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:
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.
