Hi all,
I've a DIY kit SG guitar that my other half bought me as an xmas gift once, and to be honest it has never been great but obviously I'm compelled to keep it. I originally put in EMGs so i didn't have to learn to solder. However I didn't realise I'd still have to solder to attach a switch. So i flogged them and tried to put in some cheap pickups to just have a functioning guitar that I could be seen playing now and again to keep the other half happy. I bought what I think is called a wire loom for the pots and a switch, tried to solder it all (I really do not understand wiring diagrams and seems everything i have is an exception to established rules). It worked for about a week then gave up the ghost. No sound at all.
Anyway, I've recently been getting into some new music and found myself wishing to learn some more heavier techniques, for which an LP might be appropriate than the Mustang I use for my usual jangly indie stuff, plus I can't tune my Mustang to Drop D or similar as it seems to have problems. I can't really justify buying an LP style so my mind turned to my SG.
I have two Eastwood Airline deluxe pickups (which are humbucker I think), and I found two pots - a b250k one and a b500k one - so thought I must be able to find a wiring layout or video to help me set up a simple wiring for two pickups, switch, and master tone and volume pot. I got very confused looking and couldn't see it, any I did find also seemed to suggest my pickups should have 4 wires, whereas these pickups have only two which makes the diagrams I found useless. If you google these words altogether it's utterly useless as the words don't show up in the right order. So yeah I just gave up.
I thought I would ask on here, what sort of price I should be looking at to get this sorted (and if anybody local to Birmingham here might fancy a go at it), and whether it's worth it or better to find a simpler pickup set up that I could manage myself
What I have so far:
1. 2x Eastwood Airline Deluxe pickups (believe Humbuckers as these were from an Airline Deluxe guitar which did not use the single coil versions)
2. 2x pots,
a b250k one and a b500k one
3. A typical 3 position toggle switch, but I'm not sure if I've ruined this by my previous soldering
4. 4x Gibson pot knob cover things
What I'd like
- install pickups and wiring, ideally using the stuff I already have (and just use dummy pots for the two not in use with the Gibson hats if needs be)
- Maybe a general set up on it especially if it enables me to tune to drop D (wez has previously done a bit on it as I think the nut was awful as expected)
If any further detail is required let me know and I'll try to do my best to answer but please be aware I'm a bit stupid (clearly) so your answer will be in noobish
Thank you everybody
Edit: alternatively, if anybody has a working SG which looks very much like this one, I could also be very interested haha
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Wales is re-opening for tourism. If you are likely to be visiting the South Western bit, bring the kit with you and I'll do the job while you are in the area.
There was definitely some soldering required, it might have been to the actual switch itself, I can't remember now but the emgs sounded terrible anyway as they were buzzing a lot due to my shoddy install. Plus by putting them in it, it increased the investment in what is essentially the worst guitar I've ever played, and I could not quite see the return on that. The Airline pickups have the bonus being in my possession already and nobody else would realistically want to buy them
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Yes that's the fella, the neck is still stable from your efforts yes - without your input on it then the instrument would have gone to the tip to be honest. So for that I am very grateful good sir - hope you're getting on well. The Airline is still going strong albeit I don't play it that often because my spare room is a tip so I tend to leave it in its case...
I see what you mean, but no it doesn't sound good acoustically either. It's really a lost cause if I'm totally honest but I'm not allowed to bin it and I thought this might at least give it some use!
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This may sound like throwing good money after bad, but the amount involved won't be huge and you could end up with something actually worth using...
Personally I would replace the pots - four proper ones of the correct values will make it sound much better. Ideally you need 500K Log ('A' taper), and looking at the size of the existing ones they need to be Alphas or some others with 8mm bushings not the more expensive 3/8" US-made ones - although I would stick to full-size (23mm) pots not mini-pots if you can. You may need a new switch - that one looks like a cheap box-construction one from the size of the nut and toggle - in which case the Schaller-type 'shallow' version is fine. I would also get a decent jack, given the small cost - a Switchcraft is really the only one worth using. A pair of tone caps is pennies, so if you don't have two decent ones I would replace them as well.
If you do that, string it relatively heavily and tune it to drop D I would be very surprised if it doesn't make a usable doomy racket, no matter how bad you think it is .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Re parts required, I've no idea what those pots I mentioned were for, they certainly weren't off the SG I just thought they might prove useful. This is what's in there currently, looks a right mess as the wire lengths on the prewired thing were huge. I think it was only about £30 off Amazon so not unexpectedly crap:
Re the other parts, I don't remember where the switch came from to be honest but yes it'll be a cheap crappy thing and probably ruined by my attempts to solder it anyway. Will bear in mind the recommendations (and price it up), thank you
Re the pickups, I don't think I'd be able to flog them in order to get something more suitable so they'll do (will just dump the existing ones in there as they are awful things), but hoping the wires are long enough. Also are 2 wire pickups a problem for this? If so I'd just sack them off and get whatever the cheapest functioning humbuckers I can find.
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
In terms of budget, would fitting the pickups, switch pots and jack be about an hour's work for somebody who knows what they are doing? Or more?
I'm definitely not attempting this
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The Mustang’s tuning issue is either the dogbreath stock Kluson-alike machineheads, the lack of truss rod adjustment for, shall we say, eleven months or the age of the strings.
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soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
The close up photo on the 7th, the crap £20 pickups are still attached but hanging out of view, the ones I'd placed in the relevant positions are Eastwood Airline Deluxe pickups, I'd got it in my head they were humbuckers but now looking at their website, their "dlx" Jetson style guitars have single coils and the "dlx" Map style guitar uses two "Alnico Hot-10 Humbuckers", so god only knows what these are as there does not seem to be any visual difference between the two. They sell SC and HB models of the Airline style pickups here and here. I'd got it in my head that the Jetson style and the Map style used the SC and HB versions respectively but apparently not! So as these are probably SC, I suppose they aren't even relevant to this folly are they! Gahhh
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If your Eastwood pickups are actually single coils under HB metal covers, perhaps, you could swap them for a pair of dual-coil Eastwood pickups?
Iron Gear sell decent pickups, cheap. Take a look at their website, and you'll probably find a set for ~£60. Read the descriptions, listen to the sound clips, have fun.
Axetec (the retail arm of Iron Gear) also sell all the pots & switches that you need. It's not top-spec quality, but it's more than good enough.
As long as you're halfway competent with a soldering iron (know which end gets hot), then you'll be able to put it together just fine. It's really not hard, and we'll sort the wiring diagram for you so you know what to solder to what.
You'll then have;
a) got the guitar working, sounding good, and playing nicely and you'll smile when playing it*
b) spent the money on some reasonable quality parts rather than paying a tech to install some possibly iffy bits
c) learn some skills that you'll re-use time and time again whenever you get the urge to mod another guitar
* If your "other half" sees how much you enjoy playing the gift she bought you, who knows what other guitar-related items she might be encouraged to gift you in future
^^^ That's the simple, simple option.
If you fancy getting fancy, then you can add coil taps/splits.
All you have to do, is use those wires coming out of the pickups that are labelled "Green & White" and some push/pull pots.
This looks a lot more complicated, but it's actually only the 4 green/white wires out of the pickups, and a bit more wiring on the push/pull pots, and it gives you a lot more sounds out of the guitar
(though I'd only suggest this is you're happy with the soldering iron!)
If I remember right, it took a much bigger shim than is ideal, which is why I wondered if it was stable. Ideally I would suggest a full pocket shim that both raises the neck and adds some angle.
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