Would U change pickups by cutting the wire?

8419 Views 13 Replies 9 Participants Last post by moonlight, Dec 14, 2011

Dave Goodland

Discussion Starter · Dec 14, 2011 (Edited)

Hi all,

I have the issue of needing to change pickups in a Gibson supreme.

these guitars have no back plate to get into the pot cavity.

The usual way to change pickups or pots is to feed the pots through the pickup cavity and use the output jack as a way of inserting tools.

But I cant do this and a guitar tech said it will cost a bit.

So I came across a video on youtube showing you can just cut the pickup wire where it meets your old pickup (ground and live) and solder it to your new pickup wire - providing its obviously not an active pickup.
here is the video if you do not understand my description

SO

-Would this sound any different to a proper installation?

- Have any of you done this or would do this?

Thanks in advance - any help would be appreciated.

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elcid

· #10 · Dec 14, 2011

You can probably tie a string around the volume pots then pull the pots through the pickup holes , do your soldering and use the string to fish the pots back. It'll be a pain. Dan Erlweine has a video where he splices new pickups to the old wires, and he's pretty much the guy for repairs.

The best way would be to have it done professionally, but if you cant or dont want to spend the money, there's nothing wrong with splicing the wires. It'll work and sound fine

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elcid

· #12 · Dec 14, 2011 (Edited)

Lazy maybe, but how exactly does it devalue the instrument or create issues, a solid splice will last indefinately, go take apart some light switches, fixtures, or outlets and see how many splices are in your house that you never had any issues with.

All soldering is is a splice point, it isn't some magic connection that does anything special, adding another splice point in this case wont affect anything. There's a handful of companies that offer solderless solutions for installing pickups, either with Phoenix connectors or clips

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