sneddy72 Posted April 16, 2013 Posted April 16, 2013 Have finally got round to buying new pickups for my Sheraton ii, and being a bit of a novice on the mod front I was contemplating doing the 'cheat' method of just snipping the wires from the old pickups and soldering the new pickups to the existing wires. I know this will render the old pickups pretty much useless but I have never been happy with them anyway and I guess the resale value would be peanuts (as far as I know they are stock 1988 epiphone). I have fished all the guts out before to re-solder the bridge tone pot and it was a right ballache! I'm torn between saving a load of time using the cheat method or biting the bullet and doing the proper job. Has anyone use the cheat method and what were the results??
charlie brown Posted April 16, 2013 Posted April 16, 2013 I'd do the "proper job." That way you KNOW it will be right! CB
Father O'Blivion Posted April 16, 2013 Posted April 16, 2013 Yes it's always better to do it right the first time.
kidblast Posted April 16, 2013 Posted April 16, 2013 I with them guys.. fish it out, do it properly, no questions that it was done right.
RobinTheHood Posted April 16, 2013 Posted April 16, 2013 I'm all about the cheat method. Soldering pots is a right pain in the buttski and you run the risk of ruining the pots by overheating them if not done correctly. From my perspective, the guitar is already wired correctly, so you cant go wrong by soldering a couple of wires together. It boils down to whether you want to learn how to solder pots, or if you just want to guitar to work with no fuss.
Bluemans335 Posted April 17, 2013 Posted April 17, 2013 I with them guys.. fish it out, do it properly, no questions that it was done right. +1. I've rewired several dozen F hole guitars and it's not hard at all. Use a piece of aquarium tubing to pull the pots back into their holes.
mcgruff Posted April 17, 2013 Posted April 17, 2013 If you do use the cheat method, use some heatshrink or tape to insulate the connections so they can't short out. It'll work fine provided you have a good solder joint. Electrons don't care. Still, I'd do it the proper way myself. So long as you don't get anything tangled up inside the guitar it really isn't hard. If you keep getting stuck, try putting the components through the F-hole in a different order.
sneddy72 Posted April 17, 2013 Author Posted April 17, 2013 If you do use the cheat method, use some heatshrink or tape to insulate the connections so they can't short out. It'll work fine provided you have a good solder joint. Electrons don't care. Still, I'd do it the proper way myself. So long as you don't get anything tangled up inside the guitar it really isn't hard. If you keep getting stuck, try putting the components through the F-hole in a different order. cool, I think the general consensus is to go the proper way. I will set aside plenty of time and take the plunge! At least the old pickups will still be usable if I ever needed them.
RobinTheHood Posted April 17, 2013 Posted April 17, 2013 Good luck, Sneddy. Just make sure you do a little research on soldering potentiometers. You want an iron that gets hot enough, but you dont want to overheat the pots.
Vinlander Posted April 17, 2013 Posted April 17, 2013 I would also take the opportunity to upgrade the wiring and pots with a quality kit. It took me only about 30 min to upgrade both pickups to classic 57s and to put a new harness in my Sheraton; I never regretted it. Just make sure you don't have the narrow f holes earlier Samick model have however because it can be tricky to put in regular size Pots...
mcgruff Posted April 17, 2013 Posted April 17, 2013 If you're replacing pots etc, Jimmy Page wiring is worth considering. Did this myself recently - see here. Got most of my bits from Mouser.
sneddy72 Posted April 17, 2013 Author Posted April 17, 2013 I would also take the opportunity to upgrade the wiring and pots with a quality kit. It took me only about 30 min to upgrade both pickups to classic 57s and to put a new harness in my Sheraton; I never regretted it. Just make sure you don't have the narrow f holes earlier Samick model have however because it can be tricky to put in regular size Pots... yeah I will have a go at that, unfortunately it is one of the early Samick models, a 1988 and the f holes are narrow like you say.
sneddy72 Posted April 17, 2013 Author Posted April 17, 2013 Good luck, Sneddy. Just make sure you do a little research on soldering potentiometers. You want an iron that gets hot enough, but you dont want to overheat the pots. thanks for the 'heads up' on that one RTH, I will do a bit of research
Dennis G Posted April 17, 2013 Posted April 17, 2013 I'd concur with most others here, do it the right way. RTH makes a valid point on soldering the pot's. Here's a link to a series of YouTube vid's that should prove helpful. Let us know how it turns out.
SamBooka Posted April 17, 2013 Posted April 17, 2013 If it is a poll.. then I vote on doing it right. If you are charging yourself by the hour then sure.. cut some corners. If you have the time then it is worth it. You can then flip the old pickups for 40$
Ed Zeplin Posted April 18, 2013 Posted April 18, 2013 cool, I think the general consensus is to go the proper way. I will set aside plenty of time and take the plunge! At least the old pickups will still be usable if I ever needed them. My belief is that if you are just swapping pickups the extra time isn't worth the effort. Wire is wire and solder joints if done properly and are protected by heatshrink or tape will never be a problem. You can leave enough wire on the old pickups to extend them if you wish to reuse them. I view it as a lot of work with very little gained aside from some good experience. If I were to do it 'properly' then I would change the whole wiring harness.
RobinTheHood Posted April 18, 2013 Posted April 18, 2013 Personally, my method would be to cut the old pickup wires close to the pots so that you have a little to work with without messing with the pots themselves, and still leaving the majority of the length of wire on the old pickups so they can be reused or sold. Of course, this may be more trouble than its worth in this situation because of the guitar being an f-hole type. With a solid body, this would be a breeze.
BSAKing Posted April 18, 2013 Posted April 18, 2013 If the guts had not been done, I'd do it all at once. If they had, I'd just use the cheat method. Really - make a good mechanical connection before you make it into a good soldered connection, use heatshrink. If you are not introducing resistance or impedance into it with a flakey connection - what's the diff? It's all about a point of diminishing returns, and well past it. I should also mention that I ALWAYS have a backlog of projects, so I never have time for a "make work" project for no reason...
sneddy72 Posted April 20, 2013 Author Posted April 20, 2013 Job done! I did it the proper way in the end. I love the results, totally different sounding guitar now!
Dennis G Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 Job done! I did it the proper way in the end. I love the results, totally different sounding guitar now! Congrats. Nice looking guitar! Glad it all worked out for you.
Bluemans335 Posted April 21, 2013 Posted April 21, 2013 Job done! I did it the proper way in the end. I love the results, totally different sounding guitar now! Excellent!
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