Pickup installation instructions for beginners?

[Hinrich]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to get into pickup installation. I don't have soldering experience or knowledge of wiring / electronics, so I realize I have a lot of info to cram into my brain before I even attempt this, I am actually going to start on my cheapest guitar.

Does anyone know of any books or online resources with step by step illustrated instructions?

thanks!

[dwagar]

A good book is Dan Erlewine's Guitar Player Repair Guide.
You can find lots on online resources too with Google.

Practice a bunch before you jump inside your guitar. Heat can fry stuff.

Some things you need:
- a small soldering iron, 30-45 watt. Don't even think about using that old soldering gun you found in the basement.
- rosin core or electronic solder, no acid core.
- heat sinks - copper alligator clips work fine. Clip the wire above where you're working to stop the heat transmission.
- wet sponge to wipe the tip of the iron.

You never melt the solder with the iron, you heat the piece and tap the solder onto the piece. Your joint should be shiny, not dull.

A good practice if you are doing pots, is to punch holes in cardboard in exactly the same locations as the guitar, solder as much of the assembly as you can outside the guitar, then drop the assembly in and attach what is required.
Even if I'm not doing that, I always 'tin' the back of a pot before I install it. Much easier to do that outside.

Oh, tinning, always tin the end of the wire before soldering it in place (this means solder the end of the wire by heating it up and applying solder to it).

What have I forgotten guys?

Did I mention, practice a bunch first before you stick that iron near your guitar?

And always protect the guitar surface. Solder can spit and do some bad things to your finish. And if you touch the iron to the body, well...

[Hinrich]

Thanks! I'll look into the book. My guitarist does alll the installation for free but I'm getting more and more picky with tone so I want to do my own so I'm not using up all his time!

[jxoco]

I wouldn't start to learn proper soldering on a guitar!

Too expensive to repair...

[Hinrich]

So I've been told. I am going to look around for electronics 101 courses so I can get the skill down, then I'll start buying dirt cheap guitars to "ruin":rockon2: :banana:

[blues]

Interesting read dwagar, I'm definitely going to try to put some new kinman pickups in one of my old strats, thanks. I should have read this before I soldered another set of speakers into my old car. I see I was doing it all backwards, lol.

[sneakypete]

was in the same boat...or is the boot...Americans seem to think we say boot instead of boat but nobody I know talks like that. Anyways...
What i did was this...unscrewed the pickguard and removed the screws holding the neck p`up in place. I laid the replacement p`up along side it and desoldered one wire at a time, first the white then i soldered the new white wire to the same location...did the same with the black wire. Then screwed the new p`up to the pickguard...did the same with the mid and bridge p`ups. After I just rewired the ground and everything came out great...not like wiring the space shuttle. If I can do it anybody can. Before replacing all the pickguard screws I checked to make sure all was well with my tuner and a screw driver... placed the selectoer in first position and tapped the p`up with the driver...you should hear a noise...I always do this part through my Pandoras Box with headphones. It`s really easy and remember .....hot side down eh.

[Lowtones]

The Seymour Duncan web site has some good videos.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/how_to_install_a_pu.shtml

[The Kicker Of Elves]

The Seymour Duncan web site has some good videos.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/how_to_install_a_pu.shtml

Thanks for posting this link; I'm going to be putting new pickups in next week and I was pretty sure how to do it, but this makes sure.

The soldering wasn't a concern, but now I won't be worried I'd get halfway through and wonder what to do next. :confused-smiley-010
:rolleyes:

[The Kicker Of Elves]

That wasn't too bad at all...would have been nice if the neck pickup had cables about an inch longer though.

Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell (neck) and Evo2 (bridge). :rockon: