Les Paul Pickup Swap pt 4 (final tie-ins and finishing up)

[Roadworn12]

Absolutely great video series.

I was a bit thrown off as the camera angle was reversed from the de-soldering of the pups in part two to soldering in the new ones in part 4. However I just stood on my head and it all made sense. :-)

How can I get that wiring chart you listed for the different pickups emailed to me please?

[alexmeify]

I have to say, this is like art work, if i ever needed to replace my pickups i would seek you out somehow!

[darthvaderyoda]

What do you actually solder the hot wire to? Thanks alot, this is so much of a help

[smbstressfest]

@darthvaderyoda it's shown at 5:25

[darthvaderyoda]

I'm sorry, but I still can't figure it out I don't know if its the lighting, but I can't see what you are soldering to, it doesn't look like the lug of the pot, are you soldering to the capacitor?

[SammyBeniuga]

the red and the white wire get taped?,i saw on this video he didnt wire them anywhere

[smbstressfest]

@SammyBeniuga That's correct, it's the series link and doesn't need to connect to anything else unless you're going to coil tap the pickup.

[SammyBeniuga]

@smbstressfest Thank you,this video has been very helpfull for me .Now i can do this job by myself.It will be my first pickup wiring,untill now i wired only headphones haha

[2xthe15s]

van i put the EVH humbucker in a les paul?

[Voitcu]

i may be mistaken but i dont believe he specified if it was the tone or volume POTentiometer that he was working on, also he didn't mention the switch at all. i know these aren't necessary for basic p.u. swapping but its essential to understanding general guitar wiring. See STEW MAC's "free information" section of their website. But dont get me wrong, this is exceptionably documented (just trying to add to it), its the best i've seen on utube so far. Thanks for expanding my outlook.

[HasteCakes]

Great videos, thanks a lot!

[amishius]

That was an awesome 40 minutes! Thanks so much- I'm a LP owner but with a new Tele and I'm obsessed with considering mods to do. Thanks again!

[KidGloves2112]

Why are some pickups offered in 4 conductor? And do you know how to do the Peter Green mod? I'm thinking of replacing the original pickups in my Les Paul Classic with Lollar Peter Green Imperial Humbuckers.

[Dangilman]

This whole series was awesome! Thanks so much. I just installed a Bill Lawrence 500XL in my epiphone les paul, and this was my first operation on any guitar. I plugged it in and everything worked great! Thanks so much for providing this detailed example!

[UltiMogr]

is there any room in a les paul, for active humbuckers?

is there any room for the battery? or do i need to have the wood drilled?

thanx

[smbstressfest]

@UltiMogr Yeah, there should be plenty of room, both for the pickups AND the battery/electronics. No drilling should be necessary. However regarding EMGs specifically, I've heard that the newer style "solderless installation" models have connectors that might be too large to fit through existing wiring channels. I haven't done an EMG installation in a while so I haven't verified this. Just be aware.

[Heineken1712]

man i would trust you with any of my guitars, you work as carefull as i'd expect it as a costumer! great video!

[heavymetal1110]

Thanks so much for the great video, it really helped me, and a lot of others too

[smbstressfest]

@heavymetal1110 You're very welcome.

[heavymetal1110]

@smbstressfest By the way, do you have any advice on wiring up the pickups for coil splitting?

[smbstressfest]

@heavymetal1110 The short answer is to follow the directions included with the pickups. You might also pick up a few books on guitar wiring, electronics has always been my least favorite aspect of guitar repair and books helped me out a lot in the beginning.

[heavymetal1110]

@smbstressfest Al right sounds like a plan, thanks man!

[heavymetal1110]

@smbstressfest By the way, do you have any advice on wiring up the pickups for coil splitting?

[PeanutButterGtr]

This was great! Now I can install new SD blackouts in my Epiphone G-400 without worrying about screwing something up and crying like a little girl. THANKS!!!

[kigice]

excellent excellent video!!!!!!

[PRussy666]

sorry for the spelling I'm use to slang and sms short cuts! haha

[PRussy666]

hi, I have a question. i tried replacing my epiphone les paul stock bridge pick up with a seymour duncan sh-6. As you may know this pick up is known for its raw and aggresive sound , i had it all wired up corectly and when i played it it was really low and thin! it sounded like a fender not a les paul. do you know what the reason is? I asked a friend who his all into wiring and that (he doesn't specialize in guitars though) he sed that it's a faulty wire coming from the pick up?

[Airkilla09]

@PRussy666 try raising the pickups closer to your strings

[IIMaddyGII]

i gota question im switching my pickups to the same kind in the video but when i strip my wire on the seymour duncan pickups there is no color coded wires inside...?

[sk8rsroc]

the entire time i watched this it reminded me of watching a surgeon do a surgery, lol.

[metalliholic]

Is it ok to use silver solder?

[smbstressfest]

@metalliholic I'm pretty sure that the use of silver solder would require you to flux the parts before you assemble. Just use regular flux core electronics solder.

[cragon25]

Very useful videos. Thank you, and great work.

