I started in on a project to put in concentric pots for individual tone and volume for each pickup, but was stymied by the wire routing. The guitar wasn’t nearly as hollow as I thought it was. It’s not clear that one can work things through the f holes.
Anyone mess with the electronics in a Hollowbody SE?
- Thread starter NBW
- Start date
Wakester
Re Member
Yep I took out the pickups, there is access. I lost patience trying to figure out how the wires were held in place. I have some pickups coming from Manlius when they arrive I’ll put my boroscope in there and take some photos.
John Beef
Opaque
There are some little black clips holding the wires in place throughout. It makes it pretty confusing because every hollow guitar I've decided to punish myself with has just had the wires draped in there all willy nilly. But no, not this lowly Chinese SE, they go the extra mile to make everything extra solid - it's impressive. You can see some of them in this up-the-jack-hole shot I took a while back
alantig
Zombie Four, DFZ
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2012
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- 14,955
Just hold the camera in your hands like a normal person. Geez..
Great pic, seriously. It shows an attention to detail that you wouldn't expect or even demand at the price point. It also makes me nervous to contemplate swapping the pots for US pots. Not that I do that on all my SEs. I think I've only done it on my original 7-string, now that I think about it.
bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
Nice F Holes
New Member
Just hold the camera in your hands like a normal person. Geez..
Great pic, seriously. It shows an attention to detail that you wouldn't expect or even demand at the price point. It also makes me nervous to contemplate swapping the pots for US pots. Not that I do that on all my SEs. I think I've only done it on my original 7-string, now that I think about it.
The nice thing about the SE HB is that the pots already have imperial shafts/threads, so no reaming of the holes is necessary. It's odd - Alpha volume and tone pot, but with imperial shaft, and with metric/coarse knurls. I confirmed via measurements and also by swapping washers and nuts between the stock Alpha pots and the CTS pots I bought.
It is tedious unhooking the wire from the clips. They're metal clips that just bend around the wire, but there are many of them and not all are that easy to reach. But the whole project can be done through the Piezo jack access hole, and all by hand with a bit of patience. I'm not sure if you could access the pots through the F-hole without removing the Piezo as I haven't tried that. But if you open the battery hatch and look inside you can get a pretty good idea of what you're up against.
Just hold the camera in your hands like a normal person. Geez..
Great pic, seriously. It shows an attention to detail that you wouldn't expect or even demand at the price point. It also makes me nervous to contemplate swapping the pots for US pots. Not that I do that on all my SEs. I think I've only done it on my original 7-string, now that I think about it.
I have a set of core pots so I’ll probably put those in when I put in the Manlius 59 low wind pickups I have on order.
mookyshoots
Mom always told me I was special
I rewired my SE hollowbody. As noted above, you have to pull the bridge pickup to easily feed the harness into the body. As for the mounting clips, the wires will pull free with a firm tug. Overall, it wasn't nearly as easy as a solidbody, but it also wasn't terrible. The one thing I did do was add long wire leads to my harness so that I can do future pickup swaps at the pickup cavities vs having to pull the harness or trying to solder thru the f-hole. I just connect at the cavities and then bundle up any extra wire underneath.
Visual Guy
New Member
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- Jul 17, 2021
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- 5
I'm currently about to start this project. New poster here! I've been studying theads/posts from @John Beef, @Nice F Holes, and @mookyshoots this week before I start. I love to swap pickups, so the lead wires soldered to the harness is a must for me on this. I may even introduce the quick clips, and solder the female end to the harness leads, then solder the male end to the pickups I'm putting in and just plug and play. I did this a lot in my solid bodies to save pots from being heated on too much.
Current goal is to add 500k custom taper pots, PIO cap, switchcraft jack/switch and some sort of PAF variant. I've also debated on going ahead and swapping the bridge/studs with Schroeder. The metric studs should be a direct fit according to Schroeder's reply.
Can anyone shed some light on whether its worth replacing the inserts for the studs? I'm leaning towards no, but wondering if a solid set of brass inserts would be any sort of upgrade, audible or otherwise, that would justify the effort.
