I just want to know if I can still blame my mediocre playing abilities on my guitar... 

Beepster
Hiya, Drew. Thanks for that. Lemme drag out one of the pups (that I realized actually has the color codes on it) and see if I can figure out how to wire that one based on your instructions.
 
But from what I'm reading for option 1...
 
Coil 1 Neg wire gets daisy chained to Coil 2 Pos wire (just twist 'em together and tape/solder?)
 
Then Coil 1 Pos gets soldered to the input jack Tip connector
 
and Coil 2 Neg gets soldered to the input jack Sleeve connector
 
Yes?

 
 
Yes.
 

Now there is a ground wire (green) coming off the tremolo chassis (inside the guit)... where would that go... if anywhere.

 
 
That's the bridge ground to reduce the hum when you aren't touching the strings (or gives you a nice shock when you are touching the strings at the same time you're touching an ungrounded mic or whatever).
 
It just gets connected to ground (sleeve).
 

 
Edit: and of course with two discrete outputs setup like that I can record the neck and bridge indepentally/send out to two amps/whatever and then blend in post production... which is an ideal situation for my crazy arse. lol

There are a bazillion ways of wiring things, even with simple passive circuits. And various different types of pots/switches/etc. to accomplish them.
 
Some ideas end up being better only in theory, but it really depends on one's preferences and their taste in simplicity vs. complexity.

@Drew... If I can get this guit cranky at full capacity I'll be a happy Beep. It's an ancient Ibanez I've had since I was 15 and plays great for metal but the wiring has been a complete joke since I first bought it. The pups would cut out and I'd have to literally punch them to get them to work. I had it rewired at least 3 times and still the same damned thing. Once I finally got the balls to rip it apart myself I realized the idiots were using the same stock multi switch/push pull pots/toggle that came with the thing which was just coated with solder and had almost a dozen pins on the thing. Ridiculous! So I ripped out the custom 4 wire pickup (something apparently called a Power Whammy or some such 90's metal silliness) and wired up one of the stock 2 wire pups to the bridge position with the pots I bought at the local electronics shop. Certainly made it not cut out anymore but the pickups suck (80's bottom scale Ibanez tech... not the "good" Gemstar shiz). That was okay in a pinch for live sauced with distortion and some lunatics screaming up front (and the whole audience drunk of their arse). Not so great under the microscope of studio gear.
 
So if I can get that "Power Whammy" hooked up again (I recorded a full studio album through it when I was 17 and it is a very nice pickup) or the Dimarzio a buddy traded me for some drum hardware a while back (the one I will likely try first because it has the wiring color code sheet) and it sounds good... then I've got my trusty old metal axe back in play.
 
Just something about the fretboard that lends itself to the genre. My current axe is a Yamaha Pacifica that HEAVILY mimics a "Hot" Strat which is great for most applications but just kind of barely sucks out when I want to go into full on metal mode. Just to wishy washy and I need to dig WAY to hard for the needed definition and speed the material requires.
 
Of course a new Ibanez or Jackson or ESP or whatever would be ideal but I can't shart out the 2 Gs or so required to acquire such a beast so this is my ghetto solution.
 
Heheh.
 
Cheers and thanks a million!

spacey
If you really want to know an answer about electric guitar construction you must first know the question and ask the right people.
...

There went the definition of music for everyone! And "progressive" just took it to the toilet!
 

Moshkito

spacey
If you really want to know an answer about electric guitar construction you must first know the question and ask the right people.
...

There went the definition of music for everyone! And "progressive" just took it to the toilet!
 

?