A Vote For Solderless Connections

C

CenterStaqeSilver

New member
Why don't pickup companies and pot companies get together and start using connections similar to what they do in computers......plug-in types that you can switch in seconds....instead of relying on soldering. I can easily imagine the leads coming off pickups having the proper connection that would allow it to connect to volume, tone, phase or split dials/buttons.

Think of the relief this would offer and the major increase in enthusiasm people would have for trying alternative pickups to what they have. In general, the entire electric guitar group (after some "spreading the good word" by SD and fans) of users out there in Pickupland would sit up and consider what the hell that meant!

Really, isn't soldering kind of out-dated for the volume of pickup-switching that's going on around the world?

Why doesn't SD just start offering the pots and pickups that do that. I mean, you could always just clip off the jack if you wanted to solder, in the 10 years it would take for the rest of the world's manufacturers to switch over to this HIGHLY OVER-DUE method of SMART pickup connection.

Thoughts? Guffaw? Insidious snickering? Agree? Disagree? You'd buy them? You would stick to soldering? You're peeing yourself laughing? You think of yourself as a solderer, not a guitarist? Inquiring renaissance guitarists want to know!
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

E-M-G F-T-W *pelvic thrust*.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

boring, i love soldering my pickups in. its probably the funnest part of setting up my guitar.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

I'm with you. Of course they would have to get all the kinks out. Intermittant connectons wouldn't be tolerable. But I like the idea of standardizing throughout the industry.
Alternatively they could go the other way which would be awful.
Kind of the way PC and Macs did for years. SD would offer it's PUP's and pots electrical connectors all propritary to SD. Dimarzio would do the same, as would Fralin, Lollar, EMG etc...
So instead of a universal one size fits all connectors there would be 1000 and all incompatable with each other. Seeing how well the PUP world communicates with each other these days..... I can see the latter actually happening before all those company's playing nice nice.
Just a little Devil's advocate.
In theory standardization would be great, but if you look at the car company's you can see there are very few parts that are universal.
Maybe taillight bulbs are the only ones.

FWIW, I'm with you, but maybe i'm too much a glass half empty kinda guy to ever think it could happen.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

I've thought about this before, and the problem is that it would add a lot of cost and handwork on each pickup. The result would be an additional $10 or $20 on each pickup, because there'd be a 4 way plug 3 inches from the end of each pickup. I don't think SD will ever do it, but it'd be a decent idea for a boutique company.

The best thing you could do would be to locate those plastic plugs in an electronic store and buy a bunch. Then set up 2 or 3 female plugs on your guitars, and add a male to every pickup you buy. It's more trouble than it's worth, but it'd be interesting if someone did it and then posted some pics here.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

Gearjoneser said:
The best thing you could do would be to locate those plastic plugs in an electronic store and buy a bunch. Then set up 2 or 3 female plugs on your guitars, and add a male to every pickup you buy. It's more trouble than it's worth, but it'd be interesting if someone did it and then posted some pics here.
Click to expand...
I've thought of doing that as well, but like you say, it's more trouble than it's worth. I could already have it soldered by then.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

Don't forget that guitarists are conservative - if we have a lot of guitarists arguing over whether to use solder that contains silver or not, there's gonna be a lot of people that don't go for it. I personally would be against putting them in my guitar, since I don't swap pickups often and would always be worrying about an intermittent connection (no matter how much marketing told me there wouldn't be one). I can also imagine a connection that isn't soldered might sound a bit different - just because it works 100% fine in computers doesn't mean it transmits audio 100% the same. A cold solder joint in an amp can sound absolutely awful, even though it's still 2 pieces of metal touching each other physically.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

Acme guitar works offers wiring harnesses with solderless connections.

that's about as close as you'll get right now.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

A few things I would also add:

The problem of threading the pickup wire through a small narrow wiring channel. The thought of dealing with plugs while I'm running a pickup wire down the cavity of a Les Paul would be a nightmare.