Current goal is to add 500k custom taper pots, PIO cap, switchcraft jack/switch and some sort of PAF variant. I've also debated on going ahead and swapping the bridge/studs with Schroeder. The metric studs should be a direct fit according to Schroeder's reply.
Can anyone shed some light on whether its worth replacing the inserts for the studs? I'm leaning towards no, but wondering if a solid set of brass inserts would be any sort of upgrade, audible or otherwise, that would justify the effort.
mookyshoots
Mom always told me I was special
I would say leave the stock studs. I can't imagine the stress of pulling and replacing bridge studs is going to be great for the top on the hollowbody.
Nice F Holes
New Member
@Visual Guy Don't pull the bushings (inserts) - not for the sake of the top, but for the sake of what's underneath. This guitar didn't come from Maryland and you risk creating or uncovering more problems than you'll solve.
Here's a tip: be EXTREMELY CAREFUL with the ground wire from the bridge. As in, handle it carefully and make sure it's the first thing you disconnect/cut, so as not to put any tension on it.
Anyway the bushings in the SE Hollowbody are very heavy steel inserts, not zinc coated pot metal garbage, so I don't think they're robbing you of anything. They're also not the same size as the bushings that come with the nicer bridges on the market so I don't know how easy it would be to find brass ones that fit right. The threads are obviously the same metric size, but the OD isn't the same as the bushings that come with other metric bridges.
A lot of us replaced the posts (studs) with locking ones from TonePros. If you go that route, there are ones made specifically for PRS which have a larger diameter flange.
Here's a tip: be EXTREMELY CAREFUL with the ground wire from the bridge. As in, handle it carefully and make sure it's the first thing you disconnect/cut, so as not to put any tension on it.
Anyway the bushings in the SE Hollowbody are very heavy steel inserts, not zinc coated pot metal garbage, so I don't think they're robbing you of anything. They're also not the same size as the bushings that come with the nicer bridges on the market so I don't know how easy it would be to find brass ones that fit right. The threads are obviously the same metric size, but the OD isn't the same as the bushings that come with other metric bridges.
A lot of us replaced the posts (studs) with locking ones from TonePros. If you go that route, there are ones made specifically for PRS which have a larger diameter flange.
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Nice F Holes
New Member
The pickup lead wires are soldered to the 3-way pickup selector switch. You can remove that switch and lift it out through the F-hole without removing the whole harness, then you can desolder/solder your pickups.
My personal stances is that the signal from the pickups is very low voltage, very high impedance, so any added wire length is adding to the capacitance and making more of a high-pass filter. I can't say whether or not it would make an audible difference, but I've gone through great lengths to minimize things like that elsewhere in the chain, so I might as well do the same with the guitar.
My personal stances is that the signal from the pickups is very low voltage, very high impedance, so any added wire length is adding to the capacitance and making more of a high-pass filter. I can't say whether or not it would make an audible difference, but I've gone through great lengths to minimize things like that elsewhere in the chain, so I might as well do the same with the guitar.
Visual Guy
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2021
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Thanks! I’ve debated on soldering some wire to the end of the pickup, so as I remove them, I pull some wire through the clips, and then essentially, pull the new pickups lead back through them in order to keep it clean.
So unsolder from the switch, solder some braid to the pickup ends, pull it through the clips, then, solder the braid to the new switch on one end, and tie in to the new pickup leads in the cavities. The rest is just the harness fishing which is pretty straight forward I believe. Thanks for the bridge ground tip.
as far as extra wire goes, I’ve probably done 100 swaps in the last 3 years for my little youtube channel. I never cut the leads to pickups due to resale, etc. So I’m confident a few extra inches won’t play a roll on my signal chain. Albeit, I can greatly appreciate that attention to detail.
