggles and active electronics, and has any one ever seen a charvel all 1 piece before, not a glued in or inserted neck, is actually all 1 piece?

i can post pics if some one can tell me where to do that or i can email them,,, thanks,,, Paul

[dg]

Sounds like you are describing a Model 6, which is a neck-through-body guitar just like a Jackson Soloist. It has a maple neck that runs all the way through the body, with poplar wings glued to each side. There are wiring diagrams fro the JE-1200 midboost system and an HSS layout here, but they only show it with a 5-way rather than 3 mini-toggles:

http://audiozone.dk/CatalogScans/JackElec1988/index.htm

[charvel750]

That sounds correct. To wire the humbucker, connect the red and white wires with solder and tape them off. Then, connect the green and bare wires to the common ground. Then, connect the black wire to the switch. If you reverse the green and black wires, you will change the phasing of the pickups, which would be necessary if the single coils are not Jackson pickups. So I would take it out, find the bare wire, and rewire it as I described.

[dg]

Joe's right on. I just opened mine up for a look at the switches. The black wire from each of the pickups is soldered to the top lug if its switch. There should be a wire (white if everything is stock) connecting across the center lugs of all three switches and then to the circuit board. The switches should each be grounded with a wire soldered to the side. Like Joe said, the red & white should be soldered together & taped off for normal series wiring, not wired to the switch. It sounds like they were trying to use the switch for coil-splitting.

[Paul Bromm]

Thanks for the response guys,,that i found 2 diagrams on that link that are very clear and match what i have except the 5 way switch but that shouldnt matter f, switches are switches right, lol,, any ways ill try to get it done this week end and ill post the results,, thanks alot...

is there any whwere i can get an idea of the value of this guitar????

[dg]

If you follow them on eBay, they seem to fall somewhere around $500 - $600 these days, depending on condition. Just a couple of years ago, you could snag 'em all day long for $400 or even a little less, but the word's out. I still don't think there's much out there that beats a clean Model 6 on bang-for-buck, even at $600.

[Paul Bromm]

well thanks guys, i rewired it to the diagram link you sent and alls well.

im suprised though if its only going for $600, this is my 4th charvel and its closest to a model 4 i had that i paid $1800 for 15 years ago,, and this is my favorite its heavy but damn its the best one for staying in tune and sustain and its got a rich powerful sound though the pick ups and electronics are the same and i have never seen a 1 piece before,, closest i have seen are gibsons with the glued neck.

any way i appreciate the wiring help its good to bee fuzz free.

[Paul Bromm]

heres some pics

[DonP]

A Model 4 has a bolt on neck - big difference. You have a Model 6. A Model 5 is another one piece, but with dot fret markers. The Model 6 was renamed 650XL in 1989, and Charvel came out with a 750XL with a set neck like a Gibson. Jackson has several neck thru models as well, the SL1, SL2, ...I saying this because you seem surprised to see a one piece, but they are really fairly common these days.

$1800? Is that Canadian or some other dollar?

It's sad, but just like with a car, once you drive it off the lot, you lose 1/2 the value. Think if you would have put that $1800 in a decent investment over the last 15 years.

$600-$700 is about right at the moment. Currently it's sticker shock to me, because a year or two ago they were $300-$400. They've had a rise in popularity lately and have double in price over he past year or two.

I'd love to have one, but the price needs to come down first.