Once you have found the right pickup for a guitar, are you going to change it?
I agree that it would be nice while trying pickups out, but once you find the perfect one, I want a connection that will never fail.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

Ernie Ball already does this, with a connector to bridge the pickguard to the output jack...you can wire up a few different pickguards and have a completely different sound in about 5 minutes.

I am all for it. Little in electronics is hand soldering these days. If they can make snap in connectors that lock, there should be no problem. And if you long for the good ol days, just cut the connectors off.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

Solderless connectors and prefab assemblies would work great as long as 99.9% of the people buying pickups had either a strat or a LP. Its the other models that might pose a problem.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

Gearjoneser said:
I've thought about this before, and the problem is that it would add a lot of cost and handwork on each pickup. The result would be an additional $10 or $20 on each pickup, because there'd be a 4 way plug 3 inches from the end of each pickup. I don't think SD will ever do it, but it'd be a decent idea for a boutique company.

The best thing you could do would be to locate those plastic plugs in an electronic store and buy a bunch. Then set up 2 or 3 female plugs on your guitars, and add a male to every pickup you buy. It's more trouble than it's worth, but it'd be interesting if someone did it and then posted some pics here.
Click to expand...

You can buy those connectors that Jonesy is talking about at any RadioShack or electronics store.

The thing is that running them through channels will be a pain, and they won't look as neat/clean as soldered joints.

As Shredaholic said, who knows about how the audio transmitting.

Also amp parts are soldered in not push in.

Luke
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

Sounds like an okay idea, but I don't mind the soldering too much.

I do think it would be cool for A/B'ing different combos in the same axe; you could switch them very quickly, like as Mincer mentioned in the case of EB's.

A major hassle would arise for the non-soldering guitarist who tried to mix pickup brands though (should they choose different connector types). They're likely paying someone else to solder their guitars anyway but I'm addressing this to the original poster as a potential disadvantage.

The final disadvantage is, as a capitalist, I have to cite GJ's post re: cost issues. It's not worth it, to me, to pay extra $ for something I'd probably cut off anyway.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

Yeah it doesn't pass the cost/benefit test at all. One reason EMG's can use it is because you will probably never mix them with another pickup. (I know some guys do but it's rare) So they've standardized their own line, and they're a company that usually gets ALL the pickups in a guitar, not a single swap out.

Many Duncan and Dimarzio users leave the factory middle, or start just by replacing the bridge pickup, and sometimes they mix brands as well. So it's a different scenario altogether.

Even with quick connects, installing a pickup for the first time would still require soldering. The first install is likely the most important one to Duncan and Dimarzio, because it means you bought a new pickup. They don't make any money on used pickup sales, remember? So they're not making anything easier for that first time buyer, unless he's swapping one Duncan for another, and the quick connect makes it easier.

I always liked the idea of a quick connect for the output jack on a pickguard loaded guitar. You can wire the bridge ground straight to the guitar's output jack ground, and then you only have a hot and ground, which can be made with an 1/8" phone plug. It makes it much easier to work on the guitar, and swap pre-loaded guards.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

years ago I was on a bigtime pickup swap thingy, my buddy who used to wire all my pickups got tied of the constant re-moval and re-installation. He soldered a female attachmant in the cavity and a male attachment on all the pickups I'd buy so I could swap them out, it's a great idae, and I think I'm going to ask him to do it again for me.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

Relative to the soldering for the rest of a guitar's electronics, connecting the pickups is no big deal. If you're doing a lot of pickup swaps, you can definitely make it easier on yourself if you wire in some leads where you connect the pickups in one easy place.

I just rewired my tele (4-way switch and flipped the plate) and did just that. When it came to attach the pickups, I just had four easy connections and I was done. It was easier than attaching quick-connects and I don't have to worry about oxidation causing intermittent connections.
 
Re: A Vote For Solderless Connections

I say someone invents a way for the picukup to talk with the switch, pots, caps and output jack all WIFI!!!
NOW WE'RE TALKING!!!!:smokin: :laugh2: :smokin: :laugh2:
 
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