Instructions For Replacing Pickups? |
|
Instructions For Replacing Pickups? |
|
|
|
|
Jun 14 2007, 12:53 PM |
"Call for MickeM, please contact Information" What? Did I leave my headlights on or lose my kids in the store or... Soldering help? Alright... I'm no expert in this kind of stuff, I just do it and it's easy when the new wires goes to where the old ones were. Problem is when things don't work out, like with my charvel who was S-S-S and were replaced with H-H, then you have to get a voltmeter and take a few shots.. trial and error until it works. Oh, if I get any words incorrect, like solder with fluss... don't know if that's correct in english, someone please correct me. Needed: Soldering iron/pen max 45W, solder with fluss included. New Evo pickups The obvious parts of unscrewing the pu's removing strings etc is left out 1) Open the back of the guitar and make a drawing of where all the cables run 2) Remove the old pu's by soldering off the cables (I usually leave the old solder where it's at instead of using a solder sucker... hehe.. that word MUST be incorrect - because Im lazy) 3) Put one of the new pu's in place and lead the wires through. 4) Peel the plastic off, list little bit, 3mm or so. Use a peeling tool if you're not handy with the knife. Don't wanna cut the wire's short. 5) DiMarzio... You got no coil split right? If you do there's a diagram over at DiMarzio com. If you havn't you'd do like this. Solder the white and black wires together. Cover with a "shrink hose" or put tape over the connectors. Solder the naked thread and the green wire to ground (metal housing of a pot) Solder the red wire to the same place as the "hot" wire of your old pu that you're replacing. this means that when you first looked at the connection of your old pu, you should carefully look where the "hot" wire from the old pu goes. And be aware it can be ANY color and not neccessarily red as for DiMarzio. 6) Fasten the pu to the body. 7) Go back to 3) until you run out of pu's Two bad things can have happen now. One is that the bridge pu and the neck pu sound great when run alone but when you use the mid position and both are connected it doesn't sound good. That means you have to phase switch one of the pu's and that's as simple as switching places between the green and red wire for ONE of the pu's. The other thing is that your tone control may seem to not be working at all. If it doesn't you have to solder a 0.022uF capacitor to the tone pot. It's likely there's one in your guitar already so lets' not worry about that now. Hope I got everything right... I think so. IMPORTANT: When removing the old pu's ONLY unsolder wires that belongs to the pu itself. There will be other wires connected to the switch and pots and more stuff, just leave those! Also, be a little bit careful when you solder wires to ground, on the pots, so hat you don't heat them up too much. And that will be 75 bucks thank you very much If you can, post a clean picture or a drawing of the electronics inside. Anyway, if this fails you still have the option of handing it in for service and put the soldering pen and stuff on eBay. This post has been edited by MickeM: Jun 14 2007, 12:58 PM -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Jun 14 2007, 06:58 PM |
Actually, the cold heat irons aren't so great. Don't take my word for it, just google it and see for yourself what others have to say. You probably wouldn't even be able to to desolder the grounds from the back of the pots since with this iron since they don't really get hot enough. In any case, the cold heat iron is not meant for electrical soldering. It works by passing an electrical current through the material you touch with the tip of it. The resistance of the material you're working with causes this current to produce heat. The current probably wouldn't damage the passive electronics of a guitar, but are you sure you want to take the chance?
You'll be much better off with just a standard cheap soldering iron. A Hotter or higher wattage iron will be an advantage actually since it will melt the solder on the back of the pots quickly. Heating those pots with a colder iron for longer is more likely to damage the parts inside them. Don't let this job intimidate you. I've done it many, many times, and the first time I did was the first time I had ever soldered anything. I'm sure that if take your time, use care and common sense and follow the wiring instructions it will be a success. The majority of the work isn't the soldering at all, but physically removing and replacing the pickups into the guitar. Believe me, the toughest part is attaching the pickup to the ring with the adjusting screw. There is a spring that goes on that screw and it makes that part kind of a pain. If you make a wrong connection with the wiring, it's not a big deal at all. You can just go back with the soldering iron, melt the solder and then fix your mistake. Having the wires connected the wrong way won't damage the guitar or the pickups. There's no electrical shock hazard either (except from the soldering iron itself if it were broken somehow)- your body produces stronger electric currents than the pickups ever could. You only need to be careful not to burn yourself- so use insulated pliers or tweezers to hold the wires as you solder them since they could get hot enough to hurt you. The last thing you want is burns on your fingertips that could make you unable to play for a while. Here's the instructions that come inside the box of Dimarzio pickups: Dimarzio wiring instructions You're going want to follow the 'Standard Humbucking Series Wiring' section (unless you want a special sound and you're sure you know what you're doing). When you've connected the black and white wires together like they tell you to, the red wire goes to the switch, and the green wire and the wire without insulation get soldered to the back of one of the pots. Put some electrical tape or shrink insulation over the exposed ends of the black and white wires, or else if they move and touch something metal while you're playing, your sound will cut out. Make sure that no exposed part of the red wire is touching anything that it's not supposed to, or you will get low or no output. What you're trying to do is basically get connect things the same way the stock pickups were -so pay attention to the way things are hooked up before starting and take a picture if you need to. It certainly helps to wire one pickup at a time so you don't get confused. Only strip back the insulation of the wires the minimum amount possible -this will decrease the chance of shorts and other problems that can be hard to track down. Make sure to use a solder that was intended for electrical purposes -other kinds have chemicals inside that are incorrect for electrical work. |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Jun 21 2007, 10:22 PM |
F Spacing is meant for a string spacing at the bridge of 53mm (2.1") or more. This is the distance measured from the high to low E strings where they pass over the bridge. F spacing was originally introduced to handle the spacing needs for bridge position pickups on strats and floyd rose guitars.
