Les Paul Pickup Swap pt 1 (introduction and soldering tutorial)

Jason from The Musician's Den in Evansville IN replaces the pickups in an '06 Gibson Les Paul Studio. In part 1, we discuss the techniques of soldering and then demonstrate soldering on common guitar electronics components.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• repair
• Gibson
• Les
• Paul
• Studio
• Seymour
• Duncan
• Weller
• solder
• soldering
• tutorial
• pickup
• The
• Musician's
• Den
• Musicians
• guitar
• bass
• EMG
• DiMarzio
• Evansville
• IN
• Indiana

[stratocasterrelic]

Sounds like your saying sodering.

[smbstressfest]

@stratocasterrelic That's what I'm saying. In American English, the word "solder" is pronounced |ˈsädər|

[stratocasterrelic]

@smbstressfest No worries i wasn't trying to be rude. I have a Traditional LP and it has factory fitted covered pickups but i prefer the uncovered look and it is supposed to be a better tone. Do you know if the pickups under the covers look like a normal uncovered set or are they a raw looking pickup because there not supposed to be shown?

[smbstressfest]

@stratocasterrelic Placing the covers on pickups slightly changes its inductance, resulting in a VERY SLIGHT "darkening" of the sound. If you remove yours, don't expect to notice a big difference or you might be disappointed. Typically, if you remove the cover from a pickup, you can expect to see a "normal" looking humbucker. However, the bobbins may be matte black and not polished (perhaps a little ugly) and sometimes the coils aren't taped as well as open coil models (consider adding more).

[GuitarzMyThing]

What is the % of flux you use for the solder? I know you have to use a certain solder for it to work...

[smbstressfest]

@GuitarzMyThing I'm not sure in regards to the specs on my solder other than the brand name is Kester and that I've been using the same 1lb spool since '04. Any solder that's designed to be used for electronics projects will work just fine on guitars.

And I realize you didn't ask for my opinion about this specifically, but I'd also like to add that in my experience, it's more common for people to have trouble with soldering due to improper technique than improper material or equipment.

[smbstressfest]

@fendercal77 Do a search for a YouTube video player tutorial. There's an ingenious round icon in the timeline that allow you advance a video to any point you wish. And proceed with caution if you attempt this kind of work. I often find that impatient people such as yourself are ill suited to electronics work.

[smbstressfest]

@RocknRollParadiase You'd be running a fan in the room to get the fumes away from your face, not directly on the work.

[elScorcho2008]

Great video, thanks!

[drfeelgoodTO]

Just opened the casing of my les paul, noticed inside the cavity the wires arn't soldered to pots, instead the wires lead into this plastic case. Anyone know of a tutorial for this type of wiring for replacing the pickups?

[SpeciousHistory]

@RocknRollParadiase you could try "manning up". It helped me out.

[Gregchilcott]

@smbstressfest Thank you so much for this video. I am just getting into this sort of thing but love it like a drug. This video was great and I am sure the others will be too! (I am putting together an LP style guitar as well)