Lengthen Pickup Leads vs. Installing New Leads

M

maxon

New member
I have a few humbucking type pickups that have short leads that I would like to either extend, or to replace with new, full length leads.

These pickups have the typical steel braided ground exterior, with the black clothe & white clothe insulators underneath.

I am searching for an online tutorial that will demonstrate how to lengthen the typical PAF style pickup lead, or preferably an online tutorial that will demonstrate how to replace the existing short leads with new, full length leads.

Anyone here know of any thing that fits the bill on this?

Thanks in advance for any assistance :fingersx:

I did try lengthening the leads on a matched set, and they do work but the connection where old lead meets the newer lead is quite large & bulky, and is difficult to thread thru the wire channel.
This is why I would prefer installing a new lead vs. lengthening/adding on to the original.
 
Re: Lengthen Pickup Leads vs. Installing New Leads

welcome to the forum!

i dont know of any tutorial on that but its not that hard.

how are your soldering skills?
quite large & bulky, and is difficult to thread thru the wire channel
Click to expand...
this kinda leads me to believe that that they might not be that great.

to replace the leads, which is a fine idea, you need to open up the pup and basically replace the old wire with a new one. not hard but you need to be careful so as not to kill the pup while you are in there
 
Re: Lengthen Pickup Leads vs. Installing New Leads

agreed, it's not that hard on a humbucker. if you are in any way handy with a few basic tools and a soldering iron, you are good to go. I like to have a multimeter there to be able to check my work after each step.

just get the new lead wire (check stewmac.com), and maybe some new coil tape (stewmac.com).
 
Re: Lengthen Pickup Leads vs. Installing New Leads

26 ga. wire of the appropriate colors, solder, and shrink wrap of the appropriate size. Don't leave blobs of solder, be neat. Shrink wrap makes things nice and tidy.
 
Re: Lengthen Pickup Leads vs. Installing New Leads

Nah!..just add on to the existing wire---tape or heat shrink the connection and it will sound exactly the same.....IMHO
 
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