Silvercrow Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 In furtherance of my work on my SG, I'll be removing the pickguard. I have no experience with Gibsons; I assume the pickups are attached to the 'guard? So I saw on the Stew Mac site that they sell a little clip dealie to hold the spring and screw when installing / reinstalling pups. Is this a necessary / make-life-easier item or can I gut it out without it? I'm seriously thinking of putting covers on the pickups and rings, if I decide to do it. (The guitar has uncovered pups right now, 490R / 490T. I watched a video on a pro putting on covers- he made it look easy. I can solder, but is there anything else I should know before jumping into this end of the pool? I know it will alter the sound / tone, but I do prefer the look of covered pickups with rings. It appears that the covers have different spacing for the holes? Is there really differences between the covers offered by various manufacturers? Thanks for any and all info folks! Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 If it's about this one, the pickups are indeed mounted to the pickguard. There also can be top routings for cable canals in the body: To be honest, I would leave the pickguard on although I try to avoid them wherever possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercrow Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 If it's about this one, the pickups are indeed mounted to the pickguard. There also can be top routings for cable canals in the body: To be honest, I would leave the pickguard on although I try to avoid them wherever possible. Hey Capmaster- how are ya? Thanks for the reply. It is, in fact, about this guitar . I don't want to mess with it, really. But I'm going to be doing a full polish on this guitar and I'd like to get under the pickguard as I do it. I thought that while I was at it...covers and rings. Channels huh? I guess similar to a Strat or later versions of a Tele? I'll have to try tapping different places on the guard- maybe detect hollow spots. Some Strats / Legacy's I've heard had the "swimming pool rout". I was fortunate to not have owned one with it. It was, apparently, Fender's effort to cut production costs a little. Thanks for the info. The weather here is holding up at least one package of guitar goodies, so I probably have a day or so to do more research / hear from you good folks! Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBax Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 I don't know if the video you watched mentioned this or not, but if you're going to install pickup covers, you'll need a powerful soldering iron. Something like 80Watts should do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercrow Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 I don't know if the video you watched mentioned this or not, but if you're going to install pickup covers, you'll need a powerful soldering iron. Something like 80Watts should do it. 80 Watts! I know you gotta heat the work to solder but I'm tack soldering, right? My iron is a variable...I think up to 60 watts max... Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBax Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 80 Watts! I know you gotta heat the work to solder but I'm tack soldering, right? My iron is a variable...I think up to 60 watts max... Brian 60Watts might be enough actually. But the standard 25W or 35W irons are definitely not. The pickup cover and pickup baseplate will dissipate a lot of heat from your iron, even if you're tack soldering. You'll have a hard time getting the solder to melt and flow if you can't get the surfaces hot enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercrow Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 60Watts might be enough actually. But the standard 25W or 35W irons are definitely not. The pickup cover and pickup baseplate will dissipate a lot of heat from your iron, even if you're tack soldering. You'll have a hard time getting the solder to melt and flow if you can't get the surfaces hot enough. YUP! Dats what everybody is saying...a little less on the watts... probably do with 60... But yeah, apparently too much time taken getting the parts hot enough to solder and the wax potting starts to flow.... WELL- I'll have to do a check in with myself...BUT after completing the buffing / polishing today I'm thinking about putting the covers on "hold" for a while. Thanks for the info! Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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