four conductor to two ?

[stuagu]

help! can four conductor pick ups be changed to two conductor braided wire or dont pick ups work like that? dont care if it takes a bit of surgery just dont know if its possible? thanks
:confused:

[htharp]

Don't know why you would need to change wires. On a 4 conductor pickup you have both ends of each coil exiting the pickup. It's a simple matter of connecting 2 correct wires to change it to a 2 conductor connection. the diagrams for most pickups are available on line. If it is an oddball you may have to use a meter to figure it out.

[stuagu]

its in one of my replicas & the pickups sound great but it dont look correct when the backplate is off, so want the old style gibson braiding so it looks 100%.
how anal is that!

[Jim Collins]

If it sounds great, leave it alone. Changing the pickup's leads to vintage style will result in a change of tone. With your current pickup, the bare wire (or even braided shield) is only connected to the pickup's base. The base must be grounded, and that bare wire does not contribute to the tone. With vintage style wiring, the braided shield serves two purposes -- a ground for the coils AND a ground for the base. That braided shield has its own capacitance, which is going to ground. That means some loss of highs. So, if you like how it sounds, leave it alone.

[stuagu]

thanks