Visual Guy
New Member
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To follow up on my SE Hollowbody mods, I thought I'd share a few things I learned here for future readers and what not. (FYI, mine is not the Piezo)
Most of the information was covered here. There is plenty of room to drop the harness in through the bridge cavity. Further more, you really only need to drop the pots/cap. The jack can be soldered outside of the jack hole after the harness is in place. As @Nice F Holes mentioned above, you can do the same for the switch outside of the F-hole. So, in the end, I just made my harness, used heat shrink to keep the wires for the jack and switch nice and neat (with extra length). Then I dropped the harness down into the cavity and fished said wires out with pliers and pulled the excess out for the jack (through the jack hole) and switch (through the F-hole) as I pulled the harness into position with aquarium hose.
TIP: You only need the lock washer on the pots. That leaves plenty of shaft on the top to screw your washer and nut on, and puts your knob at the perfect height. I made the mistake and forgot the lock washers the first round of getting harness into place. Because I forgot them, the shaft looked extra long and I was worried my knobs would be too high, I decided that one of the nuts + lock washer underneath would allow the ideal amount of shaft for the knob. Unfortunately adding the nut was a mistake and I had to remove the harness again and drop it in a 3rd time with only the lock washer, which was perfect.
Once the harness was in, I cut the jack wires to a good length and soldered the jack, installed it. Then I soldered the harness to the switch outside the F hole, installed my pickups, and soldered each to the switch. Ran some more aquarium tubing through the switch hole, and back up through the F hole. dropped the switch in and pulled it up into place, adjusted the switch so the throw was going in the proper direction. and then screwed it down. I didn't end up soldering extra leads for future swaps as I had intended. The access through the F-hole makes it an easy swap. I still may (eventually), but after 3 times fishing out the harness I decided to take a path of lesser resistance and make sure it was all working.
TIP: If you get confused on which pickup goes to which leg of the switch, and the internet can't make you feel confident... Once your switch is connected to the harness, you can solder a pickup really fast, plug the guitar in and test out the throw. Make sure you know which lug is for the bridge and neck. That way, you don't get it backwards, and end up having to turn the switch 180 degrees and potentially put stress on your harness, or god for bid... compromise the ability to hide your wiring in the hole! Plenty of info online, but sometimes in the moment its quicker to not guess and just take the time to test.
I was only able to reuse a couple of the wire clips, but no wires ended up showing and as long as your are managing excess and plan your route, it doesn't really matter (at least for me).
As mentioned above, be very cautious with the bridge ground wire. Both when removing and when installing the harness. make sure you have a buffer zone of wire that isn't being stressed around the pickup cavity. If that comes loose, removing the insert for the stud will be a different level of problem to solve.
Be neat, use heat shrink, and ensure every time you solder you are doing it right. I swap pickups and harnesses so often, that I often don't expose extra wire and wrap it around the lug to ensure a long lasting, multi-point solder connection. I did with this project b/c pulling the harness through the body, adds extra stress multiple times. So if you do this, take your time, be tedious and you'll only do it once. Make sure you have some extra length on the ground wire, between the pots, and the capacitor legs. So you have less to fight with under the body when positioning the pots.
All in all, this was my first time every wiring any sort of semi or fully hollow body. I've plenty of soldering experiences and know how to make a harness in 10 minutes basically. I think anyone who is comfortable soldering and has some patience can do this. The Jack being on the side of the guitar vs. the top like a 335 is a huge bonus. Along with being able to access the pickups soldering points on the switch just by dropping it and pulling it up through the F hole.
The guitar is now equipped with a set of Mojotone custom taper pots. Vol: 528k and Tone: 483k. A Luxe bumblebee .22 cap. Switch craft switch and jack and a set of Lust For Tone '59 Lustbuckers. (for now). Brown lampshade knobs, black switch tip and black rings (soon) should complete this for now. I was lucky enough to find this on a forum sale with SE locking tuners already installed, and it included the originals! I will likely change the bridge/studs too, but I just want to play it for a bit and a bridge/stud upgrade is not much more than a string change.
Thanks everyone for the comments and replies via messages. I'm new to the forum and won't have a lot to contribute, but I'll definitely try to spread the good cheer and help anyone who may have questions taking on a project like this. Meanwhile, cheers!
