Noob pickup swap questions

Paul7926

Hello people of the fretboard. I'm thinking about doing my first pickup swap and just wonder what I'm letting myself in for.

I just picked up a second hand squier bullet which I've got back into working order which means I now have 2 guitars and therefore I can think about making a pickup swap on my Epi SG.  I've got my eye/ear on a set of IronGear Rolling Mill but as I've never done this before I wanted to see if I'm missing anything before making the purchase.  To head off the obvious response of 'not worth doing on a £130 guitar' I'm doing this for me so don't worry about re-sale or how sensible an idea this is.

I'm assuming the first thing to do is pull apart the SG and take measurements to ensure that the new set will fit. The existing pickups don't have covers which I'd like on the new set but I'm not sure if that affects things like the plastic pickup surrounds. It looks like there will be enough space by eye anyway.  I kinda think that they should be a pretty standard size but I guess you never know and I'd rather find out before buying them.  

Further assuming that they will fit then I think I should upgrade the rest of the electronics at the same time.  Now the Epi only has a single volume and tone (cos it's cheap) rather than the dual but I guess that I should be able to find a wiring diagram for that rather than the dual and it's not a huge issue.  What might be is the replacement pots as they might not be a straight swap for the existing ones (who knows).  If that is the case then I may well need new knobs.  I've already got after market knobs on the Epi but obviously they fit the old pots.

The epi is currently very well set up.  Once it's back together am I going to need more than a basic re-tune and altering the pickup heights?  I don't think it should given that I've not touched the machine heads, neck, nut or bridge but this is all uncharted territory for me.

Are there any considerations that I've completely missed out?  Have I made any assumptions that are just plain wrong? Is the whole process a lot harder than I optimistically think it will be?

Cheers

Funkfingers

If your SG has a small pickguard and mounting surrounds, check the pickup cavity depths by unfastening the four screws at the corners of each mounting surround. 

Metal humbucker covers demand fairly narrow radius corners in the mounting surround. Option 1 is to leave the stock pickups in their surrounds, ready for quick and easy reinstallation in future. Option 2 is to carefully file the corners of the stock surrounds, if necessary. 

Converting an Episode SG Special from two controls to four depends on how generous the control cavity is and where the original controls have been positioned. At a pinch, you could have the selector switch where the master volume currently goes. The Bridge volume goes where the selector switch is. You need to drill holes for two other pots. From a distance, it will appear passable. Up close, it may look wonky.

Paul7926

Thanks. I have no intention of converting to four controls as that sounds way beyond my capability at the moment.  I do like the idea of getting more surrounds so that I can leave the stock pickups available for being replaced easily in the future. 

Paul7926

Well thanks to the advice here and from the good folks at axetec I have a plan and the correct bits and pieces on order. 

That might be the easy bit over but we shall see how it goes.

Funkfingers

TIP: Before you disconnect the original electronics, take photographs and/or sketch out a diagram. That way, you can refer back to the original circuit, if necessary.

Realistically, you should only need to disconnect five solder joints. The pickups to the selector switch and the bridge ground wire wherever it is attached. That done, everything should unfasten and lift out.

The metal selector switch fastening ring is best removed using a specialised tool. Pliers can be used but the plastic switch surround might need protecting against scratches.

The assembly of new parts is (mostly) easier to do out of the guitar. Make sure that all cable runs are long enough to reach with some slack factored in. Even connecting your new pickups is easier to do before fastening the new selector switch.

If your replacement pickups have four-conductor + shield output cable, there is the possibility to introduce wiring mode switching for greater sonic variety. (Coil splitting, phase reversal, series/parallel, whatever.) Given the amount of free space available in the control cavity, it might be wiser to achieve this using mini switches rather than push-pull pots.

LastMantra

As has been said...take pictures...lots of pictures! 

OilCityPickups

Advice from a pickup winder: If your Epi has conventional pickup surrounds they will fit any aftermarket covered humbucker ... issues come ion some SGs where the pickups mount to the scratch plate, but that should not be an issue for you. Epis normally have standard Gibson routs, so depth should be no issue.

Your pot shafts will be the smaller diameter Far Eastern standard, so if you wanted to fit US CTS pots the shafts would be too fat for the holes. I would ream those out ... but you may not feel confidant to do that, so hunt down some of the new, smaller diameter shaft pots CTS seem to be doing these days.    

Paul7926

Well I finally managed to get to the post office to pick up my stuff today. About the only up side to a hospital appointment but there you go.  The swap is probably going to have to wait until Saturday so I've a few days to contemplate if I actually have the technical ability to pull this off.   

Paul7926

Right. Everything has turned up now. Had to buy I new soldering iron of all things. So this weekend I'll either have a guitar with new pickups and totally new wiring or an expensive mess. 

This should be educational whatever happens! 

LastMantra

Fingers crossed 

TTony

Paul7926 said:

Right. Everything has turned up now. Had to buy I new soldering iron of all things. So this weekend I'll either have a guitar with new pickups and totally new wiring or an expensive mess. 

This should be educational whatever happens! 

The only thing to be scared of, is being scared.


There are lots of things that can go wrong but - equally - it's reasonably straightforward to get it right.

And if something does go wrong, then it's going to be reasonably straightforward to fix whatever it is too.

I think I did my first p'up swap when I was about 15.  That was long before the days of internet forums full of helpful people and websites full of wiring diagrams.  If you can work out the logics of what's going on with the wiring (and it is *just* logic) then even better!

Paul7926

@TTony yeah it makes perfect sense in my head. I've watched you tube vids and got wiring diagrams. 

Logically it should be fine I think it's just the practical application of the logic that worries me. 

I have a backup guitar now that i rescued an old squire bullet from a second hand shop. I also live close to a real guitar shop and tech so if all else fails I'm sure they will bail me out at reasonable prices

Paul7926

Well job now done. Took longer than anticipated as my old pickups had no cover so the routing holes needed to be expanded just a fraction to accommodate the new ones with a cover.

Soldering isn't pro standard but it must be reasonably ok as everything seems to be working. I did forget a ground from the selector switch but that was easily fixed.

So now I have nice rolling mill pickups and they are a huge step up from the stock ones.

Pretty happy how this all turned out.

LastMantra

Aces!

Rocker

Well done @Paul7926 ;

Paul7926

And a picture of the final result.  You can google "Epiphone SG-Special VE Vintage Worn Vintage Sunburst" for the pre-upgrade image.  

I've upgraded all the electronics, switches, pots, etc as well because I figured, why not.  Pictures don't help explain just how much better it sounds.

Funkfingers

Congratulations on a job well done.

Looking at the photograph of your SG, the strings are not running parallel to the edges of the fingerboard. This can be corrected by partially slacking off the neck anchoring screws and performing a sort of Heimlich Manoeuvre. In your case, towards the low E. This done, retighten the neck screws.

Paul7926

Funkfingers said:

Congratulations on a job well done.

Looking at the photograph of your SG, the strings are not running parallel to the edges of the fingerboard. This can be corrected by partially slacking off the neck anchoring screws and performing a sort of Heimlich Manoeuvre. In your case, towards the low E. This done, retighten the neck screws.

That photo was taken at a slight angle but I will investigate when I get home tonight.  Thanks for the tip.