Oil City - how to convert two conductor pickups to four

OilCityPickups

Hi chaps,
as requested here is a basic guide to converting classic two conductor (core wire and outer braid) pickups to four conductor.

Before we go any further here is the caveat: by trying this you are putting your pickups at very considerable risk. Please don't blame me if you bork them up - tt takes being VERY carful, and quite meticulous to perform this neatly.

IF YOU ARE IN THE SLIGHTEST HAMFISTED GET A PRO TO DO THIS _ IT WILL COST LESS THAN A NEW PICKUP!  

Right, with that out of the way, here's a basic list of tools and materials you will need.

Solder ... and I will take the opportunity to plug the solder we use from Lynx cables ... easily the best I've found.  
 
1.5mm shrink tube.

6mm black coil tape  (try Allparts)

Four conductor hookup wire (We tend to get ours from the US, but Allparts and Axesrus do small quantities).



60w minimum soldering iron (we use a solder station)



However - if you are going to solder on pickup covers you will also need something  MUCH bigger - we use a 150w iron, nicknamed 'Big Bertha'.



Now let's have a patient on the operating table ... as luck would have it a customer sent me a pair of my pickups he bought quite some time ago to have the wiring changed ... so 'say hello to my liddle friend' an Oil City Scrapyard Dog Plus.



The first step is to get that cover off - we use a simple Stanley knife and push it between the cover and the baseplate just before the solder blob - make sure to keep the knife dead upright or you risk stabbing the coil inside (go on ask me how I know). 



Take it easy and just rock the blade and you'll find it cuts the solder pretty easily. 

Now you may find that any wax potting has 'glued the cover on ... and if you do get the cover off without too much of a struggle = you may get a block of wax around the pickup that is a little difficult to deal with.
 It provides useful protection against feedback and squeal caused by a gap between the bobbin tops and the cover. So bear in mind you really need to replace it with either more wax or a smear of silicone sealer when you reassemble the pickup. 



Be VERY CAREFUL if you elect to gently break this wax away, as you can pretty easily tear a winding if you go at it beak and claws! 
We pop the coil in our potting bath for a couple of minutes to melt excess away.


Okay, with the wax out of the picture, it's time to disassemble the pickup a bit further.



Time to remove the bobbin screws - and because this is a PAF style long leg baseplate with six tapped holes in it - I need to back out the pole screws till they are no longer engaged in the base. 




REMEMBER TO MARK THE MAGNET FOR POLARITY
The big wrapped connection on the right id to the two conductor core - which would have gone to hot on the guitar's controls or switch.
The white wires disappearing between the coils are the 'series link wires' Here's a better look at them.



With two conductor pickups the north coil (slug coil)  start wire and the south coil (screw coil) start wires are connected together, so that one coil is electrically reversed to the other (no the two coils aren't wound in opposite directions as you would think). Then the slug coil finish wire is connected to the core of the braided output cable and the screw coil finish is connected to the braid and thus ground by being soldered to the baseplate. 

What we have to do is separate the series link wires so they can go to separate conductors, and unsolder the output and ground wires - so we end up with four leads coming from the bobbins. 

 

Above: unsolder the earth wire carefully - it can be quite short! 


 
Then remove the unwanted braided cable and replace with a length of four conductor (about 300mm for a bridge pickup) 



Pegs are handy things to hold stuff while you solder 

Now you should have four wires coming from the bobbins which are like this 

and using the Gibson colour code the output wires go like this ...

And here they are soldered and shrink tubed


Tuck in the ends neatly 



And tape them 



Now take a DC resistance reading ... with our wiring code you twist the white and green series link wires, and twist the black and bare wires ... then measure between the red and the black and bare.


All good here


Now the cover is soldered on with 'Big Bertha'

and the pickup is repotted - I drain the pickup upside-down so the wax pools between the bobbin tops and the cover ... leave it upside-down till the wax is cheese hard then peel it off - it'll be much easier to clean up.

 

And it's done!
Once again ... be careful, and if in doubt get a pro to do the job! 

Ash 

roberty

Bertha looks well handy. I used to love that show

OilCityPickups

This is a lot easier job on uncovered pickups ... but then many uncovered pickups these days are '4 con' anyway. 
Don't do this on anything rare or valuable ... and I count early DiMarzio Super Distortions, Ibanez Super 70s and any Maxon pickups in this category - with it goes without saying Gibson T-Tops and PAFs. Buy some good modern four conductor replicas and then replace the originals when you sell the guitar. Unmolested old pickups are much rarer than they were.  

Funkfingers

OilCityPickups said:

Please don't blame me if you bork them up 

Oi! That's my job! 

Mess up a magnet swap? Blame me. It matters not a jot that I have not been within eight hundred miles of the offending pickup. It woz my idea. I dunnit. Post a six paragraph rant while you're at it. 

I should ask the Mods to change my membership status to Scapegoat.

roberty

I spent ages wondering how to tell which way around a magnet is before realising you can just use a compass

normula1

Very pleasing to see I've been doing it right. But as per @Funkfingers it is easy to **** up a simple magnet swap let alone messing with the coil wires if you're not careful and then you're paying for a rewind. Guess how I found that out

Funkfingers

normula1 said:
Guess how I found that out

I made you ruin your pickup by telepathic suggestion … and I don't even know where in the UK you live.

OilCityPickups

The other big point is use your phone camera ... take pictures all the way through so as you don't have to remember where wires went ... you have proof.

On a day to day basis I rewind many very strange old pickups - ones where there is very little info available on line - so I take literally dozens of photographs for use not only with the pickup I'm working on - but for future ones that may come through my door. 

PeteC

fantastic info Ash - thanks for the tutorial

TTony

This pickupping lark - there’s a bit of skill involved, isn’t there!

Thanks for taking the time to post and share Ash

OilCityPickups

TTony said:

This pickupping lark - there’s a bit of skill involved, isn’t there!

Thanks for taking the time to post and share Ash

Pickupping courses starting in the new year - so everyone can find out in person :-)

roberty

I'll be up for that @OilCityPickups. Unless you're just winding us up

OilCityPickups

Nope ... a day with us at 'Oily Towers' ... lunch with us round the corner at at the Coach and Horses pub ... and your pickups to take home ... the full experience :-)  
The Coach and horses used to be our 'blues jam' pub, so I've been on stage there many a time :-) 
Plus you can say hi to the Albanian mafia round the corner ... the full East End experience ... er ... don't upset them ... 

roberty

@OilCityPickups that sounds great. I lived in Plaistow for five years so I know the area a bit :-)