Fitting Wilkinson Humbuckers in my Epiphone LP. Need help please (SORTED)

kPATm · September 2015

Cheers mate. Its that a good quality kit for the £?

Would I need any other wire or is the 5 feet single conductor shielded, 22AWG wire all thats needed?

I just bought a set of Control Knobs for course spline pots for my original pots will these fit on the pots from that kit?

JohnB · September 2015

I am sure its good quality if it's Allparts, but isn't that more than the cost of a pair of Wilkinson Humbuckers?

kPATm · September 2015

It is yes. I was thinking that as well. I just ordered some wire and a pair of capacitors to see how I get on with what I have for now. Wont get the bits until the end of next week so I will see how it goes.

ICBM · September 2015

kPATm said:

Cheers mate. Its that a good quality kit for the £?

Would I need any other wire or is the 5 feet single conductor shielded, 22AWG wire all thats needed?

I just bought a set of Control Knobs for course spline pots for my original pots will these fit on the pots from that kit?

Yes, it's good quality for the money. The parts individually cost more than that unless you buy them in bulk.

5 feet of wire is more than enough. The only thing I can see that doesn't look like it's included is a shakeproof washer for the jack, but you can buy or find those easily. (And yes, they are necessary even though a lot of companies don't seem to fit them or use a totally useless fibre one.)

What size control knobs did you get? These pots need US-size knobs. Usually US knobs will fit both, although can be a little loose on far-east pots, but far-east knobs will often crack if you try to force them onto US pots.

You don't need new caps. Only the value matters, and .02 or .022uF is the correct value. Don't fall for "paper in oil" hype or anything else, it makes no difference in a guitar no matter what claims you will often read.

kPATm · September 2015

The control Knobs fits 5.9mm split shafts on Alpha/CTS pots?

The caps are

Sprague ORANGE DROP 715P Series Capacitor 4 sizes 200V 0.022uF

And the wiring I bought is 22awg of various colours

Like I said Im going to try it using the pots/jack and 3 way switch I already have to see how I get on and I may buy the kit you linked to at a later date when I have the funds.

kPATm · September 2015

I just did a quick install using the original wire and components but I followed this video

The same buzzing is still present and like before its so bad I cant really hear the actual guitar sound past it. It makes me think that the pickups are not connected correctly?

I have connected the thick black wire from the bridge pickup to the top of the volume pot then the yellow wire to the tab at the bottom of the pot. The same goes for the Neck pickup?

ICBM · September 2015

kPATm said:
The same buzzing is still present and like before its so bad I cant really hear the actual guitar sound past it. It makes me think that the pickups are not connected correctly?

That makes me think you have a broken or missing ground connection somewhere,or the grounding is 'hot'.

The ground connection on a Les Paul with plastic-covered shielded cable needs to go from the jack (check it's wired the right way round, the shield must go to the inner sleeve) to the switch, then back down both cables to the volume pots. If there's a break anywhere there the pots won't be grounded.

(With metal-braided cable, there is usually enough contact between the cables in the wiring tunnel to ensure a connection even if a joint is broken.)

kPATm · September 2015

I have a thin black cable thats connected to the bridge (I think) it runs from inside the body. I have soldered this to a tone pot

I have a ground cable from the jack going to all 4 pots then the hot wire from the jack goes to the 3 way selector.

You can just see the ground cable from the body going to the top right pot. Remember that the red cable on the bottom left pot is actually the ground from the pickup. I just had to put some shrink wrap on it and red is all I had?

kPATm · September 2015

Here is the 3 way selector wiring.

ICBM · September 2015

The switch wiring is all wrong. That explains the lack of grounding...

The extra white/black wire is not necessary - I assume that's an additional ground but it's in the wrong place anyway. Remove it entirely. Also remove the one that goes to the jack and the one between the two volume controls as these will cause a ground loop.

Of the three other cables, they all should have their bare shields twisted together and connected to the casing tab on the right. They should also be connected to the volume pot casings (yellow and grey) and the jack sleeve (red) at the other end.

