Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: Snarkleberry on April 15, 2013, 09:33:41 PM

Title: Changing from active to passive wiring in my guitar
Post by: Snarkleberry on April 15, 2013, 09:33:41 PM
Hey guys, I am looking to purchase some BKP Aftermaths to put into my guitar. I have an Agile Interceptor 6 with 2 active EMG stock pickups. When I emailed BKP, they replied with:

"The pots cost Ģ6 GB Pounds each, and you'll need 1x capacitor Ģ14.50. We do also stock the extremely cheap'ceramic disc' capacitor for 50 pence (but we hardly sell any of those). Jack socket is Ģ2.50. If you live outside Europe then you do not pay our sales tax of 20%.

Overall , the parts do not cost much and are relatively easy to install. Fitting the ground wire from the wiring cavity through to the bridge could be a little tricky, so you might need to consult a tech for that."

So it seems in order to convert my guitar from active to passive pickups some work needs to be done and parts swapped. Does anyone know how expensive this would be at a place like guitarcenter? Would it be worth investing in another passive guitar altogether?

 Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm fairly inexperienced in the more technical aspects of guitars and pickups, thanks.
Title: Re: Changing from active to passive wiring in my guitar
Post by: Toe-Knee on April 15, 2013, 10:17:40 PM
Most guitars that come with actives do have the ground wire already installed its just not connected but it some cases it is such as seymour duncan actives and iron gears.

In your case it definitely wont be but i imagine it will be there. Take the cavity cover off and have a look.

Regarding the jack the existing one will work fine just leave the wire for the switching out (this will go to the battery thats in there)

Other than that just follow the diagrams on the site and good luck!
Title: Re: Changing from active to passive wiring in my guitar
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on April 15, 2013, 11:15:19 PM
CTS pots are about Ģ5.50-Ģ6 (you can use either a 500k or the higher spec BKP ones 550k)

You can get pots etc in USA from Allparts/WD Music or maybe your local tech keeps some
Capacitor wise you can use the cheap ceramic disc one
I would favour an orange drop at the least  but I tend to favour the paper in oil variety

If you are ordering pickups already from here in UK , them probably makes sense to get the wiring kit at the same time
You wont NEED a new jack as you'll just disconnect the battery black wire from the fitted jack
Title: Re: Changing from active to passive wiring in my guitar
Post by: Snarkleberry on April 16, 2013, 01:01:41 AM
Would you recommend installing all the hardware personally or bringing it to the shop?
Title: Re: Changing from active to passive wiring in my guitar
Post by: darkbluemurder on April 16, 2013, 12:26:59 PM
Depends on your confidence to do it and your ability to handle a soldering iron. It is not rocket science but quite a few steps to do. If you are completely new to soldering/wiring up a guitar you better take it to a pro shop.

Cheers Stephan
Title: Re: Changing from active to passive wiring in my guitar
Post by: Kiichi on April 16, 2013, 01:52:47 PM
Yeah, I agree with darkbluemurder, if you just wanne go for the standard wiring this is not the hardest thing to do at all if you got some basic knowledge. Just do it carefully and double to tripplecheck every step. You will have to be able to properly use a soldering iron though.
If you donīt know how to do that I recommend using a tech for now. Canīt hurt to learn how to do basic soldering though, it can come in really handy. It ainīt rocket science, but is more helpful to the average musician (expect you are member of Rammstein or so, then rocket science might help).