Thanks for help from new person

D

denny crane

New member
Hey, folks-first time posting here. Just wanted to say that after swapping me stock pickups from me Les Paul copy for a Seymour Duncan 59 model in the neck and a JB in the bridge i had problems. The 59 went in real easy with some help from a buddy (the springs were just way too fiddly and were shooting all over the place). However, the bridge pickups just didn't want to play. First there was no output from it-then no sound from either pickup. Then after taking the pot out and cleaning up the joint's soldering i got the neck back and the JB in the bridge-the JB was roughly half as loud as the neck, though.
Well, after me bud surmised that it was the pickup on the 59 needed lowering to equalise the outputs i looked up similar things on this forum.
Although the advice was given to me personally a few of the postings were like my problem. One chap said to solder the spare red and white wire on the JB together. I didn't think this would solve it, as the red and white were tied off together anyway. But, what do you know, after soldering the red and white together-rock n roll, the bridge kicks in at a proper output.
So, i'd just like to extend my thanks for this wonderful forum. I hope no one minds me posting this but i reckon credit where credit's due-if i hadn't found info concerning similar problems on here then i was all set to hand it over to a tech, and that would've cost me.
Again, i'm awfully grateful, and the guitar (an LX250G by Hohner Rockwood-its Korean but a dead ringer finish-wise for Jeff Beck's Blow By Blow Les Paul, thats why i bought it) sounds real nice. In fact, i'm off to play it now. Respects to you all.

Denny Crane:1:
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

Welcome aboard! Stick around, maybe one day you'll be able to help someone and "pay it forward."
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

Or, if paying it forward isn't your style, I'll accept cash, checks, and credit cards!

Glad we could be of help - you can learn some amazing stuff here. Come on back and chat while sometime!
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

denny crane said:
The 59 went in real easy with some help from a buddy (the springs were just way too fiddly and were shooting all over the place). Denny Crane:1:
Click to expand...

Two words: Alligator clips.

More words: Squish the spring down and put alligator clips on the mount screws above the spring to hold it in place. Make sure the screw is in the alligator clip all the way in the back of the jaw for max leverage so it doesn't fly off. Works flawlessly, never had a problem with it.
 
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Re: Thanks for help from new person

denny crane said:
Denny Crane:1:
Click to expand...

Zhangliqun said:
Two words: Alligator clips.

More words: Squish the spring down and put alligator clips on the mount screws above the spring to hold it in place. Make sure the screw is in the alligator clip all the way in the back of the jaw for max leverage so it doesn't fly off. Works flawlessly, never had a problem with it.
Click to expand...

could you show us a pic of what you mean zhang..? it sounds good but i'm having trouble following
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

Thanks for the welcome, fellas. I had a bit of a burn on modded-out Les Paul last night. Nothing fancy-just through a little Fender Champion 600(which is ideal for me upstairs practice). The new pickups certainly do sound fuller than the stock Korean ones, and the sustain is noticeably longer. I've still a few bits and bobs to do-dusty pots need a clean, etc, but hey-lock and load.
As for 'paying it forward'-gentlemen, you shall get your reward in heaven, be assured of that:naughty:

As for the alligator clip idea-that does indeed sound ingenious. Respects to you, Zhangliqun, although a picture of this in practice would be desirable for future reference.

When i get a minute i'll get a picture up of the 'little lady' (me guitar, not a picture of the missus in the nip).

:thanks: Denny Crane
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

dr. ad said:
could you show us a pic of what you mean zhang..? it sounds good but i'm having trouble following
Click to expand...

I'm a bit picture challenged these days but will try to make it clearer.

So you have the humbucker ring sitting upside down on your table, the pickup height screws through the ring's height screw holes and pointed at the ceiling -- in other words, the normal position when you're about to mount a humbucker in the ring.

Then you put the springs on the screws as always. And as always, the springs are longer than the screws. And once again as always, you push each spring down to get at the end of the screws so you can thread it into the ears of the humbucker baseplate.

Instead of futzing with holding the spring and holding the pickup and needing a third hand to turn the screw and thread it into the hole, and getting to a point where you're ready to throw the pickup through a wall as the spring pops off and hits the ceiling and lands God only knows where 50 times in a row, voila! the alligator clip is your 3rd hand.

You push the spring down with one hand like normal, to where about a third to half of the screw is showing bare above the spring, then you put the alligator clip on the screw just above the spring and said clip keeps the spring from flying off. But again, make sure the clip is holding the screw at or near the back of its jaw for max leverage to keep the spring from blasting the clip off.

