Changing Pickups

bjb023

Hi All,

I am trying to change the pickups on an Ibanez SA model (see below)

http://www.simonsguitarnet.com/pics%20078.jpg


I have removed the stock single coil neck pickup but I am having a problem sending the wire for the new pickup through the body. There seems to be a long tunnel in the body of the guitar that the wires run through but it is extremely tricky trying to pass the pickup wire through the narrow tunnel of the body and out the end it needs to be soldered.

I have tried a wire hanger and a few other home-made devices but no success. It seems to be a similar process to changing a pickup in a Les Paul except the wiring tunnels are extremely narrow.

Any advice would be great,

Thanks,

Bryan

goblin59

i know its too late now, but what i do is tie a string to the old pick up wires and pull it through and use that to pull the new wires through after.

You could try getting a piece of string with a small weight on the end, maybe one of the weights used in fishing and use gravity to feed it through the hole and then pull the wire.

bluferbl

Pipe cleaner? Coat hanger might be too stiff if there's a corner in the channel.

bjb023

Thanks for replies guys, I'm gonna give the pipe cleaner a go.. Also had a brainwave to use an actual guitar string, it might be be strong enough and flexible enough to make it through the body cavity.

wild turkey

Try soldering a bare wire (or a wound guitar string might do ) to the pickup wires & send it through, desolder on other end

bjb023

Bump.. Any more ideas??

I have tried threading an actual guitar string through but it just pops out at the bridge pickup and I need it out at the neck.. Headwrecking!

Elysian

bjb023 wrote: »

Bump.. Any more ideas??

I have tried threading an actual guitar string through but it just pops out at the bridge pickup and I need it out at the neck.. Headwrecking!

Maybe try it the other way around? Get a string and cut off the ball end, then tie one end around the pickup wires and then thread the other end through the wiring tunnels in the neck pickup cavity into the back cavity. You should be able to put it all through then.

wild turkey

How good are you with a drill !! :eek:
Ive done it with a few over the years that the hole was just too tight
If its too tight just at the end you wont have to go too mad with it
there are drill bits that fit into scrwedriver sockets the same as pozidrive bits so you could do it by hand instead
OR
You could always take it to a guitar tech, probably cost €20 - €30

martinedwards

what he says.

just follow the existing hole ahd you wont have the drill bit pop out somewhere unexpected!!

the hand held screwdriver type bit is a really good Idea as a power drill (especially a handheld one) could get away from you.

hidinginthebush

You could unscrew the bridge pickup, thread the wires from your single coil the small distance into that cavity, then thread from there into the electronics cavity where your pots are. Works for me.