[GQflydude]

Thanks for the Videos. I used all your info to re-fret, and put in some new pick ups in my Standard Strat. Cheers on being so careful with all your work... Esp that beautiful Gibson.

[SirWhatsHisNuts]

I'm fairly sure those are the models that Slash likes to use, except I assume he might have some other pickups in some guitars custom built for his tone.

[Heineken1712]

@SirWhatsHisNuts right, slash has his own signature pickups nowadays.

[spiritofmomo]

hey pickups sounded great!!!!

[Nirond]

saymour duncan rules!!!!!!!!!

[hellbillyeric]

awsome vid series this is the only vid deries on here that showed me everything i needed to know. thanks alot

[smbstressfest]

@hellbillyeric Excellent! You're very welcome, I'm glad you found the videos useful.

[hellbillyeric]

@smbstressfest i do have one question? in my epihone les paul special 2, it seems the bridge pickup main wire (black) goes from the pickup to the three way switch with one white coming out of the black, one side it soldered to one side of the pickup switch then the other side is twisted and soldered in with my (red) then the other wire in the main wire goes to another spot in the 3 way switch. so am i supposed to solder the new pickup wires like the factory? or am i supposed to put ground to ..

[smbstressfest]

@hellbillyeric I have a hard time visualizing it from your description. Call me up at The Musician's Den and I'd be happy to talk to you about it. 

[hellbillyeric]

@smbstressfest well i was just wondering if i should ground the new pickup (bill lawrence usa) onto the same tab that the factory epiphone ground is? or should i ground it to the back of the volume pot like most things say to do? mine already has a ground solder on the volume pot thats not connected to my bridge pickup taht im gonna change. so i assume this means just ground it to the three way like the factory bridge pickup is? otherwise ill have 2 solder spots on the volume pot. thanks again

[hellbillyeric]

@smbstressfest or am i supposed to solder the ground to the tone or volume pot, then put the power wires to the pot terminal or should i put it to the switch like it is?? it has one tone one volume and 2 pickups. thanks again man

[1992chevyz]

i got an epi lp special 2 and might change pickups,should i send them to a guitar shop or send it off somewhere?

[smbstressfest]

@1992chevyz Well if you're not confident in your abilities to swap them out even after watching these videos you should be able to find a local guitar repair tech to do the work. Otherwise, there are plenty of techs (including myself) that accept mail in work.

[The1970sInfatuate]

Those pickups sound shitty to me...

[smbstressfest]

@The1970sInfatuate duly noted

[GQflydude]

@The1970sInfatuate I think it's the sound quality on the vid. You can hear the string pluck over the amp... A double wammy of YouTube butchering quality, and using a standard mic from the cam, instead of hitting the amp with a 57

[FlankinspanK]

I just finished watching your 4 part series. Great job man! I'm from southern Illinois by Effingham. Could you send me the files mentioned in your videos?

[SchecterCollin]

these vids were awsome! i feel ready to solder once i get the tools. and slash does use those pickups:)

[ibanezdudeck]

Your videos are the best. Thanks for giving us some real step-by-step help on these types of things. Makes a big difference when you can see something to compare it with rather than blindly doing it by reading about it. We owe you one... or a lot more.

[thibaultabrial]

Thank you very much for these videos. I followed quite your advices, I put a SH4 and a SH2 Seymour Duncan on my Les Paul and that works very well. ;-)

Good continuation.

Tibo

[Emceetem]

What i don't get is why the guy didn't put in 1 semour duncan and one stock humbucker, he'll get his "i wonder how it sounds" sound and still keep the other one if he regrets it.

[timothylee1990]

hi there I'm trying to install pick-ups into my les paul, but I don't know where the ground wire should be soldered to

[smbstressfest]

@timothylee1990 Which ground wire, from the pickups?  They go on the back of the pots.

[SuperJaykay93]

@smbstressfest slash does use them :D

[98765421tj]

i have a epi lp junior. can i use this as a guide?

[smbstressfest]

@98765421tj I see know reason why not. If you hit a snag, send me a PM and I'll try to help out.

[framos2006]

Thank u dude.

Replaced my Les Paul Traditional Pickups (classic 57 -> SD 59) by myself after watching the video.

[framos2006]

Thank you dude!

Finally could take the guts and replace my Gibson Traditional pickups (57'classic) with SD 59's.

You tutorial not only made it possible, but made it look simple enough so that I could try it. THANK YOU.

[The11thhourHouston]

This was an awesome instructional video on how to replace a humbucking pick-up in a Les Paul styled guitar. Very well done and organized. Before watching this, I was a little intimidated by the 4 conductor wires on the pickups I purchased, but you really made this super understandable! My install was a success thanks to you. Thank you very much!

[dangilmetti]

I replaced the pick ups in my Gibson Les Paul studio with EMG's. Not needing EMG's anymore I bought seymour duncan humbuckers and re wired everything. However I took out the grounding plate when I installed the EMG's. I don't have the plate anymore, however there is a metal wire sticking out of the wood that was attached to the plate. Could I use this metal wire? Can I solder this piece of metal on to the bridge volume? I just get a crazy hum unless I'm touching the strings.

