Guitar: Swapping pickups. How hard?

I have these really cheesy "Duncan Designed" pickups in my electric. I finally reached the point where I realize they sound bad and why. How hard is a swap job?

 

[RagingBITCH]

Involves some soldering and stuff. If you're not intimidated by that I'd say invite a guitar friend over to help you out, otherwise take it to a shop.

 

[slightlyhuman]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Involves some soldering and stuff. If you're not intimidated by that I'd say invite a guitar friend over to help you out, otherwise take it to a shop.

good advice.



rage, what's up with some halo2 on live?

 

Hmm. I modded my Xbox. Then again I did f*** up the guitar when I tried to swap the pickup switch :Q

 

[Colt45]

2 screws and two solder joints per pickup


edit two typo

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Never done a swap job myself, but I've heard its not for the faint of heart... like Rage said, get someone who's done it before to help.

 

[whattaguy]

Take it to a reputable repair shop.

 

[Rudee]

I threw some Dimarzio's in my RG a while back. Involved soldering of course. After putting on new DiAddario 10's it was a bitch to get that son of a bitch back in proper spec. Floyd Rose are a pain to get into spec if you've had all strings off and claw adjusted.

If you know exactly what you need to do, you can do it yourself. Otherwise take it to your tech and have him do it. Probably run you less than $50 to change pups and re-string.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: DP

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Involves some soldering and stuff. If you're not intimidated by that I'd say invite a guitar friend over to help you out, otherwise take it to a shop.

good advice.



rage, what's up with some halo2 on live?

Hey DP - just been busy as hell lately. I played almost all last weekend, this past weekend I was quite preoccupied though.

 

Originally posted by: Rudee
If you know exactly what you need to do, you can do it yourself. Otherwise take it to your tech and have him do it. Probably run you less than $50 to change pups and re-string.

The job was too much for me, first time. The new covered pickups would not fit the old slot. I took it to a guy who did it for $45 total plus he swapped the tone pots for push/pull and parallel wired the pickups. I am glad I did, the guy really knew his stuff and I learned a lot from watching.

BTW: Ended up getting Duncan SH-2N & SH-4B. Sounds great. Like a new guitar.

 

[thirdlegstump]

I've done it in the past all the time but lately just hire this one tech who can do every little customization perfectly overnight. Not cheap but makes my ideas possible.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: dwell
I have these really cheesy "Duncan Designed" pickups in my electric. I finally reached the point where I realize they sound bad and why. How hard is a swap job?

Before you buy pickups, see if those are two or 4 conductor pickups, then buy the appropriate ones. Truthfully, you don't really have to soldier anything. You can just splice the wires together, then cover the splices with a small piece of insulated electrical tape (available at many hardware stores). If you're having a problem with shorts and buzzing though, you may want to run new wires, in which case you'll have to soldier. Cover the wires with insulated tape to prevent EM interference. Make SURE you diagram any wires you remove- you'd be surprised how hard it is to put them back .

The last pickups I replaced were in an Epiphone Les Paul. I put in some Burstbuckers and changed the volume knobs to pots switches so I could turn the pickups on in series or parallel (this give an "out of phase" sound, similar to BB King).

 

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Before you buy pickups, see if those are two or 4 conductor pickups, then buy the appropriate ones. Truthfully, you don't really have to soldier anything. You can just splice the wires together, then cover the splices with a small piece of insulated electrical tape (available at many hardware stores). If you're having a problem with shorts and buzzing though, you may want to run new wires, in which case you'll have to soldier. Make SURE you diagram any wires you remove.

I actually just got the "real" versions of what I already had (replaced HB-102 for SH-2/SH-4). The wiring was easy but the pickups did not fit and I was not sure what to do. The dude just wailed on them with a rubber mallet He did the parallel wiring which I could probably not do and never had before which made it worth it.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: dwell

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Before you buy pickups, see if those are two or 4 conductor pickups, then buy the appropriate ones. Truthfully, you don't really have to soldier anything. You can just splice the wires together, then cover the splices with a small piece of insulated electrical tape (available at many hardware stores). If you're having a problem with shorts and buzzing though, you may want to run new wires, in which case you'll have to soldier. Make SURE you diagram any wires you remove.

I actually just got the "real" versions of what I already had (replaced HB-102 for SH-2/SH-4). The wiring was easy but the pickups did not fit and I was not sure what to do. The dude just wailed on them with a rubber mallet He did the parallel wiring which I could probably not do and never had before which made it worth it.

Heheh...he wailed on them??? I would have just cut a small piece out of the hole. He could have broke the magnets in there

The magnets are probably larger, giving a better response in your replacements.

 

[CptObvious]

I've done easy pickup changes myself (P-Bass and Telecaster bridge) but my soldering skills aren't that great. Now I just take everything to a tech.

 

[Raincity]

It's a easy process. A 25 watt iron is good enough for pickup and switch connections. Your going to need a 40+ watt iron if you need to solder a ground to the claw or ground out the pots. Learning to do your own repairs and setups will save you alot of money. Fifty bucks here, eighty bucks there adds up in time. The only job I leave for techs is a refret only because I dont have the time.