cutting pickup wires

[mannish]

any rule of thumb on how much to leave on PU wires. The need to be cut so it will be much neater but would not want to shorten them to the point that they can not be easily used on another strat if need be

saw a Seymour demo and he cut them pretty short no slack which makes for a very neat job but could be too short for other guitars

Your thoughts..?

[Ronsonic]

Always the dilemma. If you aren't sure you'll like the pickups, leave them full length for potential resale.

[SamBooka]

agree with Ron..

Even if I am planning on keeping the pickup I will sometimes find a "creative" way to route the leads so as to keep them as long as possible (although I dont play with high gain settings where every little bit of extra noise is noticable)

[willc68]

I never thought it was a big deal buying used with short leads cause I would just splice a bit on if it was too short for my needs.

I do know that I am likely to drastically alter the sound of the pu's if I use wire that isn't the correct choice for the specific pickup.

[mannish]

yes I have to figure out a clever way to route them but they do need some trimming - The area is tight

[walterw]

I do know that I am likely to drastically alter the sound of the pu's if I use wire that isn't the correct choice for the specific pickup.
huh?

anyway, yeah, as long as you leave "plenty" that could be lengthened later, trim them up for a neat wiring job. (much less of a deal with single coils and braided cloth-wire pickups, as they splice neater and cleaner.)

[mannish]

I'll work on it tonight - either figure out a way to bundle them up or cut them suckers and keep the wires to splice back if need be

huh?

anyway, yeah, as long as you leave "plenty" that could be lengthened later, trim them up for a neat wiring job. (much less of a deal with single coils and braided cloth-wire pickups, as they splice neater and cleaner.)

[diagrammatiks]

I never thought it was a big deal buying used with short leads cause I would just splice a bit on if it was too short for my needs.

I do know that I am likely to drastically alter the sound of the pu's if I use wire that isn't the correct choice for the specific pickup.

:confused::rotflmao

[Tone_Terrific]

Don't cut them.
You never know when you might want to move them to another guitar or sell them and splicing is a pain.
It's easy to bundle and tie-wrap them sturdily.
Electrons go around corners just fine and nobody sees into the control cavity.

[mannish]

Everything works fine - I kept tapping the pickups as I went along to ensure they are working. Than when it's assembled the pickup selector does not work right - All pickups are on regardless of position.

I suspect another wire is touching the selector switch...?
It is up against the edge of the control cavity don't know if that is the problem or not.

guitar looks great but got to fix that selector problem

[Old Tele man]

...leave them full length.

[mannish]

I left them full length but something is messing up pickup selector. It works fine until pushed into cavity. Then all pickups are on regardless of the selector position. I am not sure what would cause this. The selector/wires rub up against the side of the cavity when I put the guard down fully - the ground from bridge & jack could be hitting it as well moving wires

If the hot vol lug and ground on vol pot touched that would make nothing work work correct..?

Anyway got to un-assemble and figure it out when I get time. Any tips could make it quicker for me


...leave them full length.

[Ronsonic]

I already mentioned leaving them full length until you're sure its a keeper in that guitar.

For a more permanent install I'm looking for neatness over the shortest possible length. Mostly everything I do is shielded and everything lasts long enough to get worked on in the future so I like to leave enough lead for that. Replacing switches and such is way easier and has a cleaner result if there's a little extra lead to work with. Not enough to clutter or get in the way, even an extra inch goes a long way.