driver8 Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 I want to change the pickup in my Zephyr Regent, but I've never done it on a hollowbody before. I took off the pickup just to take a look, and there is only one red wire going from the pickup. Shouldn't there be at least two? I don't know a lot about wiring and electronics, so I'm not really sure what's going on. Any words of advice from someone who's done this before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis Coll Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 Dude i don't know... i've changed a lot of pickups, and i always fix mi friend's guitars... but i've never seen a 1 wire pickup... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
driver8 Posted December 5, 2010 Author Share Posted December 5, 2010 Exactly! I thought a one-pickup guitar would be the perfect way to start learning how to do it. Now I'm stymied before I've even started! :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantana Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 The live and ground wires are encased inside the red wire....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 +1 on Fantana Inside that wire is a hot wire and a "ground" shielding which acts as an other wire. Most pickups have one wire coming from them. Inside that wire can be any thing from "North (hot) and South" , south can also be combined with ground.... to: North start, north finish, south start, south finish, and ground. (Gives the pickup coil splitting capabilities) They will still be wrapped up into one wire coming out of the pickup base. Hope this helps. Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
driver8 Posted December 5, 2010 Author Share Posted December 5, 2010 The live and group wires are encased inside the red wire....... Oh! So simple, thanks. I didn't examine it too closely but just saw the one wire. You're probably right - makes perfect sense. I guess that leads to my next question, too, which is that the red wire leads to some plastic clip kind of thing. Am I too optimistic to hope I might just be able to hook up the new wires to right before the plastic clip and not have to deal with taking out the pots and everything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcwillow777 Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 Oh! So simple, thanks. I didn't examine it too closely but just saw the one wire. You're probably right - makes perfect sense. I guess that leads to my next question, too, which is that the red wire leads to some plastic clip kind of thing. Am I too optimistic to hope I might just be able to hook up the new wires to right before the plastic clip and not have to deal with taking out the pots and everything? You can do it that way. You'll need to take the clip off of the wires from your pup and solder it to the new pup wires. I like to use shrink tubing rather than electrical tape to cover the solder joints when I solder wires together so they don't short out. It just looks neater to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
driver8 Posted December 5, 2010 Author Share Posted December 5, 2010 You can do it that way. You'll need to take the clip off of the wires from your pup and solder it to the new pup wires. I like to use shrink tubing rather than electrical tape to cover the solder joints when I solder wires together so they don't short out. It just looks neater to me. I just snaked that part out through the f-hole, and sure enough it comes right unclipped. So until I get ready to replace all the electronics, for now it looks like I just have to hook up the new wires to the one half of this clip contraption, plug it back in to the part connected to the pots, and it should be good to go. easier than I even thought it would be. thanks everyone, appreciate the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuiblue Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 I also have an Epi Zephyr Regent. What pup did you select for the mod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
driver8 Posted December 6, 2010 Author Share Posted December 6, 2010 I also have an Epi Zephyr Regent. What pup did you select for the mod? I actually haven't decided yet. Ones I'm considering span the range from a Seth Lover, the Stewart Mac "Parsons Street" humbucker, and the GFS Classic II. The GFS might be too much on the low-end (and might have too much low end), and the Seth might be more than I want to spend on this guitar. So I'm leaning toward the Stew mac. I have a semihollow with their "golden age" pickups, and imo they are really good pickups. I'm open to other ideas, though. This guitar has such a unique tonal characteristic that I've found it hard to get a sense of what pickups would match well with it. I'm pretty sure that I want to go with Alnico 2, but other than that I'm not 100 percent decided yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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