Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Tim on April 09, 2005, 06:17:26 PM
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I'd like to know how many of you find soldering in pickups or understanding wiring difficult?
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I chose 'prefer not, but will have a go' because although I can solder, I'm basically lazy and would rather have my tech do it! :D
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i put always go to a tech, i would assume its pretty easy to fit pickups but i dont have a soldering iron and have never used one.
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Years ago I'd always go to a tech but these days I won't let anyone inside my axes and I actually enjoy doing the work-just as well I like making pickups too :lol: !
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i do it myself, no problems yet ;-)
use a 40 watt small iron, and tin with a solution in it. (donno what its called)
did the sd's in the LP and the SD custom mini in the firebird (still not very happy with that one soundwise but thats another story, to be continued)
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i'm having difficulty at the moment, but this is my first time fitting pups. also, i'm an idiot so i will try anything myself, even when it's blatantly obvious i should just find someone who knows what they're doing. but it'll get easier i hope...
... or else i'll just take up playing the drums :P
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i do it myself, no problems yet ;-)
use a 40 watt small iron, and tin with a solution in it. (donno what its called)
did the sd's in the LP and the SD custom mini in the firebird (still not very happy with that one soundwise but thats another story, to be continued)
I do a mean rewind of Firebird p/ups-they're always wound way to hot and sound dreadfull. The SD one has a ceramic in it if memory serves me correct but it's way to hard edged for a Firebird.I've rebuilt with Alnico IV and V to much better results.
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ok, sound good, but lets first upgrade the burny, and then ill see what to do with the firebird ;-)
its way too bright for my taste, but a great looker.. (i know the Firebirds are not LP's)
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Years ago I'd always go to a tech but these days I won't let anyone inside my axes and I actually enjoy doing the work-just as well I like making pickups too :lol: !
Second that - can never find a good tech anyway! :evil:
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Hi, I always fit my own (even in a 335!), but I did a course with Stephen Delft on guitar repair in the 70's and do all the set up work on my guitars. I also like to do different wiring, just ask Tim ;) I am using the new 4 pole 5-way switch which BKP sells to get series wiring on my h/s/s and strat sets. This gives you some of the Brian May sounds that are almost impossible to get with standard wiring.
My only problem so far is fitting the Crawler and Nailbomb as they are overwound a bit and require the pickguard opening up a bit.
I use a 40 watt iron, keep the tip clean and use a desoldering pump when taking off the old wires.
Cheers
Phil
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When fitting wide spaced Nailbombs or Crawlers to a precut guard it's always a good idea to sand the edge of the guard first as both pickups have a healthy amount of wire on them :wink: and the fit can be tight otherwise.
As always, if you experience problems call me up and I'll talk you through.
Welcome to the boards Phil-you deserve a medal for wiring up semis! :D
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A word of warning when soldering push/pull or push/push pots - it's very easy when soldering the earth wire to the switch to actually melt the plastic inside so the switch either doesn't work or sticks.
Please don't ask me how I know that :oops:
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I fitted both my Stormy Monday and The Mule to my Les Paul. I found it a bit tricky but managed without to much difficulty. Have to say that I quite enjoyed it. The cavity on a LP seem quite big to me, so this made the job a bit easier.
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its easyer to solder everything outside of the cavity.
and put the fully soldered pots in and only solder the switchwires and jack wires inside the cavity. IMHO.
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Never thought to do that :roll:But thanks any way,might come in handy in the future.
I also forgot to say that I found getting the pickup screwed into the pickup ring quite difficult. That little spring caused all sorts of colourful language to be heard by the neighbours.
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lol, next time use a piece of ducktape to hold the spring back and make a hole in it for the screw to get trough....
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If you have a digital camera you could always take a photo of the original soldering before trying soldering by yourself. That way you always have something to look at if you should forget how the wires are connected. Thats how i do it :)
Pardon my english, I'm swedish :wink:
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Kind of goes without saying that I'm more than ok wiring in pickups. Soldering is an artform and requires quite a lotr of practise.
Generally speaking when it comes to soldering - cleanliness is next to Godliness.
I like to see a very neat, tidy organised wiring arrangement and hope to make them look that good myself.
The tidiest soldering I ever saw was on a GMP guitar - ultra tidy!
Was kind of like the ultra neat soldering and wiring on 1970s Hiwatt amps by Henry Joyce (or was it Harry Joyce) - legendary stuff.
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It's Harry Joyce -very cool stuff, I've played and looked in some post HiWatt Harry Joyce amps, they're super super tidy, like you say - work of art!
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I don't have too much difficulty like I imagined I would, I'm gonna rewire my SG knock-off over and over until I can really get it right 100% before I actually go in with a soldering iron and a nice guitar. That thing's becoming something of a guinea pig anyhow, it's neck went kind of "nmeeeeeeeuuuuygh" so I can't see much use for it now apart from refinishing and rewiring practice.
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My first post on this forum!! Hi there y' all!!
I went for it myself and encountered no serious trouble although it was very timeconsuming and finnicky as I was working on an Epi Casino. My tech was mighty pleased I did it myself (COWARD!! :twisted: ).
Because of some shielding/interference issues I actually did it three times in a row :roll: with different types of hookup wire and found out that for this particular type of guitar the easiest way seemed to be soldering two separate tone/volume assemblies first (tonepot w/capacitor - wire - volumepot - wire to selector). After soldering these to the pickup wire I pulled them into place with a piece of string attatched to the shaft of the tonepot. With both units in place I then soldered both and the output wire to the selector switch.
Regards,
Martijn
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Hollowbody guitars always looked really scary to rewire, what I wanna know is what you're meant to do with LP supremes... there's no cover at the back! Just plain maple, and I'm sure they can't be using "the force".
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Traditionally, I've taken them to a tech to solder in new pickups, I had the shop fit my Black Dog set in my Tokai.
Recently, I bought a beaten up Ibanez Iceman (a 1980 IC50), that had been refinished red by hand (you could see the brush marks!) and had a pair of Ibanez V5 bar type pickups (16.5k Ohm), but they sounded a bit too much 80's for my liking. I took them out, and put the SD's from my Love Rock in it. No sound! After checking everything twice, I admitted defeat and took it to the shop where I got the BKP's. After a bit of investigsating, they had to replace the switch and it's wiring. Anyway, I recently re-refinished it, and fitted the pickups myself, and amazingly, it works (even looks half decent too!).
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OK, got the answers I need.
It looks like the majority like to wire up pickups themselves but it's clear from the tech area that this can present problems so what I'm proposing to do after LGS is out of the way is to post a pictoral guide along with alot of the wiring schemes you guys have been trying to do.
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That sounds like a pretty cool idea. 8)
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That sounds like an excellent idea to me too! ;)
Thanks Tim!
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OK, got the answers I need.
It looks like the majority like to wire up pickups themselves but it's clear from the tech area that this can present problems so what I'm proposing to do after LGS is out of the way is to post a pictoral guide along with alot of the wiring schemes you guys have been trying to do.
Amen!
Tho, I must admit, my problem was 95% stupidity and 5% ignorance! LOL