Bisonic wiring question

[tsarter]

This eve I opened up the rear pickup cavity on my ‘68 M85 II to try to get the g string magnet to move again as I wanted it a tad closer to the string. I failed - it had too much corrosion on it and I could not get it to move. But that’s not why I’m writing.

I didn’t fully pull the pickup as I didn’t want to have to have it rewired, but to my annoyance I managed to break off the red wire. Since I have no soldering skills at all I closed it all back up and lrestrung the bass, figuring I’d have to bring it to my tech so he could solder the wire back in place. I was figuring he could figure out the exact place to put it by looking at the front pick up (and by looking at the solder points)

After I had it all back together and restrung I was very surprised to learn that it plays and sounds just fine. There seems to be no difference at all. So my question is can any of you tell me from this description what that red wire does and how come the pick up seems to be working just fine without it soldered in place. I should have snapped a photo before reassembling it but I was tired and not thinking well.

 

[mellowgerman]

The red wire is the hot if I recall correctly and assuming Guild wired them all the same way. Regardless, both red and blue need to make contact for a signal to come from the pickup.
My guess is that the wire has been in that position for so long inside that cavity, that it went right back into position when you put the pickup back into place and is now making contact again.
That said, any kind of a bump or light shake of the bass could easily disrupt that contact and then your lose your pickup signal.
If you have a fair and honest go-to tech, I would bring it to him disassembled and point it out to him. It's such a minor quick fix that it should literally only take him a minute to fix it for you (just as long as it takes his soldering iron to heat up). I would hope he wouldn't charge you a bench fee for that... Though if he has to disassemble and reassemble everything including the strings, then I could understand a small fee

 

[lungimsam]

here are some vintage bisonic pics that may help:

 

[mellowgerman]

If that photo matches tsarter's pickup, then the red is indeed the hot and the blue the ground.

 

[tsarter]

I was thinking that might have been what happened. No
Amount of shaking is leading to
If cutting out though. I’ll contact my tech today.

 

[tsarter]

This orange wire is the one that I’m not sure where it goes.

 

[tsarter]

The other end of the orange wire in question is heading into the body towards the bridge while the other wires are headed toward the controls.

 

[tsarter]

 

[mellowgerman]

That orange wire is your bridge ground. That's either supposed to go to the back of a volume pot, the terminal with the blue wire, or maybe even to the chrome shell of the pickup

 

[tsarter]

That orange wire is your bridge ground. That's either supposed to go to the back of a volume pot, the terminal with the blue wire, or maybe even to the chrome shell of the pickup

Thank you! That’s very helpful. How do I determine where it goes.

I was thinking it must be a ground but I’d expect it to be buzzing a lot without it hooked up anywhere.

 

[lungimsam]

If it’s a bridge ground wire then it don’t matter where it gets soldered to as long as that solder point has a direct path to and terminates at the ground lug on the output jack.
Any of those points mellow mentioned should work.

 

[tsarter]

If it’s a bridge ground wire then it don’t matter where it gets soldered to as long as that solder point has a direct path to and terminates at the ground lug on the output jack.

Got it. Thanks so much for the help.
Tim