Seymour Duncan BG-1400 Pickup Wiring Schematic (BG1400)

Are you the proud new owner of the Billy Gibbons 1400 - AKA BG1400, BG-1400?
Are you wondering how the hell to wire this thing?

Well so was I and I'm here to tell you what I have learned.

First the why - The BG 1400 was designed for and by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame.
This is a custom shop pickup but at $150 it's pretty reasonable. I think Billy was looking for something to put in the bridge cavity of his Esquire but wanted a humbucker.
This is a stacked humbucker. It's really tall but it fit in two Telecasters I tried without an issue.
I have a think for the Bigsby B16 and your only option there is a single coil pickup.
This is why I wanted the BG-1400. It looks stock, will fit in my B16 but is a four wire humbucker with lots of options.

I tend to get as complicated as possible in the wiring dept. and this build was no different. 

 

I have tried 3 way wiring:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7440801/Guitar%20Wiring/EsquireH-3-Way8.jpg
This taught me one thing - you want the outside option. The inside doesn't sound good at all.
I also learned that the tone variations in this 3 way scheme didn't vary that much and I ditched it.

I tried 4 way wiring:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7440801/Guitar%20Wiring/Esquire4-Way3.jpg
This just didn't give me the options I wanted. 
Straight to jack didn't sound much different to me than volume and no tone.
Volume and tone sounded about the same as the other two.
The Eldred mod was interesting.

EUREKA! A Great BG 1400 Wiring Schematic!
Then after wiring and rewiring I found a scheme that totally took at advantage of the BG1400's stacked humbucker design.  You need a Telecaster 5 way super switch for this. Mine fit in my Tele with no modifications.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7440801/Guitar%20Wiring/EsquireH-5-Way4.jpg
The single coil sounds great.
Coils in parallel is louder and my favorite position.
The  two coked wah positions could be handy.
The humbucker is exactly as stated.

So I felt like this really got just about everything I wanted out of the pickup. 
I spent a lot more time on this wiring job because I wasn't sure what I wanted an no one out there could really help me.

Here is the site where you can find all kinds of wiring schemes:
https://sites.google.com/site/phostenixwiringdiagrams/teles/esquires

One thing to remember is you can use any of the two wire diagrams with the BG-1400. You can simply wire the red and white wires together BUT I highly suggest a push pulll volume or tone pot. You wire the red and white to the center left lug. When you pull it up it sounds louder and clearer.
 Deaf Eddie is a great resource for push/pull tricks:
http://www.deaf-eddie.net/pushpull/pushpull.html

Maybe my favorite setting. There are also instructions with the BG1400 for a simple 3 way switch and boots.
I hope this helps anyone out there looking for options for this great blues/rock Seymour Duncan pickup. Mine lives in my Texcaster I put together.

The "Walt Guitar" - Walt Wilkins Guild

THE WALT GUITAR
As y'all know I'm a huge Walt Wilkins fan. We have been running around since our college days when we were both young and pretty. Walt was my film instructor at Baylor in Waco. Most of what I want to say is in the video but I was pretty stoked when Josh Grider (another great sing/song writer) dropped off Walt's old Guild acoustic from our early Nashville days. A treasure from the past and to top it all off she is still a great player! Thanks Waltus!

You can check out my interview with Walt here. 
 

Jim T's Friday Story - Elvis Presley and Red

This week's story is about the king of rock, Mr. Elvis Presley. This is the true story of how Elvis used his Karate skills to take Red's gun away from him. The ending isn't pretty...but it's cool!

The Barncaster - My Hand Built 150 Year Old Tele

 The 150 Plus Year Old Barncaster - Telecaster - By Jim T.
I started really getting into barn wood telecasters a year ago. I love the idea of real barn wood being used for a Tele. I would spend my night doing Google image searches of barncasters and I decided I had to have one. I contacted a great body wood crafter. His company is called Wildwood. He cuts great bodies. He had a few pieces of barnwood left over from another project.

The description of the wood:
That is actually wood from a barn. It is wormy chestnut from one of the chestnut barns in the Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio. Chestnut barns are rare. The wood was stored for about 15 years in a climate controlled room to make picture frames and the builder decided that he was not going to use it. It is 150 plus years old and could be much older. The marks on the horn are saw blade marks from way back when. Lots of nice worm holes and more!












