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Huma

Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2016
Messages
7
Hello everyone,

I recently bought a used Musicman Majesty. So far, I am impressed by the physical attributes of the guitar. Unfortunatelly, there seems to be a problem with the audio output of the guitar. It sounds as if the gain potty on the amp was not sufficiently turned up. Even if I crank it up all the way, it still sounds muted.

I already replaced the batteries for new ones. Didn't help.
Both pickups behave in this fashion, so I doubt these are defective.

Currently, I think there is something wrong with the wiring.
Is there a way to get a wiring diagramm in order to check?

Or even better: can you direct me to a professional technician in my area (Frankfurt, Germany)?

Does anyone have an idea what could have caused this issue?

I'd very much appreciate your help.
 

Kinjin

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 3, 2016
Messages
119
Location
Bradenton, FL
I've seen control diagrams for the Majesty (available on the EBMM site as downloadable PDFs), but I have yet to see a wiring schematic available...
 

beej

Moderator
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Messages
12,310
Location
Toronto, Canada
As always, your best bet with any technical issues should be to contact the customer service folks on Monday (link in my signature). They can help you diagnose any problems, and get you any needed help.
 

sheehanje

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2016
Messages
21
Location
Scotia, NY
Hello everyone,

I recently bought a used Musicman Majesty. So far, I am impressed by the physical attributes of the guitar. Unfortunatelly, there seems to be a problem with the audio output of the guitar. It sounds as if the gain potty on the amp was not sufficiently turned up. Even if I crank it up all the way, it still sounds muted.

I'd very much appreciate your help.

I was having a similar issue - the guitar just sounded like it wasn't pushing my amp enough. I ended up lowering the action a bit and bam - it sounded great. So I'm assuming it had to do with the distance from the pickup to the strings - which can be remedied in one of three ways - lowering the strings, raising the pickups, or a little of both.

Might be worth a shot...
 

Huma

Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2016
Messages
7
I was having a similar issue - the guitar just sounded like it wasn't pushing my amp enough. I ended up lowering the action a bit and bam - it sounded great. So I'm assuming it had to do with the distance from the pickup to the strings - which can be remedied in one of three ways - lowering the strings, raising the pickups, or a little of both.

Might be worth a shot...

Already tried that. Didn't help either.
 

Huma

Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2016
Messages
7
I think I have solved the issue.
I came across a similar issue when I replaced the pickups on one of my other guitars. That guitar back then had two humbucker pickups as well. Turns out the guitar came with both pickups wired backwards, so that the magnetic field would be going in the wrong direction. It wasn't noticeable, because both pickups were wired in the same (albeit wrong) direction. When I swapped one of the pickups for a new one, I strictly followed the wiring diagramm. This resulted in the magnetic field of the pickup to go in the opposite direction from the pickup that was already in the guitar.
Took me a while to figure it out cause I wouldn't have guessed that they did not keep to their own wiring diagramms.

Now here's what I did with my Majesty: I reversed the direction of the neck pickup (unscrewing it, turning it around once and rescrewing it). It seems the magnetic fields of the pickups are aligned correctly now, cause there's much more gain, a much stronger signal and more sustain.

I would like to turn the pickup around again and rewire it in reverse instead, cause it is possible that it would still sound differently if it stays turned around.
Does anyone know which two wires (the pickup has a total of four) need to be rewired?
Also this brings back the question if there is a wiring diagramm available?
 

DrKev

Moderator
Joined
Jul 8, 2006
Messages
7,490
Location
Somewhere between Paris, Dublin, and Buffalo
Sorry but I'm going to correct you here...

Physically rotating the pickup does not make any change magnetically or electrically to anything. You have merely swapped the physical location of the coils around. If the two coils are wound to the same specifications (symmetrical), turning the pickups would make *zero* difference, as is the case with many DiMarzio pickups.

The Majesty however has Illuminator pickups. According to DiMarzio, the Illuminator neck pickup does not have identical coils and will sound slightly brighter will sound *slightly* brighter with the cable exit toward the neck, but it's not a big difference. The bridge however will sound exactly the same.

See here...

Frequently Asked Questions - Pickup Orientation

If your problem is solved by rotating the pickup (and from your description it's not a subtle effect) that suggests to me a poor connection somewhere that may have been affected when you removed the pickup and the cable moved.

To check the basic pickup connections, you'll find the color code for DiMarzio humbuckers here...

Frequently Asked Questions - 4 conductor wiring

Call or email customer service for a full wiring diagram and ask them for help in figuring this out. It's their job, it's what they're there for! :)
 
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