Pickup surgery,

[ACR4V3N]

I just got a penco guitar and want to convert the 2 conductor pu's to 4 conductor. My only issues are:

What's the safest way to get off the pickup covers?
How can I tell which end is which? Like how do I figure out where the start and finish are on the coils, north south? I know my way around inside a humbucker but not without a color code to guide me.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Side note: what do you think would happen if I swapped the magnets on the inside? I have two Alnico V laying around from a failed surgery on two pickups. They both died right on front of me on the table....

 

[KX36]

Re: Pickup surgery,

There's a good chance of wrecking your pickup, why not just buy a new pickup with 4 conductor?

 

[ACR4V3N]

Re: Pickup surgery,

There's a good chance of wrecking your pickup, why not just buy a new pickup with 4 conductor?

Cause I dont have money to spend on pickups at the moment. Also, I like the sound of these pickups, and they would be about as good to me wrecked as they would be sitting with all the other guitar parts laying around.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Pickup surgery,

There's a good chance of wrecking your pickup, why not just buy a new pickup with 4 conductor?

cuz this is the duncan forum, we're pros at this kinda "surgery"

in all seriousness, the few times i replaced the conductor i used this:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=color_codes

usually, each coil has one wire end coming from the outside of the wind and the other end either coming from the bottom of the coil or from under the rest of the wind. the one from the inside if the "start" and the one on the outside is the "finish". usually, i just wire them up duncan coded, with the slug coil as black/white and the screw coil as green/red. the bare wire just goes to the baseplate to ground the pickup.

whatever you do, be extra careful when dealing with the wires, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU UNHOOK THE OLD CONDUCTOR! i've almost killed one of my pickups when removing the conductor, but fortunately there was still some exposed coil wire to hook back up to. once all the connections are soldered, just tape everything off/back up and you're pretty much done.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Pickup surgery,

also, check out the "custom/'59" thread at the top of the pickup lounge's page, there's detailed pictures of the insides of the pickups and them being unhooked/reconnected.

 

[ACR4V3N]

Re: Pickup surgery,

I figured it out for the most part, but now I'm wondering if you can take and put 2 magnets in the same pickup. Like what if I took the alnico V and mixed it with the one that was in there or put 2 alnico magnets in the same pickup. I swapped the Alnico with the old magnet and it sounded better. Also the pickups in there are not stock and cant identify them but they work and sound good.

 

[marvar]

Re: Pickup surgery,

I figured it out for the most part, but now I'm wondering if you can take and put 2 magnets in the same pickup. Like what if I took the alnico V and mixed it with the one that was in there or put 2 alnico magnets in the same pickup. I swapped the Alnico with the old magnet and it sounded better. Also the pickups in there are not stock and cant identify them but they work and sound good.

If they work and sound good, I'd leave them alone-
I understand you wanting to tinker, but you can be sure that every thing you think of has already been thought of and tried, and if it were do- able, it would have already been done-
It's pretty clear that you are a novice on pickups, and the way to learn is by taking them apart, but, if it's all you have, I'd leave it alone- it's very easy to kill a pickup.
I don't think you can stick two mags in a standard humbucker, unless you are using 'outside' magnets, such as found on the Gibson 500T. They just won't fit, and have everything line up.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Pickup surgery,

you could cut the mag i half
one half on the bass side
one half on the treble

idunno my medication is kickin in