Pickup Wiring Trick - Jumpers

[alex1fly]

I thought I'd share a trick I've been using in my latest round of pickup swaps to save time and headache.

I ran "jumper" wires from my control cavity into the pickup cavities. New pickups get wired to these jumpers. No futzing with soldering to pots and switch for every swap, and make it easier to replace neck pickups because you don't have to feed the wires as far and lift the bridge pickup out to grab that wire. I also wrote color codes on a piece of masking tape and stuck that in the cavities so it's easier to mix and match brands with different wire color schemes. Just solder the pickup wires to their jumpers, wrap each connection in electric tape, and coil the extra wire underneath the pickup before you set it back in.

Obviously it won't work for every scenario but it might come in handy for someone sometime.

 

[Mincer]

Great idea! I have used tiny Molex connectors, too.

 

[Artie]

Nice. I like coming up with "poor man" Liberator ideas. (Not that the Liberator is expensive.)

 

[GuitarDoc]

Good suggestion.

 

[AlexR]

This is typically what a lot of people do in semihollows.....as if you're trying out pickups its a right PIA to rewire through the F-holes.

But in other guitars if I'm trying out pickups and don't want to do a precise cut, I'd much rather stick the excess hookup wire of a uncut new pickup into an electrics cavity - which by its design has room for that sort of thing.
Rather than trying to stuff it all in a pickup rout - which 95% of the time doesn't.

 

[jeremy]

same for me. i only do jumpers with a guitar thats a real pita to work on, but on a 335 or something like that, absolutely a great idea

 

[eclecticsynergy]

A convenient timesaver for Strat types is to put bullet connectors on the jack leads and ground wire.
Makes removing the pickguard to work on (or swapping loaded guards) quick & easy.
Big bag of small gauge bullet connectors cost just a couple of dollars.

 

[alex1fly]

A convenient timesaver for Strat types is to put bullet connectors on the jack leads and ground wire.
Makes removing the pickguard to work on (or swapping loaded guards) quick & easy.
Big bag of small gauge bullet connectors cost just a couple of dollars.

Smart

Strats give me the most headaches to wire, historically. Something always seems to get mashed or misplaced when putting that guard back on.