Your guitar is unique because the bridge spacing is narrower -like that of a les paul or similar, but the nut spacing is wide 43mm (1-11/16") like on most floyd-equipped shred guitars which presents you with a unique feel on your axe. For your situation, I suggest you get a non-F spaced neck pickup. If you do bends on the E strings with the pickup they sent you, you might get drop-offs or poor sustain (the problem is more pronounced with the high E). The strings are narrower at the neck pickup than at the bridge, so the wrong spacing is doubly bad for you in the neck slot. Most of the time, a non-Fspaced pickup is right for the neck slot -except on the 43mm nut floyd rose guitars like an Ibanez RG or Jackson Soloist. I use F spaced neck pickups on my soloists. When you line the pickup up on the strings, if the E strings are at least partially over the outer pole pieces of the pickup it'll probably be ok. If they are completely off the poles though, you probably won't be happy with the sound when it's all done. Keep being patient with this process because when you're done, you're in for a big, BIG reward with the improvement in tone. The imported Jacksons are actually high quality guitars, but are limited by poor stock electronics. I'm certain you'll be smiling when it's all done. It's probably worth it to upgrade the rest of the electronics to the best while you've got everything apart, because those stock pots don't take long to go scratchy, and that plastic frame output jack won't hold up. CTS pots and switchcraft jacks switches are what comes in the usa and custom shop Jackson's. This stuff is all pretty cheap to upgrade, and well worth it. Check out www.guitarelectronics.com if you're interested. Hope this helped. Good luck! |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Jun 23 2007, 02:07 AM |
Thanks again for the great suggestions =) I just got through installing the pickup and it fits pretty nicely really. The tone however, is... simply... amazing. When I run it through the clean channel on my spider III amp it is so warm i get chills When I put distortion on it it's simply jaw dropping. I can't wait to get my evo2 bridge pickup. Installation was a relative breeze too, the hardest part was stripping the wires b/c my wire stripper can cut the outer insulation off, but the ones on the inner wires I had to use an exacto knife to get (it's a good thing they give you plenty of extra wires or i'd be in trouble). Thanks guys for helping me out with this. I bought my evo2 bridge PU on ebay so it's gonna be another week before it gets here. I can't wait though XD Thanks again, Everyone! Oh baby, stock pickups (uaually) SUCK! You are turning a piece of coal into a diamond with a change of pu's -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Jun 29 2007, 07:16 PM |
Congratulations -and enjoy the tone! I'm happy you found the advice helpful.
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
Nov 28 2007, 03:11 AM |
Will a 15 or 30 W soldering iron work well with installing pickups? Should be fine - one of the 100 watt guns is probably too much unless you know what you are doing. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Nov 29 2007, 05:43 AM |
Oh baby, stock pickups (uaually) SUCK! You are turning a piece of coal into a diamond with a change of pu's Unless its a limited edition! my new bengal with 81 and 85 set up from the factory http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c29/trai...hitebengal2.jpg You are right, been there with my RX10D. 99 model with Kent Armstrong SH13 and Sh14 pups which actually did'nt sound to bad. Swaped'em with some EMG H4's and the sustain is alot better but distortion is about the same. They do look alot cooler though! |
|
|
||
|
|
|
Nov 29 2007, 05:46 AM |
Unless its a limited edition! my new bengal with 81 and 85 set up from the factory http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c29/trai...hitebengal2.jpg You are right, been there with my RX10D. 99 model with Kent Armstrong SH13 and Sh14 pups which actually did'nt sound to bad. Swaped'em with some EMG H4's and the sustain is alot better but distortion is about the same. They do look alot cooler though! You're in good shape George . Nice Ax!! -------------------- Guitars - Schecter C1-FR Hellraiser Black Cherry
Ibanez Iceman w/ DiMarzio Super Distortion in the Bridge and DiMarzio Humbucker from Hell in the Neck Xaviere XV-700 Cherry Sunburst (Les Paul copy) Lyon Def Leppard Special Union Jack (to go under construction soon - 1st thing to be removed will be the Def Lep logo on the headstock and then off to change the pickups etc. - plays pretty well for a Target special) Washburn KC-40 (in pieces and about to be re-painted) Yamaha Classical Acoustic Bass - Signed Gene Simmons Punisher Tobacco Sunburst #345 - Collector purposes only Amp - Roland Cube 60, Roland MicroCube Effects - Ibanez Weeping Demon Wah Fat bottomed girls You make the rockin' world go round!! |
|
|
||