Then you thread the screws into the baseplate ear holes a few turns, stop, remove the clips, and finish turning the screw to the appropriate height for installation of the ring-mounted pu into your guitar.

You need small gator clips like the ones available at Radio Shack.
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

Great, great tip, zhang.

That would have saved me tons of frustration.
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

That's a good tip Zhang, but I just started cutting the springs smaller when faced with that kinda problem.

And this thread is ANOTHER testament to the fact Seymour Duncan NEED to update the wiring diagrams that come with the pickups, to tell people they need to SOLDER the red and white wires together! :(
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

Diocletian said:
That's a good tip Zhang, but I just started cutting the springs smaller when faced with that kinda problem.
Click to expand...

I will do that on short leg baseplates but it's too loose a feel for the long legs, allows the pickup to rock a bit (and not in the way we like).

D said:
And this thread is ANOTHER testament to the fact Seymour Duncan NEED to update the wiring diagrams that come with the pickups, to tell people they need to SOLDER the red and white wires together! :(
Click to expand...

Really? That's seems so basic and obvious. As mentally challenged as I am sometimes, even I figured it out when I first started installing my own pu's back in the 80's.
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

denny crane said:
But, what do you know, after soldering the red and white together-rock n roll, the bridge kicks in at a proper output.
Click to expand...

Welcom to The Forum!

Dont forget to tape the solder joint off! If the tip has contact to other metal parts, you get cut outs!
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

Zhangliqun said:
Really? That's seems so basic and obvious. As mentally challenged as I am sometimes, even I figured it out when I first started installing my own pu's back in the 80's.
Click to expand...

There's been a fair amount of threads about it since I joined this forum. And you might have figured it out - but it's still a major pain in the backside, especially if someone's installed a pickup in something like a strat with a pickguard under the strings and all.
I don't see why it can't be made clear in the wiring diagrams.
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

To me it was obvious because how's the current going to go through coils if there's a break in the circuit?

If it was just about taping the red and white off without soldering them, they would show the two wires taped off separately, right? If they're together under the tape, the wires would be touching, which means they should be touching, which means you would want to solder them together to prevent them from coming apart. It seems to be also very clear in the little pink or blue diagrams that come with the pickup in the plastic case.

I suppose Seymour could put a note saying "solder red and white together" but then someone might complain that it wasn't made clear that you need to strip some of the insulation off the end of each wire before you try to solder them together, and also is there a 15-day waiting period for solder guns? And should we solder the other two leads to the pot or switch lug or just tie them on somehow? It's endless.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but when we're swapping pickups, we have entered the realm of do-it-yourself, which requires that we think on our feet a little bit and especially take the time to learn some basics about guitar electronics before attempting a pickup swap or install so we can troubleshoot if something goes wrong. Luckily nowadays there are forums like this and the internet in general that can get us all up to speed pretty quick on all kinds of things, including this.
 
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Re: Thanks for help from new person

Zhangliqun said:
To me it was obvious because how's the current going to go through coils if there's a break in the circuit?

If it was just about taping the red and white off without soldering them, they would show the two wires taped off separately, right? If they're together under the tape, the wires would be touching, which means they should be touching, which means you would want to solder them together to prevent them from coming apart. It seems to be also very clear in the little pink or blue diagrams that come with the pickup in the plastic case.

I suppose Seymour could put a note saying "solder red and white together" but then someone might complain that it wasn't made clear that you need to strip some of the insulation off the end of each wire before you try to solder them together, and also is there a 15-day waiting period for solder guns? And should we solder the other two leads to the pot or switch lug or just tie them on somehow? It's endless.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but when we're swapping pickups, we have entered the realm of do-it-yourself, which requires that we think on our feet a little bit and especially take the time to learn some basics about guitar electronics before attempting a pickup swap or install so we can troubleshoot if something goes wrong. Luckily nowadays there are forums like this and the internet in general that can get us all up to speed pretty quick on all kinds of things, including this.
Click to expand...

Ok.
 
Re: Thanks for help from new person

hmm, glad that problem got solved, but i don't think Zhang was out of place in saying that it's almost common sense.

Solder isn't glue. When you solder wires together you're creating a chemical bond that allows electricity to flow.

You might get some signal to flow from two wires touching but it won't be anywhere near the same amount as if those two wires were chemically fused into what is basically one wire...

Electronics 101 cats :smokin:
 
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