[smbstressfest]

@dangilmetti That wire is the bridge ground, you'll want to solder that to the back of one of the pots. That's most likely why you're getting a lot of hum. Also since your plate is gone, make sure you have continuity among all 4 pots. If you don't, just run a few jumper wires on the backs of the pots as needed.

[azfryguy]

your very big not fat by any means just like a football player or maybe the guitar is way small

[ugmold]

Great Instruction Jason, I am about to install Classic 57's and oil and paper caps in my Gibson LP Vintage Mahogany.

Thanks, the visual helped.

[blinkzane]

say i dont want to yank out all of my cables, can i just run the new pickup wires through the old one and not disconnect them from the knobs?

[smbstressfest]

That's probably not a good idea, if I'm understanding you correctly that is. It's going to be a lot more work to clip the existing pickup wires, and tie into them than to just disconnect and wire up the new pickup leads as shown in the video.

[blinkzane]

@smbstressfest yeah i ended up doing it anyways lol. it came out better than i thought, I dont think ill ever use a diagram ever ever again. as long as i know the hot wire and the grounds, im good.thanks for the help though. this video really helped me out.

[givemeafuknbreak111]

Yep, those are Saul Hudson's (A.K.A. "Slash") preferred pickups - the first thing i noticed from the 2nd video as - I too, am a fan :-)

Now for a Marshall Jubilee head and an EQ pedal and he's all set- the chops sure are there, anyways (kudos) !

Awesome videos, as always, Jason! Looking forward to many more!

[musicman33195]

Hi Jason - I am installing an EVH humbucker into my LP. The wire has that metal brading, covering a black cloth wire. Diagram says to solder black cloth to switch. I actually stripped the black cloth wire to get the actual wire exposed. Is this ok? There is only one wire running through, unlike the Alnico II's with the various colored wires. This wire = braded, then black cloth, then thin white cloth, then actual wire. Thanks!

[smbstressfest]

Yeah, you did right. The cloth won't really solder solder to the switch, I think they meant the wire. Yeah, you have a 2 conductor pickup there, the series link is made up by the pickup itself and then usually tucked down low in between the two coils.

[musicman33195]

Thanks Jason! Fantastic videos and I appreciate your response. This is my first pup swap, and I felt very at ease given your instruction. Check out Seymour Duncan's website, as he has a brief tutorial as well - not nearly as complete as yours, but it was interesting to watch. Thanks again

[RockinJamaica]

i just swap my epi pickups with Seymour Duncans and it works..HOORAY

[smbstressfest]

Congrats! It's always a good feeling when you plug it in, and things just work!

[lennartspekking]

Thanks Jason!

This will certainly help me to get my SD Alnico's into my Tele!

your video did convince me that I can do this by myself, many thanks from Holland! :)

[mudshovel508]

How would i go about removing the pick up covers and putting them back on the new picks i put in the guitar

[smbstressfest]

To remove metal pickup covers you just desolder it from the bottom. You may find it useful to grind of file off most of the solder holding the cover in place BEFORE you reflow it for removal.

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITH A LOW POWER SOLDERING IRON! You'll melt all the wax out of the pickup before you get things hot enough to come apart. You'll want at least a 40w iron with a large tip for this type of work.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions.

[dmedicFF]

a quick question- when soldering the wire to the lug of the pot, is it required that the wire be inserted in the hole of the lug, or is it acceptable if the wire is simply soldered to the lug itself? Thanks! great video

[smbstressfest]

either will work

[dmedicFF]

@smbstressfest great-thank you!

[k9wyre]

Jason - I did a wiewing marathon and watched all of your available videos. EXCELLENT! Thank you for being generous with your time and knowledge. I will use your videos when I refret a Squire Strat that has frets falling out. There is nothing like a Fender made in Carona.

[guglio1290]

Very good video series, informative and entertaining. I, too, am a bassist/guitar.. "worker", for lack of a better word, and I absolutely love de-fretting basses.

I'm going to buy a really shitty guitar to de-fret, just to see how it goes.

[KIngRebirtha]

thanks for these awesome tutorials. After watching them twice, then a third time while I was installing my pickups, everything worked perfect once completed. If I can do this, then just about anyone can.

[CAFlyersfan]

I just finished watching this series and I just wanted to say thanks! It was very helpful. I'm about to replace the pickups on one of my guitars for the first time so this was a big help!

[RolandGuitar]

Thank you for your perfect tutorials.

RolandGuitar/Germany

[eddyjok]

Thak you so much for posting these.

I really feel encouraged to change the pickups in my guitar myself

[mazatleco17]

Nice series of videos, thanks for sharing, do you work on bass guitars?

[smbstressfest]

Absolutely. In fact, I am a bassist and I'd love to work on basses 24/7, there's just so many more guitars out there. I have a series of videos where I convert an Ibanez 4 string to a fretless for one of my bass students. Check it out if you're interested, and thanks for watching.

[kreisiman828]

Yeah, Slash uses those pickups. Thanks for these videos. Now I don't have to pay someone to replace my pickups.