Luthier goofed on my new pick-ups

[iylesia]

Hey all,
Well, so I had an SH-5 and a '59 installed in my Epi G-400. The luthier who did the work rewired the pickups in backwards: to play the bridge (rhythm) position (SH-5) I now need to switch my pickup selector to the treble position, and to play lead (SH-5) I have to switch the selector to the rhythem position. That ticked me off, but in the end I can live with it. The SH-5 sounds great.

Now, here is another thing. I have a '59 in the neck. I think the luthier put the thing in wrong, but I'm not sure. The screws on the '59 are on the "inside". What I mean is that they are...how can i put this...closer to the bridge. Shouldn't the screws be "outside". I hope you're getting this. I dont have a pic to submit. Anyways, the screws on the SH-5 are sited beside the tailpiece, and in all my previous observation, the screws on humbuckers in the neck are always closer to the neck, or on the outside. So, what I'm asking is should I just lift the pot out of the neck position and turn it around so the screws are positioned the right way?
bob

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Luthier goofed on my new pick-ups

If he left you enough lead length you can remove the mounting ring from the guitar and then remove the pickup from the ring and turn it 180 degrees.

If you can find someone that can solder, swap the black wires on the two volume pots and your guitar will be as it should be.

 

[Rodney]

Re: Luthier goofed on my new pick-ups

Loosen the nut on the toggle switch and turn it around, it should only take a minute. As for the 59' being reversed, there is no law, only a standard practice. If you do reverse it I doubt you will notice any difference in tonal response. There are a few guitars that come stock with the stud poles towards the neck.

BTW- howdy Roberts S.

Hope to help

 

[dd12939]

Re: Luthier goofed on my new pick-ups

I intentionally wired my pickup switch that way... I had a good reason originally, but I've since forgotten. Towards the floor is neck, towards the ceiling is bridge, though I left the 'ceiling' knobs as the neck controls and the 'floor' knobs as the bridge controls... Who knows... maybe I inhaled too much solder that night!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Luthier goofed on my new pick-ups

Geesh...and you still refer to that guy as a "luthier"?

That's alot of screw ups to make all on one job.

I'd ask him to make it right...if you think he has the know how to make it right in the first place.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Luthier goofed on my new pick-ups

How very cool, howdy right back at you Rodney!

Sometimes you can rotate the switch in the cavity, sometimes you cannot. It depends on how much slack is left in the wiring from the original install.

It's a common rookie mistake to wire the pots backwards in the cavity of Les Pauls. When you flip the guitar over the pots "mirror" themselves and I had to rewire the pots in my LPs more than once in the early days. It's an even bigger rookie mistake not to test and check a guitars funtions before it leaves the bench and hits the customers hands. It's one thing to wire a guitar backwards, it's another thing to deliver it that way.

As Rodnrey said it's not super critical which way the pickups is oriented in the guitar but for those of us that are fussy about our guitars it's enough to be bothersome. Tonally some claim to hear a slight difference, others do not. Back in the day I installed a 59n into my RG 550 backwards and I came to Rodney (and Jeremy) with the same question.

Good to see ya Bro,

Robert