Schnazzemfrazzemrazzem....*grumbles*

[Nadz1lla]

If I ever find out who "experimented" with the wiring in the back of my 7 string before I bought it, I am going to shove my primed soldering iron up their bottom!

Oh yes, another tech question from the eternal n00b...    :lol:

Pick-up wiring: is there a certain type of wire I need to be using? I have no idea if they are graded on different resistances etc. The wires coming from the pick-ups themselves seem ok, and look as though they still have enough play in them to comfortably get them connected up etc, I just need to know about ground wire, and any other bits of wire that connect the various gubbins in the control cavity.

I have my Seymour Duncan schematic armed and ready, I just need to pop down to Maplin or somewhere that sells wire and get myself a few bits. Whoever did the work on the pick-ups last just absolutely mutilated the wiring and left no excess for when bits fray off and you need to trim down the plastic. Added to that, there are parts where they have soldered or twisted two or three lengths together to form one piece, it's sheer insanity!  :x

[1reeper]

Not really, standard copper wire will work, braided wire is (IMO) infinitely more preferable to solid wire.  Ground wire can be anything.  I use whatever's on hand.

[ToneMonkey]

Added to that, there are parts where they have soldered or twisted two or three lengths together to form one piece, it's sheer insanity!  :x

The experts may take a different view on this, but when I'm soldering earths to the back of a pot, I tend to do this (within reason).  The problem with doing them one at a time is that I tend to heat up the pot more than I'm comfortable with.

[JacksonRR]

I am going to shove my primed soldering iron up their bottom!

 :lol:

[Nadz1lla]

Cheers guys, hehe. I actually experimented with bits of PSU wire I had floating around the place and they did the job, but now I am certain that there is something wrong with either the pots or the switch. Doubt it's the pick-ups themselves....unless pups CAN die?

[ToneMonkey]

Pups can die, but if there's been a muppet at the electrics, this is far more likely.

Sometimes, just rewiring the whole thing can be easier than fixing it.  You can make yourself a little cardboard template of the holes in the guitar and then you can solder away to your hearts content without dropping solder on the guitar.

[Philly Q]

Sometimes, just rewiring the whole thing can be easier than fixing it.  You can make yourself a little cardboard template of the holes in the guitar and then you can solder away to your hearts content without dropping solder on the guitar.

^ Good advice.  Do as much as possible away from the guitar!

[Nadz1lla]

I need to experiment with which wires have been soldered to which parts of the guitar etc. Is it likely I could electrocute myself if I wire something wrong, or is it just a case of "the pups will either work, or they won't" with no danger of death to myself?

The reason I ask is that, from the Seymour Duncan diagram I have, the bare wire should go to the grounding points, and the black wire should go to components. Now, whoever has gone in there before me has used the black wire to go to ground and the bare wire to attach the components....but they have neatly trimmed the excess black wire off, so I will need to extend it with more cut-offs etc.  >_< 

The black wire comes out of the pup-holes separately to the main flex which contains the green, white, red and bare parts.

This is just confusing, hah!

[Frank]

Is it likely I could electrocute myself if I wire something wrong

You only stand a chance of getting an electric shock if there's a problem with your amp that causes the chassis or the input jack to go live. As long as your amp is electrically sound you're not in any danger.

Off topis a bit but on that subject, how many people here do regular safety checks on mains plugs and leads? It's worth getting into the habit of checking for bare wires, possible shorts, loosely wired mains plugs and so on at least every few months.

[ToneMonkey]

I visually check things when I plug them in, but that's because I have a baby that likes to play with anything he's not supposed to.

No real chance of killing yourself (unless, like Frank says, you're amps shot), the worst thing that will happen is that you make a loud noise. 

Make sure that if you're stripping the electrics out, you cut everything in there to leave as much wire as possible.  Trace the pups and cut the earths and signal cable right next to the pot.  You can always clean it up after.  The same goes for the earth wire going to the bridge as it can be a right pain in the arse putting a new one of those in.  The problem is that on TOM guitars you (generally) have to pull out the bridge studs.  On trem guitars you have to attach it to the trem and they don't like to stick to solder.

Overall the worrying about it is far worse than actually rewiring it.

[Nadz1lla]

Sweet, cheers chaps! I just invested in some helping hands and a few other soldering related gubbins. Pretty sure the Mrs won't like me burning holes in the carpet if the darn thing rolls off my makeshift soldering mat, hah! When that arrives I'm going to get to grips with it all properly and find out what's what.

Will keep y'all updated on my pick-up woes.   :lol:

[ToneMonkey]

I just do mine on a chopping board.

Have fun.  Soldering is a bit of an art, so read up on technique and practice a little first.  Don't scrimp on tinning the wires either  :D

[Nadz1lla]

Hey all,

well, just installed my PK and... ummm, it's too quiet. Is there a possibility the pots can get damaged from soldering iron heat? I changed the jack, pots etc, so everything is new. I even tried (and will probably keep it this way) just pup and volume combo, have ripped out the old neck pup, switch and tone pot and am just using the bridge pup "vanilla" (gunslinger style)

There is just hardly any output at all.  :?

It's coupled with a CTS (BKP) 550k vol pot.

[Transcend]

try wiring directly to the output jack see if that solves your problem

[Transcend]

also how have you wired it?

You may have accidentally split the coil off and be using that instead of the hot (red wire)