Super Distortion

[thebeggar]

A friend of mine has given me a Dimarzio Super Distortion to "test" (I tried to offer her some money but she wouldn't take it).

So, I'm going to replace the humbucker on a cheapo fender squire. This guitar is in serious need of some upgrades. I've swapped pickups before but they were a straight swap.

The pickup in the fender has a thick black (combined? not sure) wire going to what I'm assuming is a ground point and a thin white
going to the relevant spot on the pickup selector.

The Super Distortion has a similar thick black wire and a thin white and thin red. There doesn't appear to be a green or exposed wire. My friend assures me they used it in a guitar as is without any problems. I have no reason not to believe them.

So if I connect the pickup as it is in the guitar same as the one that has come out I'm left with a red wire which has kinda thrown me.

Any help getting this pos squire to sound better would be great.

[UFORocks]

I think with Dimarzios black and bare go to ground, red is output. Just go to dimarzio's website and look up the wiring diagram for a Super Distortion. :-)

[metalchurch79]

I think with Dimarzios black and bare go to ground, red is output. Just go to dimarzio's website and look up the wiring diagram for a Super Distortion. :-)

Red is the hot wire.
Green and Bare are the Ground wires
Connect Black and white together and tape them off.

[thebeggar]

I think with Dimarzios black and bare go to ground, red is output. Just go to dimarzio's website and look up the wiring diagram for a Super Distortion. :-)

Yeah sorry probably should have stated that that was the first thing I did. Thing is the pickup assuming it is a dimarzio has no green wire.

[UFORocks]

Red is the hot wire.
Green and Bare are the Ground wires
Connect Black and white together and tape them off.

Of course I got curious and had to go check. This is the way I have my super 3 wired, the super distortion should be the same.

If you dont have a green and bare then you might need to peel the black insulation back to expose more wire, it should be there.

-Steve

[thebeggar]

I did the same. I went and checked another guitar with dimarzio evo's. Sure enough green wire plus bare.

This friend who gave me the pup had a drawing of how she was going to wire it assuming it was for this pup and I followed that when I wired it up and surprise, surprise it worked, although I mixed up the orientation, which again comes back to my original thought that it is in fact not a super distortion. When I speak to her later I'm gonna double check cause their original use for this pickup was to replace a stock pup in an Ibanez.

I will check further down the wire for a green and bare but I already took a half inch off to give me more length for the red wire and there was nothing to indicate any more wires.

The only markings on the pickup is a letter R underneath. At least Seymour Duncan slap their name on the front so you know what your dealing with.

As I'm typing this I'm also searching for pics of Super Distortion pups and what I'm seeing doesn't look like what I've got. Especially considering the "Made in USA Dimarzio" on the back, so forget my last comment about Seymour duncans.

So either my friend bought a dodgy dimarzio or they have had a brain explosion and have given me a stock Ibanez pup thinking they'd already reinstalled it.

I think I've got a phone call to make

[UFORocks]

Doubt its a production Dimarzio. I think Dimarzio makes Ibanezes pickups, so this could be a generic 2 conductor version of a super d made for Ibanez.... maybe...... Just a guess.

How's it sound, anyway?

[metalchurch79]

Sounds to me like it's either a stock 2 or 3 conductor pup, or an Ibanez 'made by DiMarzio' something or other.

[thebeggar]

Sounds to me like it's either a stock 2 or 3 conductor pup, or an Ibanez 'made by DiMarzio' something or other.

Bingo. Stock pup from an SA something.

My friend had a brain explosion. The super distortion is still in the Ibanez:ROTF:

I have to say although not having much experience with different pups and tones and whatnot I was disappointed (not surprisingly) with the "super distortion" when I tested it out the other night. I've got a dinky with dimarzio evo's and a bc rich which kicks anythings ass. So I've got something out of this whole debacle in that to my ears of limited experience they actually were able to pick something like this up.

Tone heaven here I come

Plus this has got to go down as one of the stupidest threads ever.
Cheers for the replies

[UFORocks]

Echo..... echo...... echo....