Most of the information was covered here. There is plenty of room to drop the harness in through the bridge cavity. Further more, you really only need to drop the pots/cap. The jack can be soldered outside of the jack hole after the harness is in place. As @Nice F Holes mentioned above, you can do the same for the switch outside of the F-hole. So, in the end, I just made my harness, used heat shrink to keep the wires for the jack and switch nice and neat (with extra length). Then I dropped the harness down into the cavity and fished said wires out with pliers and pulled the excess out for the jack (through the jack hole) and switch (through the F-hole) as I pulled the harness into position with aquarium hose.
TIP: You only need the lock washer on the pots. That leaves plenty of shaft on the top to screw your washer and nut on, and puts your knob at the perfect height. I made the mistake and forgot the lock washers the first round of getting harness into place. Because I forgot them, the shaft looked extra long and I was worried my knobs would be too high, I decided that one of the nuts + lock washer underneath would allow the ideal amount of shaft for the knob. Unfortunately adding the nut was a mistake and I had to remove the harness again and drop it in a 3rd time with only the lock washer, which was perfect.
Once the harness was in, I cut the jack wires to a good length and soldered the jack, installed it. Then I soldered the harness to the switch outside the F hole, installed my pickups, and soldered each to the switch. Ran some more aquarium tubing through the switch hole, and back up through the F hole. dropped the switch in and pulled it up into place, adjusted the switch so the throw was going in the proper direction. and then screwed it down. I didn't end up soldering extra leads for future swaps as I had intended. The access through the F-hole makes it an easy swap. I still may (eventually), but after 3 times fishing out the harness I decided to take a path of lesser resistance and make sure it was all working.
TIP: If you get confused on which pickup goes to which leg of the switch, and the internet can't make you feel confident... Once your switch is connected to the harness, you can solder a pickup really fast, plug the guitar in and test out the throw. Make sure you know which lug is for the bridge and neck. That way, you don't get it backwards, and end up having to turn the switch 180 degrees and potentially put stress on your harness, or god for bid... compromise the ability to hide your wiring in the hole!
Plenty of info online, but sometimes in the moment its quicker to not guess and just take the time to test.I was only able to reuse a couple of the wire clips, but no wires ended up showing and as long as your are managing excess and plan your route, it doesn't really matter (at least for me).
As mentioned above, be very cautious with the bridge ground wire. Both when removing and when installing the harness. make sure you have a buffer zone of wire that isn't being stressed around the pickup cavity. If that comes loose, removing the insert for the stud will be a different level of problem to solve.
Be neat, use heat shrink, and ensure every time you solder you are doing it right. I swap pickups and harnesses so often, that I often don't expose extra wire and wrap it around the lug to ensure a long lasting, multi-point solder connection. I did with this project b/c pulling the harness through the body, adds extra stress multiple times. So if you do this, take your time, be tedious and you'll only do it once. Make sure you have some extra length on the ground wire, between the pots, and the capacitor legs. So you have less to fight with under the body when positioning the pots.
All in all, this was my first time every wiring any sort of semi or fully hollow body. I've plenty of soldering experiences and know how to make a harness in 10 minutes basically. I think anyone who is comfortable soldering and has some patience can do this. The Jack being on the side of the guitar vs. the top like a 335 is a huge bonus. Along with being able to access the pickups soldering points on the switch just by dropping it and pulling it up through the F hole.
The guitar is now equipped with a set of Mojotone custom taper pots. Vol: 528k and Tone: 483k. A Luxe bumblebee .22 cap. Switch craft switch and jack and a set of Lust For Tone '59 Lustbuckers. (for now). Brown lampshade knobs, black switch tip and black rings (soon) should complete this for now. I was lucky enough to find this on a forum sale with SE locking tuners already installed, and it included the originals! I will likely change the bridge/studs too, but I just want to play it for a bit and a bridge/stud upgrade is not much more than a string change.
Thanks everyone for the comments and replies via messages. I'm new to the forum and won't have a lot to contribute, but I'll definitely try to spread the good cheer and help anyone who may have questions taking on a project like this. Meanwhile, cheers!
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