The white core of the red cable (output) goes to the middle terminal; the core of the grey cable (neck pickup) goes to the upper terminal; the core of the yellow cable (bridge pickup) goes to the bottom terminal.

But first, what is that slightly wiggly white line running down to the left of all three terminals? If it's a crack, replace the switch.

If you really want to keep your extra ground wires, connect that to the casing terminal, the yellow cable core to the upper, red core to the middle and grey core to the lower. That should work and is less work, it will at least get everything working. If you're doing that, make sure the cable shields are connected to the volume pots and the jack but *not* to the switch.

kPATm · September 2015

My head hurts :-0

That isnt a crack its just how the light caught the switch when I took the pic

That white/black wire is for the bridge pick up I didnt have any other colour wire. It goes to the middle tab of the bridge volume pot?

As you can probable tell. Im not much use with written directions. Could it be possible for you to draw a diagram showing the pots, switch and jack and where each wire goes? Sorry for being a pain but I really would like to get this up and running.

cruxiform · September 2015

Hi, I fitted these to my Epi LP. Red/White wires taped together, black to earth and the yellow wires to the right hand leg of each corresponding volume pot if you're looking at the pot with the legs at the top. Works a treat. I'll try to get a picture.

ICBM · September 2015

kPATm said:

My head hurts :-0

That isnt a crack its just how the light caught the switch when I took the pic

That white/black wire is for the bridge pick up I didnt have any other colour wire. It goes to the middle tab of the bridge volume pot?

As you can probable tell. Im not much use with written directions. Could it be possible for you to draw a diagram showing the pots, switch and jack and where each wire goes? Sorry for being a pain but I really would like to get this up and running.

You should be using a shielded wire for the bridge pickup connection. Remove that wire entirely, it isn't necessary.

I don't have a diagram, just make these connections at the switch:

All three cable shields to casing terminal.

Core of grey wire to upper terminal.

Core of red wire to middle terminal.

Core of yellow wire to lower terminal.

At the control cavity:

Core of red wire to jack tip connection and shield to sleeve connection.

Core of grey wire to neck volume control middle terminal and shield to casing.

Core of yellow wire to bridge volume control middle terminal and shield to casing.

The only extra ground wires you need are from each volume control to each tone control, and the bridge ground wire should also be connected to the neck volume control.

That's it.

kPATm · September 2015

Ok. Here is what I have now

Its still the same. I wonder if my main lead to the PC is knackered. I have a new one but I need to wait on my TonePort GX to arrive, tomorrow hopefully, before I can use it though?

Are the Caps in the correct place? The leads where too small so I added a bit to them?

kPATm · September 2015

ICBM · September 2015

Yes, the guitar wiring looks correct now, assuming none of the cables are damaged. What's the tape on the red wire covering?

The tone cap values are actually 'wrong' for humbuckers, which I couldn't see before - they're .047uF (473) not .022uF (223), but it won't change the way it works (just make it a bit muddy when they're fully down) so don't worry about fixing it just yet.

Is it still buzzing badly? Any chance of a pic of the jack wiring?

For what it's worth, going direct to a PC without anything else grounded (amp, mains powered preamp etc) can sometimes cause major noise problems...

kPATm · September 2015

The jack wire was about 2" short (typical) so I had to extend it

Here is a pic

kPATm · September 2015

I managed to find another cable lying around that is also faulty BUT its better than the other one. I managed to get the guitar to work but ONLY the Neck pickup. The Bridge has no sound at all?

ICBM · September 2015

The jack is poor quality but it will probably do for now, and it is wired right.

When the switch is in the middle position, do you get just the neck pickup, or silence?

kPATm · September 2015

Silence

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Fitting Wilkinson Humbuckers in my Epiphone LP. Need help please (SORTED)

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Sprague ORANGE DROP 715P Series Capacitor 4 sizes 200V 0.022uF