Installing new pickups on your guitar can completely change its tone. Perhaps now is the time to upgrade from those heavy, overwound, high output pickups that were perfect for playing Sabbath and Priest covers when you were 17, but are too compressed and mid-heavy now for blues or jazz music.
Pickup advertisements may mislead, so consider your desired tone before purchasing and installing.
Pickups
Guitar pickups are at the core of its tone. A guitarist may decide to upgrade them for several reasons; one being lower quality stock pickups than those made by specialist manufacturers which may impact sound and tone negatively; two being wanting something with more articulate or nuanced tones than what stock pickups provide; this can be especially significant when playing genres such as rock or blues where tone relies heavily on pickup sounds.
Before installing new pickups in your guitar, it is a wise idea to take photos of its wiring before beginning work. This will help if ever decide to sell or change back to original pickups later. Also be mindful of height of existing pickups as this may alter the overall sound.
Installing new pickups on a guitar can be a straightforward process if you know what tools are necessary. A screwdriver and solder are essential, while wire cutters may come in handy in case any extra lengths need cutting down.
Before installing pickups on a guitar, it is a wise idea to review its wiring diagram carefully. This will help you understand each wire’s purpose and how best to connect them. Many brands of pickups provide online tools where you can enter information about your instrument and view its wiring diagram. Once you have this diagram in hand, match up its colors to those found in your old pickups (black for ground wires while white may indicate North finish/South end wires).
Wiring
Altering your guitar pickups is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to alter its tone and feel, while making your instrument unique or creating an entirely new instrument! It is a cost-effective solution that could even save money compared to buying another instrument altogether!
First, determine your desired sound from your pickups. With numerous types of guitar pickups on the market and each having unique tonal properties, select one which meets both your desired tone and fits seamlessly with your guitar.
Once you’ve selected the type of pickups you require, it’s time to wire them properly. A wiring diagram from one of your pickup manufacturers – Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio is an effective way of doing this – can help make this task simpler; simply compare this diagram with your existing wiring and identify which colors correspond with each other – for instance if a particular wire connected to your volume pot input was red before but changes to black with your new setup – this way avoiding making any costly errors when switching over pickups!
To prevent wires from coming loose or accidentally being pulled through the hole when pulling pickup cables out of their slots, use this shortcut: tape a piece of fishing line onto each new pickup cable’s end and it’ll prevent its wires from slipping through when you pull them from their places in the body – saving both you and your guitar time and potentially irreparable damage!
Prepare your tools and soldering station. You will need a soldering iron, new copper wire, a small dremel tool with cutting disc, wire stripper and DMM to help monitor continuity and voltage as you solder. Tinning the tip of your soldering iron ahead of time ensures it will be ready when needed to start soldering.
Before beginning to unplug the old wires from your guitar, take multiple photos from various angles in order to remember how everything was connected so that reinstalling its original wiring will be simple later on. When taking apart old pickups be sure to leave enough wires for positive and ground. Also save screws, springs and the pickup cover!
Mounting
If you want to keep the same wiring when installing replacement pickups, mounting them exactly where the previous ones were can help ensure an easy transition. Just cut and solder any wires to ensure smooth integration. Excessive wire clutter around the area may result in pickguard warping, so try to be as neat as possible when placing wire around it. Also make sure your new pickups are mounted correctly (neck and bridge respectively). Reputable manufacturers mark each guitar pickup with its designated position within its respective pickup cover, to help facilitate proper installation. Once in, plugging in and listening to your new pickups should go smoothly; if not satisfied with their tone or volume control settings make small changes until eventually you find something perfect!
If your new pickups differ, then disconnecting their wires from their connection points on the lever switch and potentiometer casing will be necessary to install them properly. While this step can be time consuming and daunting, most guitars use standard pickup wiring configurations so following a diagram for swapping pickups should make things much simpler.
Care must be taken when using a soldering iron, so as to not overheat it and risk burning plastic on your guitar. Ideally, do this while the strings are off as this will reduce risks and save time overall.
Many people start off with a color code chart or wiring diagram from the pickup manufacturer to gain an idea of which colors correspond with which wires. This makes swapping them over easier during installation of new pickups.
Take the following steps to connect new hot and ground wires using guide strings or thin gauge wire. Taping these ends directly to their respective points on existing wiring is a quick and efficient way of quickly finding and attaching them, and can ensure no unintentional wire rip-off occurs during installation. When finished, use a good soldering iron to join them to their connections on switches and potentiometers.
Installation
As is often the case, swapping out an electric guitar’s pickups is an effortless process. There are a wide variety of drop-in replacement pickups to choose from and with some soldering and wiring knowledge, you can upgrade your instrument effortlessly. Before beginning though, make sure that there is enough light available so that you can open and work on the body with plenty of illumination – this will allow you to see any parts you are working on while also protecting you from burning yourself with soldering iron!
Next, ensure that you have an excellent wiring diagram to refer to while working on the guitar. New pickups typically come equipped with their own wiring diagram; otherwise it should be easy enough to locate an older diagram online. Once you have this reference diagram handy, start installing your new pickups carefully while recording their locations – taking pictures can also help ensure that when soldering new wires they remain hot or ground and vice versa!
Once the pickups have been installed, it’s essential that they be tested to make sure that they work as intended. Make sure the volume and tone knobs work, that there’s no buzzing or humming, and that their height corresponds with manufacturer recommendations.
Once you are confident that the new pickups are functioning appropriately, close and restring the guitar body. Be sure to use a guitar string winder and take care in cleaning off any solder blobs from its jacks or pots before starting playback.