Easy pickup changes: - advice needed -

ChrisMusic

I have a project (or two) in mind and I wondered if any of you good people on FB have any advice on how to easily swap pickups, to A:B different models and different types too.

If I can find a way to make it easy to swap from various single coils, through P90s, and into the various "Trons", to humbuckers, it would make A:B ing them much simpler on a "couple" of bodies.

This could be on different bodies, so I am open to advice on scratch plate loaded, but also advice for LP types would be appreciated.  I know LP type installation will be a pain routing cables through the body, so that is one issue to overcome.

I also need to allow for extra switching to fully explore the possibilities.

Any advice?       Thanks,  Chris

Edit: to sort typos and formatting, and to re-title the discussion.

ChrisMusic

@TTony @ICBM @TheGuitarWeasel @Van_Hayden @JookyChap @WezV @FelineGuitars @ddlooping

sorry if I've missed out a few sage minds, I am pretty new around this forum stuff and don't know you all yet - I am enjoying it immensely though.   (edit add one more !)

I hope you guys don't mind me giving you all an invite to see if we can get some ideas flowing here.

I am sure by the number of visits that others on FB are interested in this too, but maybe like me they don't know how to approach it.   All help greatly appreciated

ICBM

Get a really cheap copy and cut holes through the back of the guitar so you can change the pickups quickly without even having to slacken the strings! Fit phono plugs on the pickup cables and a socket on the volume pot and you'll be able to change them in thirty seconds or less.

TTony

ChrisMusic said:

I hope you guys don't mind me giving you all an invite to see if we can get some ideas flowing here.

 

I was hoping someone (else) would come along and answer this one!

I've never done it, so there might be a more practical / easy answer, but from thinking about it hypothetically, this is probably what I'd do ...

For guitars where everything is mounted on the scratchplate, it's easy-easy.  Even if the output jack is mounted separately, it's only going to be 2 solder joints, so it's still easy.  Ideally have as many scratchplates as you want to try configurations, so you can mount and solder each config on it's own scratchplate, and then just remove/replace the whole assembly.  Don't need to use "proper" scratchplates either - some thin mdf with a few of the mounting screw holes in the right places would work OK, I think?

For anything else, the *easiest* way would be to put some push-fit connectors on the ends of the pickup wires and push-fit the connections rather than solder them.  I'd probably do all the connections in the pickup cavity, so you'd either need to cut the pickup wires pretty short, or have enough room in the cavity to be able to coil them out of the way.  That saves you the hassle of feeding wires through to the switch/control cavities.  You'd need to run a longer length of hook-up wire from the control cavity into the pickup cavity, but everything else remains untouched.

Or .... if you're trying to do a lot of quickish back-to-back A | B | C | D configuration comparisons, it might be best to do all the wiring away from the body of the guitar - ie you fit the pickups, but everything else is mounted on a separate board outside the guitar body and feed the pickup wires out through the (now empty) control cavity to the separate board.  That would make soldering access a lot easier, although playing the guitar would be more awkward, so it'd only be a short-term thing to do the comparison.

 

What's the even-easier, blindingly obvious, practical approach that I've missed ???

OilCityPickups

I have a swimming pool rout Strat ... several interchangeable part-scratchplates ... and pickups are held in with velcro and gaffa.
Plenty of room to slide in and secure pickups in a 'pool'
Mostly I just buy more guitars to demo pickups in ... two functions in one ... practical and GAS

FelineGuitars

I have just the thing here - we developed a system to use here at the workshop but it never really got a lot of use 

It will let you slot a pickguard loaded with pickups into a strat in a few moments

A couple of bolts and it's in - we also used a few magnets to keep the plate in place

I'll try to get some pics for you all

Van_Hayden

TheGuitarWeasel;14343" said:

Mostly I just buy more guitars to demo pickups in ... two functions in one ... practical and GAS

Guilty of that.

I've got a cheap thomann LP special that's got slots routed in it so I can slide pickups in on little carriages - and croc clips to hook up.

Now that only works from a point of view of getting an idea of how a pickups going to sound - to get the correct tone it needs to be fitted really! There's a guy on eBay selling drop in circuit boards with screw terminals - they look cool for this sort of thing.

OilCityPickups

I also have a few local 'guinea pig' guitarists ... who, when I have a new prototype tend to help out

TTony

Van_Hayden said:

 that's got slots routed in it so I can slide pickups in on little carriages - and croc clips to hook up.

Made me remember this one ...

http://youtu.be/hNfNKy6PexU

OilCityPickups

I do indeed!

Van_Hayden

TTony;14417" said:

Van_Hayden said: that's got slots routed in it so I can slide pickups in on little carriages - and croc clips to hook up.







Made me remember this one ...

The same idea. Only that's more elegant and mine cost me €57 and a slight router injury to my thumb.

ChrisMusic

Thanks for posting that video Tony, a bit of a WOW moment for me.  Took me back a way (long, long way).  I was thinking about this after Van_Hayden's comment.

I've had several Dan Armstrong Plexiglass guitars, back in my previous life as a musician, as well as fretted & fretless DA Plexi basses.  (I think I may still have a body & neck stashed away somewhere.)

Bloody hell those things were heavy.  Worse than any of my Les Pauls were too.

Maybe I should contribute that to the "heavy guitars" discussion now you have jogged my memory?

I don't remember Kent's pickups being that good, back then.

Very innovative idea though, that modular system.  As was the DA London sliding pickup one.

Not sure you would want to change pickups between songs live though.

It had crossed my mind to try something like this, but a lot of infrastructure needed to make it work.  Too much for a test bed me-thinks.

Thanks to all you guys for contributing to this discussion, VERY good ideas here, and lots of interest judging by the views today.

Keep the ideas coming please.  It will really help my project (s) and hopefully other peoples too.  Thanks,  Chris

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edit:

A year on and there is another good discussion on this subject.  Pics included from GSPBasses and a Gibson LP prototyping guitar, for sale £3,500 with 13 pickups on wooden blocks loadable from the rear, in a link from this comment.

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/327561#Comment_327561

There was another similar discussion in the interim with pics of a forumites Tele with 3 large routes from the top of the body with pickups mounted on card carriers IIRC.

GSPBASSES

The link below shows my quick change system, its Strat specific but it might give you some ideas.

http://simnettguitars.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3729.msg23891#msg23891