Question about pickup soldering

[Frankhenrylee]

Hello everyone!

Hope there's a few expert pickup installers on the forum today that don't mind helping a cheap DIY guy out!

I installed some new pickups last night and they don't seem to sound quite the way I expected. They are Dimarzio Titans. I replaced the Quantum QM1 and QM2 pickups in an S1220. I pretty sure I got the wiring in the correct places, but I'm not getting the extra output I thought I'd get. It's possible the Quantum pickups were hotter than I though they were too though. I have to ask because my soldering leaves a bit to be desired. After hearing them I of course double checked with a few Google searches and found some things that bother me. I have much larger soldering beads than before and I wasn't able to get all the soldering off to expose the hole in the lugs so they just got soldered to the top of the lugs on the 5-way switch. I'm not opposed to re-doing it, because I'm a little OCD and don't like the way it turned out. On the other hand, I think they may be working as intended, just not the way I'd hoped.

Could large or bad soldering leave me with less than expected output?

Could it leave with a sound that is a bit laid back or recessed?

How do I test my connections?


This could also be an amp problem as I'm not sure I'm getting entirely consistent results. It's a Peavey Triple XXX and it has an active EQ. I honestly haven't been able to dial in a good tone yet because a slight turn one way or the other seems to have dramatic results. I'm taking the guitar to try out on some amps at Guitar Center tomorrow to see what it sounds like on some amps there.

In the meanwhile, any help is very much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Question about pickup soldering

You want the best physical and electrical connection you can get from your joints, but think of the feeble connections that we rely on to get adequate sound: between plug and jack or in the switch. As long as the joint is pretty solid, you should be ok. Still go for the most consistently fused and metallic joint you can get though. You can use a multimeter to measure the pickups' output at the cable to make sure it's right.

 

[Frankhenrylee]

Re: Question about pickup soldering

What do you mean by measure at the cable? Where the cable plugs into the guitar? Am I looking for the DC resistance or the mV?

 

[Frankhenrylee]

Re: Question about pickup soldering

Can't believe no wise cracks about the Dimarzio pickups on a Seymour Duncan forum! What's the internet coming to?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Question about pickup soldering

If you have your guitar put together, you can test the dcr with your meter to see if it's reading full by plugging in one end of your cable into your guitar and going to the other end of the cable and touching one lead to the conductive side and one lead to the tip.

 

[Frankhenrylee]

Re: Question about pickup soldering

Cool thanks, I'll tst it out and see if its jacked up or not.

I played them again last night and they've started to grow on me. They don't get too saturated. With the gain cranked chords still ring out. Clean tones are better than what I had before. New tubes show up today so we'll see how that changes things.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Question about pickup soldering

Fretted at the last fret & from pole piece to under the high E & low E strings, how close are the Titans to the strings?

 

[Frankhenrylee]

Re: Question about pickup soldering

Good question. I raised them last night to about 1/8", but that's measuring by eye. I don't have anything precise I can measure with at the moment. They did sound better afterwards I thought. I have not adjusted pole pieces yet.

 

[Progbusters]

Re: Question about pickup soldering

make sure you solder the two coil split leads together if you're not using them. and cover them up.