I put the guitar together from all my favorite parts: 
Neck PU - Lollar Imperial Standard wind heavy relic. Thee hand wound humbucker!
Bridge PU - Rio Grande Muy Grande (purchased on TDPRI)
Bigsby - B17 (GRRRRREAT)
Bridge - The stock was good but the Compton has more sustain. He custom made it to fit the B17 bridge.
Knobs - I made these out of 12 gauge shotgun shells and a .45 acp for the switch.
Control Plate - That is a black GFS tele control plate. I just scrubbed it with a green Scotch pad. They may not make this anymore. I had this one laying around.
Wiring - Toneshaper for the Tele. The cool part here is that I can switch from a 500k to 250k pot depending on where I'm at with my switch.
Neck - That is a CEG Hardtail Mighty Mite. I tried many things to get the color right. Plays great. No complaints. I drilled it with a hand drill and everything is straight.
Body - This was custom made and he cut the neck slot with the 4mm angle in it. I bolted on the neck and it was ready to rock!
Nut - Earvana - I love em.
Tuners - GFS Gotoh locking knockoffs. These are great tuners and drop right in. I have put these on several guitars with no issues and they kick ass. I ordered the black ones and scrubbed them with a green scouring pad while watching Smokey and the Bandit. Nicely aged!
String Hold Down - I was popping the strings off the bridge and wanted something to hold them down. I contacted Trussart and he was nice enough to reply to me but he doesn't sell his separately (I knew he wouldn't). I looked over and saw some .357 shells and an hour later I had a killer home brew string retainer!  

This guitar plays and sounds as good as my high dollar Fender Tele, in fact I like it much more. If you have never built your own guitar I highly suggest it. It's fun, rewarding and you get the exact guitar you want.

Here is video of Sam Eakins from Taylor Guitars taking a spin on the Barncaster de Hell:
 

Friday Story - The Tater

I thought I might start telling story every Friday. Here is my first about my Dad and a Tater!

The Christmas Caddy - A Caddy Miracle!

To celebrate Christmas I was out putting lights up on the house. The weather was so nice I got the Caddy out and put some lights on it. I thought it would make for a good Christmas photo. Within the hour cars were stopping and taking photos. Those photos made it to Facebook and people were demanding I leave the car in the front yard lit up! The wife wasn't so happy about this because I used the tree lights on it, but she also wanted to leave the Caddy out.

Fast forward to a few days ago. I heard my girl dog Billie barking. It wasn't the "Mom's here!" bark, or the "Kids in the yard! Kids in the yard" bark. I thought it was the "UPS TRUCK!" bark. I ran upstairs and saw a car from the local government in my driveway. I've been around long enough to know that car isn't usually a bearer of good news. I pondered whether I should lock the door or go outside. I opted for a leap out the door and with a hardy "Hidy!"

As the local govt. official walked up my driveway he was eyeballing my car. I immediately knew what he was about to say. "What's happening!" I asked the man. "Well sir, it seems one of your neighbors has an issue with your car in the yard and called to have it removed." What the neighbor didn't know was just the day before it was raining pretty hard and I had already decided to put the Caddy back in her covered area. "I'll move that car, I don't mind", I said. Then something very Christmasy happened. The man said, "Well I'm going to have to make you move that car by January 11th." Then he smiled, a lot like Santa might smile, and told me to, "Have a good one!"

Now I'll be the first to admit I like be contrary. It just seems natural to me. I called my wife and told her about our Christmas miracle. We both decided there was just one thing to... decorate the living tar out of the CADDY! I'm on the hunt for a Santa for the drivers seat. If I score that then there has to be reindeer pulling the Caddy!  I have added more lights tonight and as I was pulling out the LEDs and replacing them with old yellow lights it dawned on me that we are all like Christmas lights. Singularly we can put off a little light but when are all get together and "plugged in" we all shine!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidaze from Jim T's Caddy!

Jim T's Caddy - Rolling Stones Sax Player Bobby Keys Interview

 Jim T. Graham and Bobby Keys sporting "Team Hell" shirts!

BOBBY KEYS

In this podcast I interview my old friend and sax player for the world's most notorious band - the Rolling Stones. You might know Bobby's work from songs like "Brown Sugar" but did you know Bobby got his start with Buddy Holly? This fellow Texan found a sax as a kid and proceeded to change the sound of rock and take a ride most of us could only dream of, and few of us could survive!
I know Bobby from the airfield and we were friends before I ever knew what he did for a living. He has always been nothing but a great guy and I'm proud to call him a friend. Be sure to download this first of a series of 3 podcasts and hear first hand about the rock and roll exploits that myths are made of. Also be sure to go get Bobby's new book, "Every Night's a Saturday Night: The Rock 'n' Roll Life of Legendary Sax Man Bobby Keys.http://www.amazon.com/Every-Nights-Saturday-Night-Legendary/dp/1582437831" It spans the early days of rock and really gives you a behind the scenes look at the formation of rock as we know it.

I also have an epic guitar story about a drunk, a gun, a bullet and a Les Paul! This story was so good I broke out the recorder and had to include it. It teaches a lesson we all should already know - a guitar can save your life!!

Check out this episode!