can i do it myself?

[CJ]

how easy is it to take out my old pickup and install a new one? i'd have my dad help me. he has a soldering iron thats adjustable up to i think 50 watts. i've never even taken the pickguard off of my V before, so i'm not sure what i'm getting myself into...

[metal_god]

very easy (only fags dont do it themselves and people with to much money every good player should know there guitar) loads of info on here too  

[808]

There is a step by step instructional on Gibson's website on How to change your pick ups.


I swapped mine out in my Les Paul with  my bro there for back up. He has more experience with a soldering iron.

[CJ]

is there a possibility that i could break something or mess something up?

[metal_god]

no not really just go slow and follow some wiring instructions and you'll be fine....

[Sailor Charon]

very easy (only fags dont do it themselves and people with to much money every good player should know there guitar) loads of info on here too  

Hmmm...
That's why the guy who changed the pickups on my SG managed to drop solder on it and make a small crater in the front. To be fair, he didn't charge me, and he put a nice pic of Belldandy on (to cover it) (he also put extra vol and tone pots in) for £50...

[blue]

he didn't charge you at the special rate of £50?  i wish i could do things for free like that!  "special free offer! only £100!"

i'm cranky this morning, hangover.  anyway, the soldering isn't too difficult, it's the panic that you're gonna do it wrong and the twisted brain from trying to work out which wire goes where that's the bugger...  oh, and the sizzling noise when you accidentally put the hot iron against your thumb!

[Sailor Charon]

he didn't charge you at the special rate of £50?  i wish i could do things for free like that!  "special free offer! only £100!"

i'm cranky this morning, hangover.  anyway, the soldering isn't too difficult, it's the panic that you're gonna do it wrong and the twisted brain from trying to work out which wire goes where that's the bugger...  oh, and the sizzling noise when you accidentally put the hot iron against your thumb!

He didn't charge me for putting the pickups in. He charged me for (fitting) the two extra pots (and 4 new knobs) and the painting. Since he would have charged £20 for changing the pickups... I'll let you decide whether that was £20 for changing the pickups and £30 for the other things, or whether changing the pickups was free and the other things cost £50...

[Crazy_Joe]

The guy who changed you pickups sounds like a real amateur!

Even i can do it right :lol:

[WezV]

no not really just go slow and follow some wiring instructions and you'll be fine....

It is easy but i get a lot of people coming to me because they have tried it and gone wrong somewhere with no clue what to do.

First of all you need to know how to solder - make sure you at least read an online tutorial!

http://www.kingbass.com/soldering101.html

Secondly you need to understand the wiring diagrams - spend alittle bit of time getting to know your pickup, what each wire does and where it will go in the diagram- standard electronics diagrams do not always have every wire drawn on .

Also remember that the wire colours on your current pickup will probably not match the new BKP's so dont just swap a red wire for a red wire - there is no manufacturing standard for this.

If you dont fully understand the wiring diagram and what you are doing before you start then ask a question here!

once you have doen a little reading it really is an easy process!

[Sailor Charon]

The guy who changed you pickups sounds like a real amateur!

Even i can do it right :lol:

That's the weird thing. He does all the guitar repairs for the local music shop.
Me, I've got CSE Metalwork. :)

[WezV]

A few years ago i took one of the guitars i had made to my local guitar shop, they liked it a lot . . . so much that they offered me repair work, even though they had never seen any repairs i had performed.

I turned them down because i didnt have enough experience at that time to be confident repairing other peoples guitars, although i was doing all of my mates guitar repairs and setups at the time and had built quite a few guitars

It enlightened me to the fact that you shouldnt always trust a repairman just because the guitarshop gives them work.  No qualifications necisarry to start calling yourself a luthier/guitar repairman.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Experience builds confidence and hopefully competence.
I have been doing repairs for 20 years now and I still read as much as I can on the subject, I never assume I know it all
Sorry to hear about bad experiences with techs
Everybody can have a bad day when doing work, but some folks can be plain careless or clumsy.
A bad experience can be a one off (as in he guy was having a bad day) but but if you hear a few bad reports or if the shop or tech has an attitude too then I would steer clear

As far as doing it yourself goes:
Read as much as you can on soldering.
There is a knack to it and also some important techniques.

Some lesser known facts

Remember that solder flows towards heat so applying enough heat into the component is important but not too much heat as you can damage electronic parts.

Don't try to cool the solder too quickly as you only end up with a "dry joint"

Lead free solder is rubbish and hard to work with (no matter what the ROHS  ruling says)

Hot solder splashes on the skin (or worse the eyes) bloody hurts and solder can spit when heat is applied. Think about protection!

[Crazy_Joe]

Also before you go straight in apply some solder to the tip of the iron so that it has a shiny silver colour on the tip, it's called 'tinning up the iron' well that's what my electronics teacher told me. It makes it a lot easier to de-solder the joint already there as there is already solder applied to the tip of the iron.
It also melts the solder much easier and quicker.

[CJ]

well my dad is fairly good at soldering, so i'll get him to do that. i'm sure i could figure out the wiring if i look at some diagrams. but how exactly do i take out my old pickups?