Pickup Wire Length

[Lucius Paisley]

I'm sure it's different for every guitar, but I'm just wondering if anybody knows what ideal wire length for pickups would be needed to swap out from a solid body guitar to a hollowbody?

I'd rather not de-solder everything only to find out I'm short by two or three centimetres.

Or perhaps there's another way to "assist" the length in case it is too short?

 

[Blille]

Re: Pickup Wire Length

Hollowbodies are a pain to wire. Even with all the fishing the electronics tricks.

What I end up doing is the “easy swap” method where you chop the wires of the original hollowbody close to the pickup and solder the new pickup to those wires. Makes sense?

It’s 10x easier than doing it right but you render the old hollowbody pickups almost unusable (you just need to readd the wire really), and the connection might not be as good.

There, I confessed.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickup Wire Length

I always found them to be about the same. I don't really chop pickup wires short.

 

[Lucius Paisley]

Re: Pickup Wire Length

Hollowbodies are a pain to wire. Even with all the fishing the electronics tricks.

I bought a cheap hollowbody just to see if I liked it enough to get a brand name, but what I didn't think I'd have to consider was the rarity that is left-handed hollowbody guitars.

What I end up doing is the “easy swap” method where you chop the wires of the original hollowbody close to the pickup and solder the new pickup to those wires. Makes sense?

It’s 10x easier than doing it right but you render the old hollowbody pickups almost unusable (you just need to readd the wire really), and the connection might not be as good.

It does, but after paying for the SD Phat Cat, I don't wish to destroy it. Especially since it's only ever been used in one guitar.

There, I confessed.

They say confession is good for the soul, but since you willingly destroy pickups, I'm not so sure you have one.

 

[Lucius Paisley]

Re: Pickup Wire Length

I always found them to be about the same. I don't really chop pickup wires short.

Maybe I'll have a better idea when I cut off all the plastic ties supposedly making the wires fit "neatly" under the pickguard, just how much wire I have to play with.

Hopefully this will be my last issue doing this.

(Narrator: It won't be.)

 

[Adieu]

Re: Pickup Wire Length

Ive always clipped anything with overly tight or complex wiring in the pickup cavity during a swap... you generally dont have to clip the replacement pickup short, just the outgoing one

Amd with shrink tubing and decent solder joints, extending a clipped-short pickup wire isn't really a big deal