Changing pickups on hollowbody?

[stu42]

Hey all...I've got an Ibanez Artcore custom and I want to change the neck pickup to a new Benedetto/Seymour Duncan A-6 pickup I just bought. THe problem is getting access to the pots and such inside the guitar so I wire it up.

I'm sure people have done this before but it's looking pretty challening. Does anyone have any tips?

I don't have any special tools that help to reach all the way inside the f-hole over to the tone pot for removal/re-installation. I'm thinking the only way I'm going to be able to do it - short of hiring someone who has done this before - is to cut the wires for the existing pickup and then splice the wires for the new pickup onto the existing wires. But then the challenge is in knowing which of the existing wires performs which function so I know which wires need to be spliced together.

Anyone have any info about this?

Thanks very much.

 

[g-nem]

I've done some work on my howard roberts fusion and getting access to everything is a bit of a pain in the ass, but not too bad. Basically you just remove the nuts to all the pots and the output jack and pull everything out of the guitar thru the f-hole. To get everything back in I tie a piece of wire to the pots and jack and thread that through the holes where they belong. It can be a pain in the ass to get everything where it needs to be but it isn't impossible.

I bet if you do a search on google on this subject you can find some info (I think I did that when I worked on my guitar).

 

[bobgoblin]

surgical tubing, slide it over the knurled portion of the pots, it can even slide over the threaded portion of the switch & into the output jack, just make sure to cut it long enough to pull everything out through an f hole or thru the pickup route. you can tape tubing down to the table you're working on (or the guitar if you're not worried about the finish). also, try to make sure nothing gets tangled up inside the guitar when you're re-installing. it can be a pain, but if you take your time, check all your solder joints, etc, it can be done well. watch out for that ground wire, too, it's usually attached to the screw that holds the tailpiece to the tail block. good luck, and nice choice on the pup.

 

[Guinness Lad]

Good answers so far but I'll add one. Just use thread and tie it to the pots, this way you don't have to go and buy any tubing.

 

[stu42]

This is brilliant! And now that you guys mention it it's kind of like "yes, of course". It's like how electricians fish wire through the walls of your house.

Thank you very much.

It's one of those kinds of things that makes you appreciate the type of creativity that's involved in being a craftsman.

 

[tonezoneonline]

All good answers.i prefer to use 22 gauge solid core wire.The rigidity of the wire helps some.Just twist it a little around the shafts.Slide it thru the ouput jack and bend it.When the jacks in place you can slide the nut right over the wire and tighten it then just pull it loose.