MartyGrass Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Since my skills were called into question, I will now demonstrate how to swap pickups through the f hole. This will take several installments because I haven't even decided on the pups yet. Here we go. First, I have a room that locks so no kids wander in and spill the parts all over the floor. I have a few small bins for the parts. Anything that looks ambiguous about where it goes is labeled. Why? It's easy to disassemble. Putting it together is the bleep. Here the knobs, washer and nuts are off. The strings are left on the tuners but clamped. Next, off with the bridge and tailpiece. Blue tape keeps the wheels from spinning. The pickguard is removed. The small screws are kept in the holes so they are not lost. The pickup rings are freed. Now the f hole binding is protected and we are draped for surgery. To be continued.
Keith7940236 Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Thanks for the tutorial Mark. I think that many people are scared to change pickups because the process can be rather involved. Seeing it step by step helps make it much more manageable.
Steiner Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 You haven't strung the pots. Gonna be a tad difficult to get them back...
big bob Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Be cautious when reassembling, one misstep any you might just end up with a lefty!
kbp810 Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 You haven't strung the pots. Gonna be a tad difficult to get them back... Still a chance to do this - fish the pots out through the f-holes and get a string around them; expotentially less frustrating to get them back in (well the volumes aren't tough to fish through, but the tones can be a real PITA without a string to guide them)
DetroitBlues Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 This is interesting... Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the next round of pics.
Guest HRB853370 Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Who called your skills into question? I would have sleepless nights trying to accomplish such a task.
bolero Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 I usually pull the backs of the pots up thru the f holes, use needlenose pliers with a rubber band as a 3rd hand to hold them & just unsolder/solder on the new ones not too difficult but you do need to be careful with the iron looking forward to the rest! it is a pain to get the 1/4" jack back into place if you ever pull the whole harness out...esp if the thread you chased it with falls off !! pots are pretty easy to fish back into place
H Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Good on you for having a go I'm looking forward to part 2. And 3. And 4. And 5...
SouthpawGuy Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Be cautious when reassembling, one misstep any you might just end up with a lefty! Agreed. Any of mine that went to Pete Moreno came back left handed.
ivansc Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Worth considering using a flexible but semi rigid wire for hooking pots and jack sockets back thru the holes. I generally use medium gauge solder, which is pretty unlikely to scratch anything, too. Plus even if you get it stuck, the solder will break a whole lot easier than hard wire or string.
fretless Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 That right there needs level 23 patience , I'm only about a 6
blueox Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Well, I see that backfired! On your "Nickel HRWs" thread, rather than "throwing down the gauntlet", I was hoping in a small way to discourage you from switching out the pickups. Your skills were not called into question (since I have no way of knowing). No, what I hoped for was your putting this fine H576 up for sale with the HRWs intact, so that I would have a chance at satisfying my intense GAS pains!
MartyGrass Posted July 28, 2012 Author Posted July 28, 2012 It turns out all I had lying around were some gold pickups. So I tried to hook them up for practice. There will be no more practice. This crap is hard. Removing ground wire from the pup that links to the bridge. About to remove hot (reddish) wire that runs from pup to volume pot. Ground and hot wires removed from pot. Bridge pup is now out. Simple so far. New pup grounded to bridge. Time to solder hot and ground wires to bridge volume pot.
PunkKitty Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 I've changed a lot of pickups over the years including several semi hollows. If I can avoid it, I won't touch another hollow or semi hollow body. It's a royal PITA. Rewiring a 150 is no problem. I can build a new harness and get it completed in a couple of hours. I'd rather pay someone to deal with hollow bodies/semi hollows.
MartyGrass Posted July 28, 2012 Author Posted July 28, 2012 Hot wire done. The ground was done and the whole harness was inspected. The neck volume pot was inspected and the HRW wires removed. Neck pup is now gone. New pups are in. Now to put it back together. Dental floss through the input jack hole and pulled out of the f hole. Floss threaded through jack and nuts tied to the other side. Pulling the string will guide the jack back through its hole. Jack back in place. Floss threaded through neck tone pot hole and out the f hole. This will guide the most difficult pot into place.
MartyGrass Posted July 28, 2012 Author Posted July 28, 2012 The floss is wrapped, not tied, around the shaft of the neck tone pot. The harness is put back into the body, roughly in position. The floss guides the first pot into position. Once the jack is tightened you can tip the guitar and the nuts will fall into view within the f hole. They are then removed. The rest of the pots and the toggle switch are replaced.
MartyGrass Posted July 28, 2012 Author Posted July 28, 2012 So it doesn't look hard, but it is. Everything up to and including putting the jack back in was easy. Getting the pots into position was moderately hard. Doing it without popping the solder joints was the hardest. The first time it was assembled the bridge pup hummed. I pulled the harness out and had to resolder a ground. Next time it was the bridge capacitor. Then it was the neck capacitor. Each time it went smoother. The most important things I learned are to not drink too much coffee and to go to the bathroom before starting. This project will take a while. Lead with the shaft when going through the f hole. Lay the harness out in the bottom of the body before inserting the shafts through the top. Make sure your solder joints are solid. I've pulled the new pups out. I'm either going to get Phat Cats or P-Rails for it. Either way Pete Moreno will have the honors of the installation.
SouthpawGuy Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Excellent " how to ". I have P-Rails in my own 576 and it's very versatile, installed by the master himself, courtesy of Brent.
smaj Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Having changed more than a few hollowbodys out in my time, the most important thing to have is rubber tubing. You put it over the pot shafts and input jack, everything then pulls right back thru where it needs to be!
MartyGrass Posted July 28, 2012 Author Posted July 28, 2012 Having changed more than a few hollowbodys out in my time, the most important thing to have is rubber tubing. You put it over the pot shafts and input jack, everything then pulls right back thru where it needs to be! You are absolutely right. Aquarium pump tubing fits. I had none of this but plenty of floss.
hotfordcoupe Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Now you know why I play guitars with floating pickups.
Jazzerous Posted July 28, 2012 Posted July 28, 2012 Excellent tour !! Thanks Mark!! But I will have my Luthier do it !!
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