Pickup installation.

Quattroste

I just got a Bare Knuckle bridge pickup that I am going to put in my 335(Tokai). What do I need to perform this deed and can a first timer do it without supervision?

Karl Hungus

Quattroste wrote:

I just got a Bare Knuckle bridge pickup that I am going to put in my 335(Tokai). What do I need to perform this deed and can a first timer do it without supervision?

You need a soldering iron, and some solder. If you've never used one of those before, then I'd suggest you take it to a pro. If you have used a soldering iron, then yes, all you'll need is some wiring diagrams, which are fairly easy to follow.

Doctor J

On a 335? Oooh be careful man. I think you're safer snipping the wire of the old pickup and soldering to that. Before you do though, try to find out how the original pickup is wired. Cleverly, there is no standard for pickup wiring - ie your 1st coil hot and return and your second coil hot and return, the colours of the wires mean different things to different manufacturers.

feylya

Jesus, you'll have fun on a 335! I suggest tying thread around every component so you can pull them back into place.

Quattroste

:eek: This is not what I wanted to hear! OK sounds like I need a pro to do this. Do I go to Derek or Musician Inc or is there any other suggestions?

feylya

Well, I was going to offer to attempt it for you but I'm just after refamiliarising myself with a 335 and eh, I ain't gonna touch it :eek: I think Derrick might be getting a call...

Kenny_D

Wouldnt really recommend Musician inc for maintenance/repair work. I had work done on my acoustic. Not only was I waiting for weeks to get it done, it took a few weeks longer than what I was told once work started on it and I found it rather expensive

Giblet

If you're really good you don't need a soldering iron

I have my pickups hooked up with connectors using the old wires. Depends though, if you want to change the wiring to some with better shielding, you may want to gut out the whole guitar





You may want to tin the wires if they are multicore though

Doctor J

Ehhh... gut a 335... are you insane?

Eoin Madsen

Soldering the wires is generally preferred because the contact points in a solder joint won't corrode. Assuming you do a good job anyway.

HusseinSarhan

Do it yourself. Just use all the original wires wherever possible and use more than you think you'll need to give yourself some slack. The main problem is installing the pickups (ok a bit obvious!!), so when installing the new pickup, before removing the old one enitirely, after desoldering it at the pot, tie a bit of twine to the wire coming from the old opickup, pull it through the giutar, remove the old pickup entirely and throw it over your left shoulder, grab the new pickup, tie it's wire it to piece of twineand pull the twine back from whence it came, magically you'll find the wire from the pickup exactly where you want it. If you have a decent enough brain you can use this method for multiple wires etc. In case things do go wrong it is nothing that a set of tweezers and a flashight (maybe a dentists mirror... If you are a dentist or something) cannot sort out. Seriously, not that difficult a job, again, keep all existing wires if there is nothing wrong with them. It's not straightforward but it's not impossible. Give it a go if you are any way familiar with a soldering iron. Oh, cover your guitar with something to avoid wrecking the finish if you drop the iron on it too. Good luck, I hope youse get me about the twine thing.

EDIT I see Feylya is miles ahead of me here! Those connector things would be handy if you were making pickups or experimenting a lot. You could have a replaceable scratchplate for your strat without desoldering anything, if you were some kind of mad bastard.

To answer his actual question, first timer without supervision... bit of a baptism of fire but what have you got to lose? Save yourself a few bob. Not much carnage potential here if you watch your fingertips and the guitar finish.

Johnny Storm

Speaking as a former student of metalwork (class of '76 :rolleyes: ), let me point out that if you are not familiar with soldering you should do a good bit of practicing with some scrap wire before you go anywhere near your guitar.

Quattroste

Hmmmm. I have never even held a solder in my hands so I'm no longer keen to try this myself. If I can find someone who has this expertise then I may give it a try! To be honest I am thinking more on installing this pickup in the Patrick Eggle now!

Quattroste

Sorry to drag this thread up again but the pickup has arrived (dam slow postage) and I was wondering if anyone (with a soldering iron) would be willing to attempt to put the new pickup in my Patrick Eggle! It should be straightforward enough(say he who knows nothing) except that the Eggle is currently coil tapped. If the new pickup is coil tappable then I would like to keep that option but if not then I don't mind too much.

Experience preferable Beer waiting.

feylya

Where are ya based?

Doctor J

Does your pickup have four wee wires or just two?

Quattroste

I'm based in Blessington Feylya but I work in Dublin.

Doc, there are 4 wires(I'll double check but I believe there is)

HusseinSarhan

I'd sort you out but I'm pretty busy at the moment. I'm sure there are others on here that'd do it for you anyway. Don't let people rip you off though, solder is bloody cheap and it takes no time to do really.

I'd charge €10 or something...depending...

Actually, buy a soldering iron, practise a bit, and go for it. You'll get the hang of it. It's not black magic. You can't really accidently do much damage if you take your time and think clearly. You'll probably get your fingertips burned but you'll be able to do your own electronic work in the future yourself.

I'm not an electronics head or anything. I just learned in this way and now (a couple of years later) have done a load of jobs on my own, and others' instruments.

It's handy to know.

You can keep the coil tap in this case by the way.

Quattroste

There seems to be 5 wires. 4 are covered and coloured and the other is uncovered. I reckon I could match up the colured wires with the schematics from the Bare Knuckle site but what is the other wire?

david

Ground wire, solder it to the bottom of a pot or the outer lug of your output jack