Hey guys. I am installing some new pups today. I have the wiring diagrams and am confident I can swap the pickups quite easily. However, I have a question regarding taping off the black and white wires. I presume I would use electrical tape...is this right? Thanks in advance guys.

The reason why I ask this is because the guy at lowes hardware said I should use duct tape. Id rather look stupid asking a question than look stupid after my guitar blows up

Yeppers! That will work most of my car is filled with that stuff from all my aftermarket stereo equipment. Another thing you could use is heat shrink tape.

If it were me, after soldering the wire joint, I would cover it with heat shrink tubing.
Heat shrink tubing, as the name implies, is insulating tubing that shrinks with heat. It would be put over the wire (slid out of the way) before the wire junction was soldered. It would then be slid over the joint and shrunk with heat (a match would do in a pinch). It is available from any electronics supply house (for instance Radio Shack if there is one where you live) or from a hobby shop.
If you don’t have access to a suitable store, then electrical tape or any other tape with a low water content would work. Duct tape will work but is far from my first choice. Good luck.
Greg

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the help. When im finished tomorrow ill let you know how everything went.

Just make sure you use 60/40 rosin core solder and not plumbing solder (yes I made that mistake before )

good luck with that man, i would love to be able to work my electronics, but i'm too scared of doing it

As silly as it may sound...me too and I'm an engineer at least that's what's written on my diploma

I like soldering and did several guitars before (some of them didn't get the best treatment, but it was a trial&error process )

Heat shrinking tube is the best way, but you can use electrical tape no problem. Don't do any isolation before you thoroughly inspect if the equipment works, there are no buzzing noises, problems with grounding etc.. Check the middle positions of the pickups (usually there is a problem there if you wired incorrectly, they can sound nasal or weak in loudness compared to primary positions). If everything is OK, then isolate all the joints properly.

Also, if you are using tubing, don't forget to put it on one string since after you solder you cannot put it on (unless you cut it in length, but that can make a sloppy isolation with bare points.

Hey dude, maybe you can do a video tutorial about it? that would be incredibly useful for a bunch of people i'm sure!

He's right. That would be great man!

p.s. Still haven't finished installing the pups. Musicians friend sent me the wrong spaced pickups even though I asked for f-spaced 5 times .