335 pick up wiring cheat

TheMoz

as per title i'm going to put some iron gears in my epiphone Sheraton , I know you will say upgrade the pots etc ,but for the time being I just want to do the pick ups ,I remember the old music radar forum someone saying about cutting wire and heatshrinking some type of tube once the wires are joined ???? and do you solder wires together then put this tube over ??? i.i.r,c someone on the forum checked theirs that they had payed a guitar tech to do propyl and he had just done this !!!!

OilCityPickups

Bodge, bodge, bodge, bodge, bodge, bodge, bodge, bodge .... luvverly bodge, beautiful bodge! You'll burn in the fires of purgatory with the Ole Nick toasting yer knackers with a blow torch. The very idea ... I may have to go and have a lie down ...
On a serious note ... it will render your pickups useless in anything else if you cut the leads short ... and if you don't they, will rattle about. I've done it with test guitars of no value ... course it's up to thee lad ... but they did nowt like that in my day ....

ESBlonde

There are plenty of 'How to' demos on Ewe Choob that show how it should be done. Study several and decide which one you want to copy.

It really isn't that big of a ball ache if you take your time. You get quite good after a while.

Chopping the leads is just bad in every respect and because you lose some shielding in the process you might induce more noise evermore.

You know it makes sense.

OilCityPickups

ESBlonde said:

Chopping the leads is just bad in every respect and because you lose some shielding in the process you might induce more noise evermore.

You know it makes sense.

personally I prefer the Ole Nick will toast yer knackers approach

ICBM

I've done it before - it depends on the guitar, the customer, how much they want to pay, whether you think the change is permanent or you'll be asked to do it again in two weeks, etc…

It's not "best practice", but it's not really a bodge and there is no reason it won't work perfectly well if you join the wires properly and insulate the connections. There is no difference electrically.

 - Don't cut the pickup wires too short - leave at least an inch, preferably more if you can pull enough cable through, so you can re-use the old pickups.

 - Don't cut new pickup wires short at all, if there's any chance you may want to re-use them in another guitar - coil them up and tape them. You can stop any chance of rattle by putting a small piece of foam under the pickup.

- Shielding - not an issue. The gap will only be about half an inch if you do it neatly, less than the bare wire length at the switch and jack.

That said, I'd still do it the right way if it's a decent guitar and the new pickups are going to stay in.

And sometimes you get halfway into doing it and find some issue with the old wiring loom and wish you had just bodged it .

OilCityPickups

My Ibanez Artcores had a bent metal 'wire tidy' mounted on a top brace ... with razor sharp edges. Sticking plaster on me and blood all over the guitar from my bifurcated puddy tip ... little curved balls like that are not welcome.